I am back with another review, today it is Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig. Thank so much to Raincoast Books for sending me a copy of this book for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed this book, there were a lot of things I didn't see coming, but they were all things that made sense. There was nothing that confused me in terms of plot twists.
Basically, this story follows Flynn, a guy who's girlfriend has gone missing. At first, everyone, even the police think that she has just run away. After all, it would be just like January to run away to prove a point. But soon days pass, and there's no sign of January. Rumours start, people think maybe she was taken, after all, her step-father is rich and running for Senate, he must be able to pay a hefty ransom. Accusations get thrown around, and you have no idea what happened.
People start asking questions, including Flynn. Soon he finds out that the guy Jan worked with didn't really say the things she said he did, and Jan didn't actually hate everyone at her fancy private school. In trying to find out what happened to January, Flynn starts to find that maybe he wasn't true to either of them, and that he has a secret lurking, threatening to spill over.
I am not going to say too much more about plot, just because I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that I enjoyed everything that happened with Flynn. He finds himself, and is able to stick up to those who brush him off as a someone they can push around.
I'm not sure if it's just because we didn't really see too much of her, other than in flashbacks, but I just wasn't a fan of January's. What she went through was horrendous, but her personality just didn't work for me. She was mean to Flynn and manipulated those around her. She was living a double life, complaining to her coworker about her 'emotionally abusive' boyfriend, and then goading Flynn with lies.
I really liked the voice of this story, and the writing style. Obviously it was written from a male POV, which is fairly unique, especially in YA, and I think Flynn had a great voice. He was smart witted and I found myself laughing out loud (quite awkwardly) to some of the stuff he was coming up with. I also really enjoyed the flashbacks woven into the story. They were the only real glimpses we got of Flynn and January's relationship, and I found that they helped add both backstory on their dynamic, as well as show us who January is, since we get everything from Flynn's perspective.
There were a few things that confused me a little bit in this story, not in what happened, but how it happened. Most notably is Flynn's breaking and entering investigation. The way it was all described, I just couldn't see it happening, and I found myself wondering how he got out of that situation alive.
I would be hesitant to call this a thriller, even though I have marked it as such, just because it isn't *thrilling.* I mean, it's definitely a mystery, but it doesn't have that, on the edge of my seat, biting my nails off thriller vibe. There's maybe two scenes where things get intense, but it's definitely not the whole book.
I don't know how I feel about Micah's reaction to Flynn's secret. I mean, I guess it makes sense, he wasn't upset about the secret itself, just the fact that Flynn kept a secret from him in the first place. They've been friends since they were in diapers and they know everything about each other. I can get where Micah was coming from, and I don't think, personally, that it was overtly offensive. I think his reaction was typical, and I feel like the author did a good job of making it realistic. Micah did end up coming around, but I think we needed the tension and separation to grow Flynn's other relationship.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was serious, but it had it's humorous moments to help break things up a bit.