Last Seen Leaving

WELL that didn't go the way I expected–in a good way. Review to come!

FULL REVIEW:

4.5/5 stars

The way Last Seen Leaving is set up, it reminded me a bit of [b:Far from You|16151118|Far from You|Tess Sharpe|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389529253s/16151118.jpg|21987409] by Tess Sharpe—another YA with major queer rep in which the protagonist is trying to solve the murder of her best friend. In Last Seen Leaving, however, what happened to January isn't immediately apparent. When the book starts, Flynn learns his girlfriend has disappeared—but did she run away? Did someone take her? Is she still alive? There are immediately a lot of questions, and worse, Flynn can't tell the whole story of the last time he saw her to the police and what they argued about without admitting his huge secret: he's gay.

As the story goes on, the questions build. January's unhappy (but luxurious) home life, the lies she told people about Flynn—and the lies she told Flynn about others—the connections to who she knew and when they last saw her, and through it all Flynn isn't sure who he can trust.

This book had me ripping through the pages to answer all those questions and more—I actually read the second half of the book in a day because I couldn't put it down. I also loved how much this book played with my expectations—even when I was specifically looking for red herrings I still didn't guess what or who was behind January's disappearance. My only super-minor gripe was there were words and phrases throughout that occasionally threw me out of the narrative because it didn't really sound teenager-y to me—but it certainly wasn't distracting enough to take away from the incredible plot and characters that had me exclaiming out loud as I read.

All in all, I definitely recommend this one, especially if you like YA Thrillers and/or enjoyed Far From You. This book and its twists and characters are going to stay with me for a long time.


Diversity note: The protagonist, Flynn, is gay. There's also a minor Japanese character, and the love interest is a gay, Muslim, POC boy.

I received this book through Netgalley. All ideas and thoughts about the book below are my own.

Okay, whirlwind of a book.
It was a really interesting read and I enjoyed the flashbacks and the way Flynn thought/acted. Flynn is only 15, so the immature moments make sense and even those I think are written very well, only a few times did I really question him. He has a lot going on, so much stress, that I am surprised he was able to function at all.

I thought the mystery was done VERY WELL and the ending... loved it. I mean... I wish things could have gone differently, but I understand.

Only thing currently really irks me and that is Flynn and Kaz. I think they are great, but Flynn is 15 and Kaz is 19, in college. I just wish the ages were a little different.... I'd prefer 16 & 18. A 4 year difference especially with one of them in college just makes me feel gross– even more considering the background
—January making it seem like Kaz was hitting on her and we are told ‘WOAH! he is older and this is creepy' BUT then when Flynn and Kaz are together it is totally fine???
Also, considering there is rape involved in the story-- statutory rape even, I really REALLY felt uncomfortable with the age gap.

In the end, I really enjoyed this book and read it rather quickly! I do think it is a good YA book to read and something to explore– possibly a book club book? – and I recommend it to people who like mysteries, want to read something lgbtqa+ without it being the main focus of the story, and/or people who can handle reading something involving rape.

This is another of those really conflicting thrillers for me. I thought the main character's voice was fun, and the mystery kept me guessing despite some decent foreshadowing. However, the story behind the actual culprit is pretty unbelievable and the main character makes a devastatingly stupid choice near the end that for some reason has zero consequences and that kind of put me off it.