Trey is the brother of Landon West, who went missing at the inn four months before. Abby gives him his brother’s former room. I did suspect one specific person from the very beginning, but the MOTIVES and the EXECUTION were way off! Megan Miranda certainly threw dust in my eyes more than once. How would you characterize the relationships that Abby has with other characters? Are her relationships with the town’s longtime residents different from her relationships with semi-outsiders like Georgia? What about with Trey? My reticence in rating this higher is mostly based on a huge plot point - where a HUGE piece of information that the protagonist storyteller KNOWS isn’t revealed until later. So in a way, it feels like a “cheat” rather than a twist. There wasn’t a REASON for this lie by omission, thus my feelings of being cheated - like “oh well if I knew THAT earlier…”. The other peevish eye-roller is that Celeste is in her 50’s but all the descriptions would have the reader believing she’s an 80 yr old with a cane and some Bengay. Abigail Lovett had come to the inn ten years ago. Her mother had passed away and she wasn’t sure what to do next with her life. She ended up at Cutter’s Pass and fell in love with the town and her job at the inn. She worked the reception desk, greeting visitors, making sure they had a great time.

The Last to Vanish: From the New York Times bestselling

There are a lot of thrillers with a small town setting and a past/present format. Books like All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers or The Survivors by Jane Harper.

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Another theme in The Last to Vanish is that of appearance versus reality. In the beginning of the book, Abby describes the Passage Inn as a place that cultivates a false sense of “authenticity” by keeping logs in a gas fireplace. What, in your opinion, is the author’s intention in revealing this detail to the reader? Can you think of real world examples of places (or people) that work to cultivate a certain, perhaps false, image? Slowly, the stories of each person who disappeared over the years unfold. When I got close to the end, I admit to being surprised. I do think there were a few loose ends that were not quite tied up and while that vexed me, I still enjoyed this novel as I like slow burn character-driven mystery/suspense novels. Having read all of Megan Miranda’s novels, I think this was her best since All The Missing Girls.

The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda | Goodreads

Megan Miranda’s books are always a hit or miss for me. This one falls into the latter category. Failing to capture my interest, leaving my mind to drift away throughout the audio. I liked the twist that Abby was the daughter of one of the Fraternity Four. But I struggled a bit with the whole intervention and gun thing, which all happened in narrative summary and didn’t really seem tied to the rest of the story. Overall it's not a bad book, but definitely not the book I was expecting from this author. I've enjoyed her other books much more. It gives me no pleasure to write a 2-star review, but this slow burn never developed a spark. Sadly, this is not a read I’d recommend.Ten years ago, Abigail Lovett fell into a job she loves, managing The Passage Inn, a cozy, upscale resort nestled in the North Carolina mountain town of Cutter's Pass. Cutter's Pass is best known for its outdoor offerings—rafting and hiking, with access to the Appalachian trail by way of a gorgeous waterfall—and its mysterious history. As the book begins, the string of unsolved disappearances that has haunted the town is once again thrust into the spotlight when journalist Landon West, who was staying at the inn to investigate the story of the vanishing trail, then disappears himself. What does “haunting” mean in the context of Trey’s role in the novel, and what does the word mean for the inhabitants of Cutter’s Pass at large? Are the longtime residents, like Celeste and Cory, haunted by different things than Georgia or Abby are? Discuss. On Trey’s second night, he tells Abby that he’s taken the room apart and found a flash drive that contains pictures taken by Farrah Jordan who vanished in 2019.

The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda Summary and reviews of The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda

Cutter’s Pass, NC is a small town in the mountains, near the Appalacian trails. The residents are a close knit group (aren’t all small towns?) and have a love/hate relationship with the tourists and hikers who come to their town. They need them to keep the town going but don’t like when they ask TOO MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THOSE WHO HAVE VANISHED!! Miranda, who makes the setting, where everyone knows one another and ends up fearing one another, all the more chilling for its seeming normality, is a master of misdirection and sudden plot twists, leading up to a wallop of an ending. A powerful, paranoid thriller.” – Booklist (Starred Review) Insiders don't often have the advantage that outsiders do. It's all in the position of seeing life from the peripheral edge. Evaluate the theme of morality in this novel. Are you able to tell who is a “good” character and who is not? Explain how and why. Additionally, do you think that we are biased toward Abby because she is the book’s narrator?Oh boy, does she ever know how to write a twisty-turny ending (or two, or more).” —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review This book gives new meaning to the phrase slow burn, as it moved at glacial speed with literally nothing happening of interest until the last 20% of the book. Quite apt, given I’ve been out of the country for the last few weeks and actually spent time on and in a glacier (sorry, I couldn’t resist!) The atmosphere is palpable, and that alone gets points in my book. The mystery is enticing. The characters and "close-knit" community are intriguing. I wish the characters were a little more fleshed out, especially the townies, but, overall, I enjoyed the mystery, Abby, and, most of all, the pervasive atmosphere of Cutler's Pass. A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.