Last One to Die (2020)
A fun YA thriller about a woman haunted by a Victorian ghost in London.
I don’t have anything super interesting to say about this book, except that it was a fun little read; I don’t have deeper thoughts on it.
Our protagonist Niamh is an Irish student visiting London for a 6-week drama summer school. Young women around her – mostly people who look suspiciously like her – start being murdered and attacked. She becomes more and more stressed about her situation, while trying to enjoy London, do well at drama, and hit it off with a cute guy at the museum while she’s doing some volunteering.
I was a little surprised when the book took on a more supernatural element. Her stalker turns out to be a working-class Victorian man whose illicit lover from upper-class society was killed in a factory accident, before they could elope. He’s performing a ritual to resurrect her and taking body parts from the women he attacks – hair, eyes, fingernails, and eventually a heart. It’s implied that he’s been trying to perform this ritual for decades, leaving a trail of women in his wake.
I was expecting more traditional murder mystery, but I don’t mind it going a bit offbeat.
This is another book with a strong sense of character and location. Niamh felt like a distinctly Irish character (insofar as I’m qualified to judge that), and a lot of the book takes place on the Southbank, an area of London I know quite well. It was strange and creepy to see somewhere I know as the setting of a murder plot.
This was a nice, easy read after a couple of larger tomes, and I’d happily get more books by this author from the library.