Absolutely gripping from start to finish - I read this book in 24 hours as I couldn’t put it down. A mystery relevant to the modern age!

This was a great book in terms of the plot. It kept me engaged and I spent a long majority of the time thinking ‘whodunnit?!’ However I did find the ending disappointing, I think throughout typical thriller books there is a pool of suspects, however there wasn’t any in Last seen Online. I also think the plot twist around gottie was great, but more could have been done with it. I found the outcome from this very grating. I really did enjoy the online components within the book, the comments and texts really added to the experience of the book.

There is something about thrillers with an online element that I find really intriguing. With the internet being as wild as it is, it often feels like anything is possible here -even things you previously thought unbelievable. Add the insane energy that fandoms contain and it’s the perfect mix for a twisty, shocking thriller.

Aspiring, young actress Delilah has a nightmare audition for her school play but it sees her paired up with Sawyer, whose mother starred in a very popular TV show decades before. A show that ended when one co-star apparently murdered the other. But Delilah has come across some mysterious blog posts from back then, written by an online persona called gottiewrites, who appears to know things about the actors’ personal lives. Before long, Delilah is immersed in a world of conspiracy, obsession and the fact that the truth of what happened may still be hidden.

From the very first paragraph, we are clearly supposed to think of Delilah as relatable and ‘just a normal girl’. She worries about the same minor imperfections that we do and so, it’s obvious that she is us in the story. Having a character who serves as the reader’s eyes in the story is a really great device but I’m not sure I should have been able to 'see’ the workings of this in the writing. I probably would have liked Delilah just as much as I did without being immediately told that she worries about bad breath or her period showing.

I really liked how the story was told in various forms of media and that we were introduced to the scandal as it unfolded in the press. It meant that we were given evidence to come to our own conclusions as Delilah was piecing things together and that made for a really satisfying read. I also felt like I got to know the show, despite it never being an actual show. I don’t know whether Lauren James has any experience with the makings of a TV show but it felt very well researched.

Of course, we also get gottiewrites’ blog posts to read through. I really believed in gottiewrites as an obsessed online fan but sometimes some of the choice of words made me think 'hmm, was this how we spoke in 2014?’. As someone who was heavily involved in online communities in 2014 and before, some of the language that gottie and their commenters use felt far too contemporary. For example, I don’t remember us talking about 'receipts’ 10 years ago. It’s a minor thing that I know some readers won’t even notice but it did take me out of things temporarily.

The way the comments spiral was really well done and read really authentically. I could believe that these were copied and pasted from a real Tumblr post. I could almost hear all the different voices chiming in with their thoughts and I definitely forgot that James wrote all of these bits too. It’s a real art to come up with all of these tiny character appearances, so I really commend them for that.

Delilah’s characterisation as an obsessive friend also felt really authentic. She displays more than a few neurodiverse traits and I’d believe it if the author confirmed that she’s undiagnosed but certainly autistic. Her intensity frightens her friend Nida and this is something that many autistic people come up against. I’ve not seen it displayed quite as explicitly as James does it here, so I really appreciated that.

Last Seen Online is definitely a page-turner. The nature of the format (the blog and comments make up quite a lot of words) slows down the pacing but the fact that I wanted to keep reading it means that it is worth diving into. I can see how some readers might find the plot convoluted but as I said at the start of this post, it’s believeable if you know anything about the craziness of online fandoms. If you like YA stories that explore celebrity culture, scandals and fandom investigations, you’ll love it.

Last Seen Online is the latest novel from author Lauren James. It features characters from Lauren’s hugely popular online novella “An Unauthorized Fan Treatise”.
Last Seen Online is a book that if you’ve ever been in a fandom especially one similar to the one featured will have you simultaneously loving and hating it. It manages to capture how much of a community they can be while also highlighting the toxic side where fans take their devotion a bit too far.

The exploration of what being a fan in such an intense type of fandom is showcased by a riveting murder mystery and a budding romance that unfolds really nicely over the course of the book. What also gives it depth is how unreliable Deliah is as a narrator as without spoiling the plot, she’s quite happy to uncover other peoples secrets and seek answers but isn’t prepared to do the same much closer to home and would rather bury her head in the sand.

Last Seen Online is a fantastic, thought provoking read combining, murder, fandoms and social media.

I didn't know this is based on An Unauthorised Fan Treatise, so you can guess my face when I realised why the story sounded so familiar the first few chapters. And honestly as someone who practically lived on tumblr all throughout their teens, reading this was weirdly nostalgic. The fandom culture, the different levels of obsession (and the ...questionable morals that came with that) were truly a you just had to be there moment. The mystery that was developed in AUFT, was finally picked up again in Last Seen Online and I couldn't put the book down for the second half of it, delving into the horrors of fame and power.

(Also I already really wanted to read/watch Loch & Ness while reading AUFT, and it has only grown since then, that show sounds so good)

First of all thank you for approving my request!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The authors writing style had me hooked throughout this book.

I didn't want it to end, a book I really couldn't put down.

I am incapable of writing a review. There are no words in my brain. Only incoherent screaming and fangirling 😭

I loved the atmosphere, loved the mystery and the tension.

I loved the characters and their comfy, effortless relationship.

The pacing was great most of the time, but I think the ending was too quick, would love some more build up.

I did not love the ending in general, but I was prepared for that. I thought about it before I finished and I came to a conclusion that I wouldn't be satisfied no matter what the ending would be. I did not want this book to end. I did not want the mystery to be solved. Part of why I loved "Unauthorised Fan Threatise" so much is because nothing is clear and we never find out the truth of what really happend. But now that I know everything, I think it loses some part of its charm? Like, it was really enjoyable and the way everything was resolved was clever, but I think I would prefer the solution to remain a mystery 😭

This was such a wild ride! Had the time of my life reading it. "Last Seen Online" goes straight to my 2024 top list and Wren James has earned a spot in the prestigious circle of my favourite authors. Can't wait to read more of their books!

I was excited to read this and it didn’t disappoint.

I loved the combination of murder and social media and think it will be really accessible for my students. I have already ordered a copy to stock in the library.

Thoroughly enjoyable read, thank you!

As someone who loves social media - I loved the way that this was all put into the book. The blogs and comments throughout and I really thought she captured how a ‘fandom’ works. It’s very twisty and I loved that - excited by this being book 1 so that means more, right? I hope so. Grab for your summer read.

24. Last Seen Online by Lauren James

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I flew through this - such a fun but intense YA murder mystery with an unhealthy dose of fandom.

🌴 Mixed media keeping up the fast pace
🌴 Intense fandom and critique of social media/fame
🌴 Murder mystery with twists and turns

I loved the way the mystery was revealed to us as readers at the same pace as Delilah and Sawyer. A great read!

A trippy, thrilling and addicting banger that will speak a little too passionately to anyone and everyone who's ever been a little too chronically online. No notes.

Great book with an excellent story and fantastic characters. I will look out for more from this author.

This book is everything! I have told everyone about it and bought a few copies for my friends!! Absolutely smashed it as an author!!

I had been looking forward to this book for a long time and it still managed to exceed my expectations. A solid mystery but where it really excels is the excellent portrayal of fandom culture.

I laughed out loud multiple times as I recognised things I have seen in various fandoms over the years (and still do) but it also highlights how scary it can get.

A great twist at the end too!

3.5 stars. This was such a fun read. It did take me longer than it should have but I'm not entirely sure if that was just me or the book. I never read the original novella but I remembered seeing it online so it's cool that it got turned into a novel. I would definitely recommend this to fans of the good girls guide to murder series, as it has a very similar plot of trying to find out the truth of a murder that had supposedly already been solved and is told in a mixed media format. I didn't see the end coming and it was pretty wild but I felt like there wasn't enough ground work in the rest of the novel for readers to even attempt to guess at the real killer or Gottie's identity. I also felt that gottie was as much or even more of a mystery than the murder but other than them trying to hunt her down a couple of times, there wasn't as much substance as I would have liked. I did however really relate to Delilah when it came to her struggles with her friends as I've been in Delilah's position. I also loved the queer representation in this book.

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

Teenager Delilah meets Sawyer Saffitz (son of the Anya Saffitz, aka Hollywood royalty) and she becomes hooked on a decade-old scandal, wher ea young actor on a popular TV show was found dead in mysterious circumstances, Delilah uncovers blogposts written by the mysterious "gottiewrites" and is soon caught up in a world of greed, fandom conspiracy theories and murder. I t's a decent enough mystery/thriller and very pertinent online fandom themes work well but fact it's a cold case makes much of it hard to get truly invested in., as it all feels at a bit of a remove? That said it has good teen appeal, and the writing style makes it a breeze to read.

I was a huge fan of An Unauthorised Fan Treatise (AUFT) when Lauren James first posted the blog, eagerly awaiting the weekly updates, so I was really excited to hear it was being turned into a novel. I was also a little hesitant, however, as a large part of what I loved about AUFT was the sheer genius of telling a true crime story through the medium of a fan blog. Having spent my teenage years as part of various fandoms, I'm familiar with some of the big fandom conspiracies and read many a deranged blog post and PowerPoint. Although I never believed any of the fandom conspiracies myself, I always found them very entertaining, so I found the entire premise of AUFT incredibly compelling and an utterly unique form of storytelling perfectly fit for the internet age.

Last Seen Online does a commendable job of maintaining AUFT's character as a story told through blog posts while also holding its own as a novel. The inclusion of the blog posts and articles as well as the text messages between Delilah and her friends works pretty well. At the start, I didn't think I'd be very interested in Delilah's perspective and thought of just skimming through it to get to the Gottie blog posts that I was familiar with. However, I very soon found myself hooked. I found Delilah to be quite an endearing main character and I was just as interested in her individual plotlines as I was the Gottie storyline. The last quarter of the book could have been improved upon as I found it a bit rushed with a bit too much exposition and info dumping. I wish the reveal had come a bit sooner so more time could be spent unpacking some of the revelations. But overall, I thought this was pretty well done and an enjoyable read. James is really great at writing three-dimensional characters who are equally flawed as they are sympathetic and it's something I always look forward to when reading one of their books.

As a long time fandom girlie, this one was really intriguing for me. Delilah is a great character quick to uncover secrets but equally quick to ignore her own. It's been a long time since I read a YA novel and this didn't disappoint at all!

This was sooooo goooooood!

As someone who is pretty good at playing detective on the internet herself AND is interested in fandom culture and parasocial relationships this was just the perfect blend for me.

Inserting a murder case in a fandom really shows the absurdity of all those theories online. And if you were ever part of a fandom then all of this reads so realistically.

I loved how the two storylines were woven into each other and how at some point Delilah was experiencing the same thing she is currently reading about on a small scale. So clever!

The only thing I didn't quite like as much was the ending. The solution to the murder and everything around it was just ~~spilled~~, no questions asked. That felt a bit to easy.

Also I didn't like the decision Delilah made at the end. But I really hope that's just some sort of cliffhanger that will be solved in another book, because I would read that instantly!!!

4,5 ⭐