The Last Good Girl: A Novel (Anna Curtis, #5)

by Allison Leotta

From Allison Leotta, the “highly entertaining storyteller” (George Pelecanos) who writes “in a style that’s as real as it gets” (USA TODAY), a ripped-from-the-headlines novel featuring prosecutor Anna Curtis at the center of a national story involving campus rape and the disappearance of a young woman.

Emma, a freshman at a Michigan university, has gone missing. She was last seen leaving a bar near the prestigious and secretive fraternity known on campus as “the rape factory.” The main suspect is Dylan Brooks, the son of one of the most powerful politicians in the state. But so far the only clues are pieced-together surveillance footage of Emma leaving the bar that night…and Dylan running down the street after her.

When Anna discovers the video diary Emma kept over her first few months at college, it exposes the history she had with Dylan: she had accused him of rape before disappearing.

Emma’s disappearance gets media attention and support from Title IX activists across the country, but Anna’s investigation hits a wall. Now Anna is looking for something, anything she can use to find Emma alive. But without a body or any physical evidence, she’s under threat from people who tell her to think hard before she ruins the name of an “innocent young man.”

Inspired by real-life stories, The Last Good Girl shines a light on campus rape and the powerful emotional dynamics that affect the families of the men and women on both sides.

• ISBN10: 1476761132
• ISBN13: 9781476761138
• Publish Date: 3 May 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Gallery
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[whisperingchapters]

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.


The Last Good Girl is a haunting and chilling tale that will keep readers glued to this brutal story from the beginning until the very end. 

When I read the author of this book used to be a U.S. Federal prosecutor in the sex crimes area, I was beyond excited because that meant the author knew what she was talking about and it felt all the more real. To say that I was in shock and so surprised at how colleges handle these situations is an understatement. I was so appalled by the whole process and even more so when I read it was inspired by real life stories. The reality is this happens in real life! I felt even more disgusted when I realized this while I kept going more into the story.

Going into this book, I had no idea I was going to get this very well-written story. I feel like I learned a lot from it and I love when books help me intellectually. The story follows a girl who went to a bar to have fun with friends only to be seen outside of the bar, trying to get a way from a guy and ultimately, the girl disappears. Anna is called by her ex-husband to help on the case, seeing as she's a prosecutor and could very well help run this case along. Anna does everything in her power to find out what happened to Emma Shappiro. She finds evidence that Emily had actually been raped her first year at college by the same guy that had last seen her.

I was so frustrated at the authoritative figures of the college campus because they were trying to cover everything up so their statistics on rape would be zero, when the reality is they had a bunch of cases from victims they had simply left hidden. The author did a fantastic job in explaining every single detail that goes down in an investigation of this matter, which helped me understand everything. I was definitely enthralled by the whole process that the FBI was doing, trying to uncover what had happened while everyone else didn't want this to spread.

This story alternated between Anna's perspective in third person and video logs that Emma had made, stating everything that had happened to her. Also, we get a few third person perspectives from secondary characters that gave  more highlight to this whole case. I was not prepared for the twist at the end and how everything went down but the author really knows how to throw things at the reader by surprise. I do wish I had gotten more from the offender towards the end, simply to see justice served even though it was loosely mentioned.

Overall, it was a very mind-blowing story that kept me hooked and I didn't want to stop until I had all of the answers. I'll be reading Allison Leotta's other books for sure.

I received an eARC for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.