The Last Summer by Andrée Michaud Book Review

Book Title: The Last Summer

Author: Andrée A. Michaud

My Rating: 3.5*

Publisher: No Exit Press

Publication Date: 25/01/18

Genre(s): Mystery, Crime, Thriller, YA

Pages: 318

Format Read: Paperback

Goodreads: It's the Summer of 1967. The sun shines brightly over Boundary Pond, a holiday haven on the US-Canadian border. Families relax in the heat, happy and carefree. Hours tick away to the sound of radios playing 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' and 'A Whiter Shade of Pale'. Children run along the beach as the heady smell of barbecues fills the air.

Zaza Mulligan and Sissy Morgan, with their long, tanned legs and silky hair, relish their growing reputation as the red and blonde Lolitas. Life seems idyllic.

But then Zaza disappears, and the skies begin to cloud over...

Originally written in French and translated into English, The Last Summer is a novel based in the town of Boundary where families go in the summer to enjoy their holiday. Zaza and Sissy are inseparable best friends who do everything together and know each other’s secrets and who always have the eyes of men and boys on them. However, in the year of 1967, tragedy strikes Boundary as a Zaza goes missing which changes the lives of the people of the town as the mystery unfolds of who the murderer is.

I like the format of the book because it is mainly focused on a 12 year old girl named Andrée who lived in Boundary at the time who watches the drama destroy her home and that of the police work of Michaud who is trying to figure out who the murderer is, but there are also little snippets of the girls last moments before they are killed and the thoughts of the murderer which gives the reader clues into who it could be. I seem to be terrible at solving these types of mysteries as I had no idea throughout the book who the murderer was and the ending came as quite a surprise and I would have never expected it until the pieces of the puzzle came together in the last few pages.

The imagery in the book is impressive and captures the idyllic town and the year 1967 perfectly through descriptions. The legend of Pete Landry is terrifying; the man who lived in the woods as a trapper haunts this holiday town as the murders of the girls repeat his way of killing years ago. The murders are very brutal and will make you squirm in discomfort.

I didn’t really like how both the author’s first name and surname is used for character’s names and as its originally a French novel sometimes the sentences were really long which put me off a little bit. There are also a lot of families that live in Boundary and sometimes I found it hard to keep up with all the names and forgot who was who. The story took a while for me to get into it and at first I thought it wasn’t going anywhere as it has a bit of a slow start but about half way through it dragged me in and the pace quickens and I’m glad I carried on reading it because it definitely got better and the ending is worth it.

A mystery thriller that throws in the coming of age and childhood innocence, I give this book 3.5* because although it was hard to get into, I loved the plot and the characters and it was an engaging and mysterious book that keeps you on your toes until the very end.