Paranormal murder mysteries, or any stories with creepy
ghosts, are not something I would choose to read on my own. However, the whole point of joining Smackdown was to broaden my horizons, so I trepidatiously dove in. Famous Last Words is set in Los
Angeles, where Willa has just moved with her mom and her new Hollywood
film-director step-father. The city is
currently gripped with news reports of a possible serial killer who has been
targeting young actresses and leaving them posed, post-mortem, in re-enacted
scenes from old movies. Willa has bigger
concerns, though, as her attempts to contact her dead father in the spirit
world seems to have brought a new ‘friend’ along. Willa faces the teen struggles of facing a
new 90210-esque school, trying to find her way with her new step-father,
grieving her own father, and fighting an ever more obvious supernatural
presence.
I was not looking forward to reading this book, even the
cover is a bit off-putting. However,
five hours later I realized I’d read the whole thing with hardly a break. It scared the crap out of me, but I kept
turning the page to see what happened next.
I found that Willa, and the other side characters—even the supernatural
visitor, has a surprising amount of depth.
The mystery and suspense were skillfully built. The juxtaposition of non-paranormal narrative
and the paranormal parts occurred in a successful rhythm, building up to a
climax that brought all of the parts together very satisfyingly.
It’s out of character for me to recommend a book like this,
but if you like paranormal murder mysteries (or just want to see what a nicely
written one is like) you should give this one a try.
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