First and foremost, let me put your mind at ease—the dog makes it out just fine. The same can't be said for many of the characters, but the dog remains unscathed.

The premise of this book is delightfully intriguing and will surely captivate anyone who loves to read and review. Emma, our protagonist, is house-sitting in a secluded coastal area, grappling with some personal issues (which are revealed as the story progresses) and indulging in a lot of reading. Her nearest neighbor recommends a book, but Emma finds it utterly insipid and poorly written. She leaves a harsh 1-star review on Amazon, and the author retaliates, asking her to remove it (small gripe: you can't comment on Amazon reviews anymore, but I'll overlook that). When Emma refuses, the author starts to threaten her, leading Emma to believe he has tracked her down and intends to harm her.

This book demands a significant suspension of disbelief, but it is wildly entertaining, maintaining a brisk pace with a few surprises and twists thrown in. While many plot points seemed far-fetched, the overall premise is so audacious and tongue-in-cheek that the author deserves kudos for creativity. It's also a marked improvement over his previous work, "Hairpin Bridge," which I rated 1-star. Given that the author lives in my state, I'm relieved he didn't come after me, but I digress...

The fake Acknowledgements section was a highlight, adding a playful touch that I thoroughly enjoyed. The insider tidbits about reviewer practices, like using sockpuppet accounts for positive reviews, were amusing. However, the book suffers from having too many twists. Just when I thought the story was wrapping up, I realized I was only 70% through. The repetitive "gotcha" moments became a bit tiresome. Despite this, the story as a whole was engaging and kept me entertained throughout.

I highly recommend this book, especially if you've ever written a 1-star review (or desperately wanted to).

This was a wild ride!! There were so many twists I never saw coming and the ending blew me away. The characters were also so relatable and I cared about what happened to them. It made the book all the more exhilarating. I’m so excited to see what comes next for the author.

This book ended up NOTHING like I thought it was going to be. It was creepy, and suspenseful and it had a lovely little series of twists.

It felt like a slasher movie, with a booky side twist, and being a book reviewer, I felt the hesitance to give a one star review deep down in my soul.

I would definitely advise you to pick this one up. Plus, there's a dog so you know…. You have to now.

✩✩✩✩

I really enjoyed The Last Word! I requested it initially because I have witnessed authors doing terrible things to reviewers in the past and I wanted to see how this author depicted it. The story wasn't exactly what I was expecting, as the main character isn't a book blogger or reviewer, she just left the odd review on Amazon instead and that was enough for the author to come after her.

This felt like a campy horror/slasher in an isolated setting, which was very enjoyable and made for a fun, fast paced read. I spent most of the book worrying about the dog because I didn't care too much about the main character and whether she lived or died, but I was definitely having a good time!

This book grabbed my attention because of the premise—and it definitely didn’t disappoint! A fast-paced thriller with satisfying twists that kept me guessing and turning the pages. Will read more from this author (and only leave five star reviews!!)

OMG this was amazing! I had heard so many good things about it, and I like this authors other books so I knew it was going to be great, but I was not prepared for how good this was. I read it all in one sitting because I couldn't tear myself away!

I hoped I would’ve loved this book more than I did due to the plot line given. However, I just felt it was pretty slow paced and not much was happening in the first half of the book. I did enjoy it but it wasn’t my favourite.

What happens when you give a book a 1 star rating? In this book, you'll find out that and more!

I enjoyed this book. I don't want to give anything away but it's best to go in with an open mind!

3.5 stars. Thank you so much for the chance to read this book

Full review was delayed due to reviewer illness. I'll need to re-read the book to provide a full review, but star rating is accurate.

I adore Taylor Adams! I loved no exit and I’m obsessed with this one, I honestly feel like I’ve got whiplash from this one, it was incredible! Another super fast paced thriller which I couldn’t put down. I read it all in one go because I just couldn’t stop myself, I liked the POV swap and the surprises and twists along the way. You will not ever regret buying this book!

Emma has escaped to a remote house on the Washington coast with her golden retriever, Laika. She is house-sitting for a woman named Jules and the only neighbour appears to be an old guy called Deek. Emma fills her days by devouring Kindle Unlimited novels and reviewing them online. When she gives a one star review to a particularly bad horror novel by an author named H. G. Kane, she never expected to receive a heated reply from the author himself. Or to be the target for a relentless stalker with blood on his mind. This fast-paced and thoroughly gripping thriller had me hooked almost instantly. There are plenty of twists, an unexpected ending and loads of action with genuine fear for Laika’s safety. Laika was definitely the only character I cared about but unlikeable characters are certainly best placed in high-stakes thrillers like this with their comeuppance just around the corner.

This is my first book by this author but it definitely wont be my last, it was absolutely fantastic and I couldn't putit down

This was a fast paced twisty thriller with a really likeable main character. Emma made it so easy to root for her! I was drawn in from the first chapter. The storyline and writing kept me on the edge of my seat throughout! I’ve never given a 1 star review before but after reading this book I definitely never will! This was my first book by Taylor Adam’s but it won’t be the last. I really enjoyed this read.

Will return to post review when posting to socials ✨ thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my advanced copy!

I desperately wanted to enjoy this one but it fell short. The premise is a young woman leaves a bad review for a book. The author tells her to take it down and then starts getting more threatening. Weird things start happening. I think the thing that took me out was the sections of the book that were being written by the author. I get that the writing was supposed to be bad, but having to read paragraphs of bad writing in between the actual book just put me off. I did like the main character and was rooting for her, which hasn’t happened in many books I’ve read recently!

this was such a fun book to read with lots of twists, even if some were a little predictable and you had to hold your disbelief. i was rooting for emma so hard i didn't even care how unbelievable it was, especially towards the end. this is fast-paced and addictive and i finished the last half in a day without even meaning to,

i enjoyed this book a lot!! there’s something about taylor adams thrillers that makes me invested from the very first page. i was immediately hooked by the last word. once i started reading i could not put the book down. i loved that in the manuscript passages of this you could see differences between what was written and what actually happened and that you could never really trust any character. also the way everything connected in the end. i will now be waiting very (im)patiently for the next thriller by taylor adams! :)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Review⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Last Word
By Taylor Adams
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Heart-thundering, heart hammering, non stop edge of my seat stuff! Just wow!

Went in blind to this book and oh my….. Taylor Adams did NOT disappoint. Thank you to @netgalleyuk for the opportunity to review ahead of publishing date.

Emma is battling with her mental health for reasons which come to light throughout the story. She isolates herself by house sitting over the winter and throws herself into reading and looking after her faithful Labrador, Laika.

Little does Emma know, one book review throws her world upside down. The author wants revenge……

I was literally scared to death reading this and couldn’t read it when alone (I’m easily spooked!), which was noting as was desperate to read on. Saying that, I read this over 4 evenings (when not alone!)
Being released in 18th May 2023 - if you do one thing today, please pre-order this title!!
P.s. I really hope this wasn’t a threat @

Even if it was, I’ve given a 5 star review so I should be pretty safe! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC! This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2023 and No Exit by this author is one of my favourite thrillers of all time so I was really excited for this one!

This is a thriller following Emma who is housesitting in the middle of nowhere with her dog Laika by the beach during the winter. She lives a solitary life with no human contact and occupies her time reading ebooks. A really bad book leads to her leaving a one star review and the author does not take kindly to it. What starts as threatening emails turns into a fight for her life.

This gave me No Exit vibes, it was so fast paced and constantly action packed. I was nervous that this would be dull at times because it literally takes place in one location and involves a killer stalking our heroine for the whole book but Taylor Adams managed to keep me on the edge of my seat for the whole book. Whenever you think everything is done and dusted he pulls something else out of the bag!

I really enjoyed Emma as a character and felt that she was very relatable. She’s not too stupid but she’s also not unrealistically superhumanly invincible either. The situations she was placed in were realistic and so were the solutions to those situations. I will admit that I guessed a lot of the twists but honestly I am an avid thriller reader and I’m suspicious of everyone so that’s not really a reflection of the authors work. I’m just paranoid.

If you love a fast paced, action packed locked room thriller then you will absolutely love this. It’s a fight for survival from start to finish and doesn’t take long at all to get going! This one was released on 18th May 2023 so you can grab it now!

This is my first title by this author.
I really enjoyed this title.
Thriller and suspense and boy was it creepy!
Just what i enjoy :)
Thanks for much for allowing me to read this ARC
5/5 stars