About the Book

In this queer YA psychological thriller, the sole surviving counsellors of a summer camp massacre search to uncover the truth of what happened that fateful night, but what they find out might just get them killed.

Sloan and Cherry. Cherry and Sloan. They met only a few days before masked men with machetes attacked the summer camp where they worked, a massacre that left the rest of their fellow counselors dead. Now, months later, the two are inseparable, their traumatic experience bonding them in ways no one else can understand. 

But as new evidence comes to light and Sloan learns more about the motives behind the ritual killing that brought them together, she begins to suspect that her girlfriend may be more than just a survivor – she may actually have been a part of it. Cherry tries to reassure her, but Sloan becomes more distraught. Is this gaslighting or reality? Is Cherry a victim or a perpetrator? Is Sloan confused, or is she seeing things clearly for the very first time? Against all odds, Sloan survived that hot summer night. But will she survive what comes next.

About the Author

Jennifer Dugan is a writer, a geek, and a romantic who writes the kinds of stories she wishes she’d had growing up. She’s the author of the graphic novel Coven, as well as the young adult novels Melt With You, Some Girls Do, Verona Comics, and Hot Dog Girl, which was called “a great, fizzy rom-com” by Entertainment Weekly and “one of the best reads of the year, hands down” by Paste magazine. She lives in upstate New York with her family, their dog, a strange kitten who enjoys wearing sweaters, and an evil cat who is no doubt planning to take over the world.

What I Thought

The idea of the last girls or final girls standing after a slasher event appears to be in the zeitgeist right now with a slew of books written around this topic. The Last Girls Standing is a Young Adult thriller and it is very much focused on the aftermath of an horrific event and how people come to terms with it – or don’t. 

Our two main characters and survivors Sloan and Cherry form a very co-dependent relationship as the two surviving counselors and as queer girls who were crushing on each other before the massacre. 

Sloan is our point of view character and this works really well because she has a mind blank on what happened that night so the audience follows along with her as she tries to unpick flashes from her therapy and bring forth memories of that night. We are taken for a very scary ride with her. Cherry meanwhile remembers more and this leads to Sloan’s concern with finding her own version of events and not just what she has been told. 

I wasn’t entirely sure of the ending which came a little out of left field and I do agree with some of the criticisms I’ve seen that how trauma/PTSD/hypnotherapy is portrayed in this book maybe needed further sensitivity reads. That being said, as a thriller this worked extremely well. I thought the pacing was spot on and I wanted to know the who, what, why along with Sloan. I think the search for meaning after events like these can be futile and I do think this is portrayed though what happens. 

I would determine this as more of a psychological thriller than an horror so do go into the book bearing that in mind as I do think the cover leads us to think we will spend more time in the event than it’s aftermath.

Huge thanks to Bee at Kaleidoscopic tours and Putnum books for the #gifted copy for the purposes of an honest review. This tour has lots of stops so do check out what everyone else is saying too.