The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

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🌅The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)
Five-Word Review: Suspenseful, twisty, atmospheric coastal mystery
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Mystery
Setting: Seaside town in Littleport, Maine

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: Major plot twists and the ending are revealed in this post. If you haven’t read The Last House Guest yet, consider bookmarking this for later!

💭 First Impressions

After loving two of Megan Miranda’s other novels, I was excited to dive into The Last House Guest—and it definitely kept me guessing. While it didn’t totally blow me away, it delivered a steady stream of suspense, a twisty small-town mystery, and a killer I didn’t see coming (which earns big points in my book). If you like coastal thrillers with secrets bubbling beneath the surface, this is one for your TBR.

📚 The Story: A Dead Girl, A Best Friend, and a Whole Town of Secrets

🏠 Welcome to Littleport, Maine

The story is told through the eyes of Avery Greer, a local woman with a complicated past and even more complicated present. She works as a property manager for luxury summer rentals, all owned by the wealthy and powerful Loman family—the elite rulers of the town’s social scene. Avery’s connection to the Lomans runs deeper than work, though. She was best friends with Sadie Loman, the golden daughter of the family.

The novel opens during the 2017 summer season-end party, where Sadie fails to show up. Avery gets a bad feeling—especially when Sadie isn’t answering texts. Not long after, the police arrive with devastating news: Sadie’s body has been found on the beach. They rule it a suicide, citing a cryptic note and a supposed diary matching Sadie’s handwriting.

But Avery doesn’t believe it.

🔍 Avery Digs In

Avery is haunted by the idea that Sadie didn’t kill herself. She remembers writing that same note months earlier—as an apology to Sadie, not a suicide note. And the supposed diary? Avery recognizes it as her own from years ago. She realizes the police got it all wrong… or someone made sure they did.

Her search for the truth brings back memories of her first meeting with Sadie—how they connected at a party, how Sadie seemed to already know who Avery was. It didn’t feel like chance.

🚪 Break-ins, Red Herrings & A Dark Past

Now in 2018, a year after Sadie's death, a string of break-ins hits the Loman properties Avery manages. At first, she wonders if someone is targeting her or connected to Sadie's death.

Plot twist: the break-ins were completely unrelated. A girl named Faith, whose family runs a struggling B&B, was behind them—a desperate attempt to sabotage the competition and attract guests to her family’s business. An entire subplot, cleverly placed, but ultimately a red herring.

📱 Secrets in Sadie’s Cell Phone

Amid one of the property inspections, Avery finds something huge: Sadie’s lost cellphone. On it are photos that reveal Sadie had been secretly spending time with Connor, Avery’s ex-boyfriend. Even more disturbing, there’s a photo of Harbor Drive, the site of the car accident that killed Avery’s parents years ago. Coincidence? Avery doesn’t think so.

Connor admits Sadie once asked him to take her to a secluded area called the Horseshoe Cove, a place with ties to Avery’s childhood. There, Avery finds a flash drive containing financial transactions—one of which was a suspicious deposit into her grandmother’s account, dated right after her parents' deaths. She realizes: the Lomans paid off her grandmother to keep quiet about the accident.

🩴 A Sandal, a Scratch, and a Smoking Gun

Digging deeper, Avery checks her own car—something Sadie had a spare key to. She discovers scratches in the trunk and a broken sandal buckle—the same sandals Sadie wore the night she died. Someone used Avery’s car to move Sadie’s body. If that wasn’t terrifying enough, Avery realizes she might be the one getting framed.

🧨 Explosive Finale: The Truth Comes Crashing Down

On the one-year anniversary of Sadie’s death, Avery sneaks into the Lomans' private office and finds medical records showing Parker Loman, Sadie’s brother, was treated for a concussion two days after her parents’ accident. The Lomans covered it up.

Avery texts the info to Detective Collins, the officer who investigated Sadie’s death. He shows up alarmingly fast... and starts burning the evidence. It hits Avery: Collins is part of the cover-up and killed Sadie to keep the truth buried.

She jumps from the balcony to escape—just like Sadie’s fatal fall—but survives. Collins follows, but Parker, hearing the commotion, arrives just in time. He confronts Collins, who confesses to it all. As Collins reaches for his gun, Parker shoves him off the cliff—the same place Sadie died.

📝 Aftermath & Reflection

  • Parker is arrested for the accident that killed Avery’s parents and for killing Collins

  • Avery sells her grandmother’s home and invests in local property

  • She continues her work in real estate with Faith, now that the Lomans' grip on Littleport has loosened

💬 Final Thoughts: Twisty, Atmospheric, and Enjoyably Mysterious

This one gets 4 out of 5 stars from me. Megan Miranda knows how to layer a mystery with just the right number of twists and red herrings. The plot kept me guessing until the very end, and even if some parts felt formulaic, the pacing and atmosphere more than made up for it.

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