THE LAST WITNESS

Five friends travel to Black Cairn Point, but only two come back.

Heather, Martin, and Dougie set off to celebrate Dougie’s birthday with a camping trip to an isolated coastal spot in Scotland together with Heather’s best friend, Emma, and her annoying new boyfriend, Darren (the one with the car). If Heather’s crush on her friend Dougie didn’t already make things awkward enough, the dynamics are further disturbed by Darren’s confrontational demeanor, which spurs tension and divides the group. Then things take a turn for the worse when one of them goes missing after they find an ancient burial site. One year later, while the only other survivor continues to suffer from the aftereffects of the trip, Heather is still struggling to tell the truth about what happened in an attempt to prove both her innocence as well as her sanity. With a narrative that alternates between then and now, this atmospheric novel straddle the line of the supernatural while keeping up with its teenage protagonists’ lives. Readers know from the start that something has gone terribly wrong during that trip, but the author deftly keeps the tension going, efficiently playing with horror tropes and unreliable narratives as the two timelines ultimately converge. All characters seem to be white.

A suspenseful thriller that will leave readers guessing until the end.