Thank you Atria Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Our Last Wild Days in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Atria Books
Published: May 20, 2025
Summary:
From the author of the “irresistible” (Paula Hawkin, #1 New York Times bestselling author) Where the Truth Lies, an atmospheric novel about a young woman who searches for answers after her estranged friend is found dead in the bayou of their rural Louisiana hometown.
The Labasques aren’t like other families.
Living in a shack out in the swamps, they made do by hunting down alligators and other animals. To the good people of Jacknife, Louisiana, they are troublemakers and outcasts, the kind of people you wouldn’t want in your community.
So, when Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter’s childhood friend, Loyal May, who has just returned home to care for her mother. When she left town at eighteen years old, she betrayed Cutter. Now with a ragtag group from the local paper where she works, Loyal goes in search of answers, uncovering a web of deceit and corruption that implicates those in town. It may be too late to apologize to Cutter, but Loyal has restitution in mind.
Weaving through the swamps and bayous of rural Louisiana, Our Last Wild Days is an atmospheric, smoldering suspense about our darker impulses—and how to set things right.
My thoughts:
I love a good atmospheric thriller and this one totally delivers on that front. Set in rural Louisiana, we are steeped in small-town vibes, rich with Gothic undertones, alligator hunts and local folklore. This might have been my first read by this author but it certainly will not be my last if this book is anything to go by!
This slowburn mystery hooked me right from the start and I found having the story told from multiple POVs to help keep things moving, though once we hit that midpoint, things start ramping up quite a bit. Nothing is what it seems & this kept me on my toes the entire time. Who can be trusted???
I loved my experience reading this and wish I could read it again for the first time…though I do see myself reading it again at some point as it’s just that good!
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