The Last Witness

by Claire McFall. 3*s

Best enjoyed on the beach. *smirk*

Publisher’s Synopsis:

“Heather agrees to go camping with Dougie and his friends because she’s desperate to get closer to him, and a secluded beach sounds like the perfect place. But the trip takes a sinister turn that brings Heather’s plans to a violent end.

One by one, the group begins to vanish.

A year later, Heather knows she’s just lucky to be alive. And now, people are asking for answers, or else she will be the one to take the blame. But the truth about what happened on that trip is far more terrifying than anyone knows…”

Review:

This book had so many twists and turns. It jumps between present day and the past to the events that landed Heather in a mental hospital. It’s a thrill ride of supernatural proportions, with twist after interesting twist. Heather is lucky she’s alive…but not for the reasons we’re lead to think.

It starts simple enough—Heather and her friends plan a camping trip to a remote Scotland beach. She’s super hyped because her friend Dougie, who is also her crush, will be there with them. But so will her best friend’s meat head boyfriend. Things quickly go awry when they find out the meathead brought alcohol and something isn’t exactly right at the beach. When Dougie and Heather stumble across an ancient cairn and an interesting broach from inside, it seems to trigger something that no one is prepared for. 

One by one, their friends begin to disappear. At first, it seems like their friend just hitched a ride out, tired of Vince’s meat-headed shit. But then the car stops working, and another of their friends vanishes, and members of their party suddenly start getting sick. Shadows seem to move of their own accord and each new disaster causes further paranoia. 

Something is happening. The question is, is it supernatural, or is it human? Is it brought on by the strange tales regarding the beach they are on of pagan worship and blood sacrifice, or is it just the flickers of the fire and quiet isolation of the country that is making them see all that the most macabre things that their imaginations can muster? Or could it be that Dougie and Heather, in taking the broach from the cairn, have set in motion events that are beyond their control?

Heather, now imprisoned in a mental hospital awaiting trial, is one of the last remaining members of the group and the only one who knows the events that occurred on that weekend months ago that is able to talk about it. The other member of their party has been in the hospital in a coma, and is the only person who could save her from begin convicted of the murder of their friends. 

As the truth is slowly revealed layer by layer,  and the events of the past collide inevitably with the present, we find that the rotten core of it is something far darker and more malicious than we could have imagined. 

The twist at the end of this was pretty good. I did enjoy The Last Witness and thought it was a pretty good story. I did not see the ending coming and it made me enjoy it that much more!