The Last Housewife: A Novel

Product Information

It's not every day I finish a novel and decide right then and there that the author is now an auto-buy. While I was anticipating a great story from Winstead, I wasn't expecting to inhale her new book in one breathless read. The Last Housewife is a propulsive, unputdownable thriller with a dark, beating heart. It chilled me to the bone, and I'm still recovering. Ashley Winstead, I bow down." — Jennifer Hillier, author of the bestselling Little Secrets Up close, the [house] was somehow larger than how it had looked from the road. Are you being dead ass with this? The plot is told mostly through telling rather than showing, which led me to feel disconnected from the characters. In this book, Shay DeRoy is a survivor of a cult which was based on the belief that men are naturally superior to women, and therefore have the right to dominate and abuse women as they saw fit. The cult is run by a dangerous and charismatic man named Don. Shaye escaped, but Don also got away, and now women are dying mysteriously, apparently by suicide. Shaye and her close friend Jamie, who runs a podcast, start to wonder if Don is running a new and even more dangerous cult, and set out to go undercover to investigate.

This book was one of the most intense, dark, bleak, absolute eyes popper- nail biter- soul crusher- mind blower- nightmare caller- jaw dropper! THIS BOOK. I haven’t read a book in a long time that I couldn’t put down and when I had to I would count down the minutes until I could read it again. Let me preface this by saying PLEASE read the content warnings. This book has really dark content and has many scenes with violence against women depicted. The Last Wife is my second helping of British based author Karen Hamilton’s work. I really enjoyed Hamilton’s 2018 debut, The Perfect Girlfriend. While it did take some time for me to settle into this one, I’m glad I persisted, it was a steady and revealing race to the finish line!Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review. This is not a light or easy read; it raises many questions about sexual consent and agency as it depicts a powerful organization hellbent on maintaining that power. But it's also suspenseful and propulsive, as Shay begins getting closer and closer to the truth --- and gradually starts to recall the self she’s kept painfully buried for far too long.

Wendy Walker, international bestselling author of All is Not Forgotten and Don’t Look for Me “A dark, twisted tale of feminism and patriarchy, Ashley Winstead has given us a gripping story about a cult and the ways in which women became psychologically bound, while at the same time exploring themes of power and redemption. Timely and terrifying, The Last Housewife will haunt your dreams and change the way you view the world.” Cults and governmental corruption have been going on for a long time, and what people don't really talk about is that men usually run them from places of privilege and power. This was the first time I really read about a cult from the perspective of an *groomed?* female participator. If you take a look at Hollywood, you'll see a ton of actresses and actors who are linked to cults, but it's not often we get their side of the story. I don't know what kind of research Winstead did to write this book - but her story was so well told - I feel like she must have done some extensive interviewing!!The key element throughout the book is Marie's relationship with Nina, who was her best friend at school and art college. Marie is now a photographer, and her work forms an important ingredient to this novel. Marie is a clingy sort of person; jealous of anyone else, male or female, who becomes close to Nina. Following Nina’s marriage to Stuart, they soon have two children, but their happiness isn’t to last, when Nina is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Special thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions. I was super impressed with ashley’s first debut novel, in my dreams I hold a knife, so I literally screamed when I received the arc for this one. and I screamed the whole way through. As soon as the plot got to the really dark sections, Winstead switches gears. I was expecting this book to really go there, since the reader is forewarned. However, if you are trigger sensitive, I definitively suggest you pay close attention to them. The story focuses on Shay Deroy, a 30 year old married woman living in Texas with her successful husband Cal. Shay loves true crime podcasts, especially one created by an old childhood friend of hers, Jamie. While listening to the true crime podcast, Shay finds out that one of her high school best friends, Laurel, has died and the police are calling it a suicide. The facts don't line up with a suicide and Shay wants to avenge Laurel's death. Shay and Laurel had a very dark past that Shay would like forgotten, but when Shay and Jamie dive into her college BFF's life to find out the truth, Shay realizes that sometimes the past just won't go away.