The Last One to Fall by Gabriella Lepore - OPTIONAL

The Last One to Fall by Gabriella Lepore, 368 pages. Inkyard Press, 2023. $20.

Language: R (63 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

17yo Savana has no idea what she was doing there that night. Her next door neighbor and friend with complications, Jesse, texted her, asking for help, so she went. Only to watch someone fall from a window. She called 911, but it was too late.

A mystery where everyone has a motive and is pointing the finger at someone else in order to deflect suspicion from themselves; it’s anything but straightforward, which is what makes it a story. I was disappointed in the ending because it felt like I didn’t have the information to come to the correct conclusion myself. But I did like the internal conflict of the characters trying to determine who was safe to trust—difficult to do when you have to divvy the trust out while fingers are pointing.

Rafael, Tara, and Owen are described as white, and Savana and Jesse are implied white. Freddie is described as Black. The mature content rating is for underage drinking, mention of drugs, innuendo, and sexual harassment. The violence rating is for murder and mentions of abusive relationships.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen