Last Seen Leaving

by Caleb Roehrig

[chymerra]

Before I start this review, I want to thank NetGalley, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group and Feiwel & Friends for allowing me to review Last Seen Leaving.

**All opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone. I received Last Seen Leaving from NetGalley/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group/Feiwel & Friends as an ARC for my honest and unbiased review**

Now, onto my review:

Format read in: Kindle

Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, Feiwel & Friends

Expected date of publication: October 4th 2016

Where the book can be found: Amazon (Kindle, Hardcover, Audible). Please remember that A) this book is on preorder until October 4th 2016 and that the prices can and will change.

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Teen, Young Adult

How many pages: 336 pages

Book synopsis:

Flynn’s girlfriend has disappeared. How can he uncover her secrets without revealing his own?

Flynn’s girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking questions he can’t answer, and her friends are telling stories that don’t add up. All eyes are on Flynn—as January’s boyfriend, he must know something.

But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January’s disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself.

My review:

All I have to say about this book is (and I am stealing this from the great George Takei)… “Oh My”. I read this book within 1 day. From the first chapter, where we meet Flynn and January, it gets its hooks into you and doesn’t let go. I mean, I stayed up late to finish this book….and I never do that.

I was kinda irritated with Flynn during the first half of the book, though. He wasn’t exactly forthcoming with the police about January’s state of mind (and what happened) the last time he saw her. He acted like, and wait for this, your typical teenager….gasp. But he started to grow on me by the 3rd chapter and by the middle of the book, I was gasping in surprise (and sadness) over what was being revealed about him and January.

While we are on the subject of January, I felt bad for her and then really, really irritated with her. She lives in a highly dysfunctional household. Her mother, who used to be her best friend, is no longer emotionally available. Her stepfather is an uptight prick only concerned with how her disappearance will look on his campaign run. And her step brother was a spoiled creep who gave me the creeps in his scenes. No wonder she lied about everything to everyone…including Flynn. Lets just say that she made him out to be a bad guy to everyone. I really felt bad for him.

Now, I thought I had this book figured out (seriously I did) and then there was a huge twist that came up and stirred everything up. Settled back down and bam, you were hit with another twist….just as big. I didn’t see either of these coming and they both took the breath out of me (love it when a book does that).

3 Things I liked about Last Seen Leaving:

1) Plot

2) Flynn

3) The plot twists

3 Things I disliked about Last Seen Leaving:

1) The cops

2) January (see above)

3) January’s family

How many stars will I give Last Seen Leaving? 4

Why? It was a gripping whodunit interwoven with a touching coming of age story. The characters were very believable and they jumped off the page and into your mind with every page read. There was almost no lag in the plot and the twists in the plot made the story.

Would I reread it? Yes

Would I recommend to family and friends? Yes

Age range? Teen on up

Why? There are some mild sexual situations, some strong language and some mild violence. Oh and a teacher that just exudes bad vibes and a stepbrother who is super creepy.