Review: Last Seen Alive by Claire Douglas

Author: Claire Douglas
Publisher: Penguin
Date of publication: July 2017

The Hero

Libby Hall never really wanted to be noticed. But after she saves the children in her care from a fire, she finds herself headline news. And horrified by the attention. It all reminds her of what happened nine years ago. The last time she saw her best friend alive.

The Swap

Which is why the house swap is such a godsend. Libby and her husband Jamie exchange their flat in Bath for a beautiful, secluded house in Cornwall. It's a chance to heal their marriage - to stop its secrets tearing them apart.

The Hideaway

But this stylish Cornish home isn't the getaway they'd hoped for. They make odd, even disturbing, discoveries in the house. It's so isolated-yet Libby doesn't feel entirely alone. As if she's being watched.

Is Libby being paranoid? What is her husband hiding? And. As the secrets and lies come tumbling out, is the past about to catch up with them?

I was really hoping for more of a thriller than I ended up getting with this book. Once again, it's another thriller that ended up being just OK.  Maybe I need to take a break from them for a while.  In Last Seen Alive, Libby and her husband decide to get away after her miscarriage.  They make a deal to do a house swap.  Once they get to their destination, things begin to not add up.  There is a creepy guy watching them.  Her husband gets poisoned.  Why are they being targeted?

The story  was really slow in the beginning and took about halfway before it got going.  I called one of the twists really early on. There were a couple of other twists that were surprising.  However, they didn't make the book more exciting.  The main character was too wishy-washy for me. I couldn't connect with her.   My biggest disappointment with the book was the ending.  After sticking with the story to the end, I felt let down and cheated.  I know it was an attempt at shock, but it failed big time.  I guess this book just wasn't for me.