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A review by taylor_broek
The Last Word by Taylor Adams
4.0
First and foremost I would like to thank doesthedogdie.com and Mellissa of Goodreads for confirming that the golden retriever Laika is poisoned but doesn’t die because i was about to DNF. I liked the premise of this story and thought it was just the right amount of darkness overall. It was way more scary to me at the start with the barrel chested man in the demon goat mask on the ring camera than it was when there was actual murder happening. I think the swapping between Emmas view point and the contradicting view point of the author really lightened it up. It felt almost like a low stakes thriller and a satire, I liked not feeling afraid at night while I was reading it.
Although…. I did very early on in reading the book look at all of the books I gave 1 star to see if I had written a review for them and what I said to make sure it was nice enough? I felt like if I was Emma I would have deleted my review after the author clapped back so ominously like that I mean your information is out there unless you have deliberately tried very hard to cover it up. I did understand H.G. Kanes point of view about her review a little bit though because i think about how i am just a consumer and not a creator whose lively hood depends on the ratings of their books when I write a review.
I did predict the ending to some degree given that it is a locked room mystery so it had to be one of the very few characters mentioned but i did not see some of the smaller twists and turns coming. I thought the narrative that emma thought she was way smarter than the other girls that get murdered so easily in books or movies vs what emma could actually do in a their situation was very interesting. Because you would think, if i was living alone in a strangers house in an unfamiliar city where you don’t know the neighbors or the crime or anything you would be more prepared with a gun or some other weapons or back up plan. And Emma says as much when she finishes murder cabin or what ever that book was called but she doesn’t. She did make some good and very calm and collected self defense plans which i enjoyed reading about but made some other choices that i thought made no sense. But as the author said coincidences happen in the real world but if it happens in a book its considered “bad writing”. I thought the acknowledgements page of the authors book was so good and it really tripped me up for a second there.
I do wish Laika had a bigger roles since there was some anthropomorphic lines from the dog and would have liked to know more about what she thought of the whole thing. Having a golden retriever my self make the book feel a little more cheesy and unbelievable tbh but i suppose Laika could be a really good girl except for that one bite. I wonder if my GR would every bite someone to protect me… no I don’t wonder because i know the answer is no… Overall there was a weird balance of gore but not too scary. I thought the ending was sweet and really was not expecting it for a while there.
Although…. I did very early on in reading the book look at all of the books I gave 1 star to see if I had written a review for them and what I said to make sure it was nice enough? I felt like if I was Emma I would have deleted my review after the author clapped back so ominously like that I mean your information is out there unless you have deliberately tried very hard to cover it up. I did understand H.G. Kanes point of view about her review a little bit though because i think about how i am just a consumer and not a creator whose lively hood depends on the ratings of their books when I write a review.
I did predict the ending to some degree given that it is a locked room mystery so it had to be one of the very few characters mentioned but i did not see some of the smaller twists and turns coming. I thought the narrative that emma thought she was way smarter than the other girls that get murdered so easily in books or movies vs what emma could actually do in a their situation was very interesting. Because you would think, if i was living alone in a strangers house in an unfamiliar city where you don’t know the neighbors or the crime or anything you would be more prepared with a gun or some other weapons or back up plan. And Emma says as much when she finishes murder cabin or what ever that book was called but she doesn’t. She did make some good and very calm and collected self defense plans which i enjoyed reading about but made some other choices that i thought made no sense. But as the author said coincidences happen in the real world but if it happens in a book its considered “bad writing”. I thought the acknowledgements page of the authors book was so good and it really tripped me up for a second there.
I do wish Laika had a bigger roles since there was some anthropomorphic lines from the dog and would have liked to know more about what she thought of the whole thing. Having a golden retriever my self make the book feel a little more cheesy and unbelievable tbh but i suppose Laika could be a really good girl except for that one bite. I wonder if my GR would every bite someone to protect me… no I don’t wonder because i know the answer is no… Overall there was a weird balance of gore but not too scary. I thought the ending was sweet and really was not expecting it for a while there.