Last Seen Leaving--"Sweat prickled like a rash across my scalp, and my heart chugged like the engine of an ocean liner"

Title: Last Seen Leaving

Author: Caleb Roehrig


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Flynn's girlfriend, January, is missing. The police are certain Flynn knows something, especially when they discover that January was pregnant when she disappeared. Forced to come out the closet to clear his name, Flynn vows to find out what happened to January--did she run away, or was she murdered? And if she is dead, will her killer strike again?


What I think: Last Seen Leaving has been in my TBR pile for months, and I finally got around to it thanks to . . . Twitter.

I have said for years I was never going to do "The Tweeter" (as I call it to annoy my children and students) because I did not want another thing on the Internet to distract me; I have plenty of those, thankyouverymuch. I even signed up for it nearly three years ago and never touched my account, until one day around Halloween someone asked, "why don't you do Twitter just for blog- and library-related stuff?"

That sounds reasonable, I agreed. I set up my Twitter as my blog name and began to be super professional online.

Yeah, right.

I set up Twitter as my blog name and discovered all the writers, librarians, and generally awesome people on there. Plus, I followed all of my childhood heroes: Jim Henson's Sesame Street and Muppets. I still do blog- and library-related stuff, but I am now as addicted to The Tweeter as I predicted I would be.

I really enjoy following authors of books I've read or seen at the library and book stores. These people have books that I can buy or check out from the library. Therefore, the authors I follow on Twitter are FAMOUS and you can't convince me otherwise.

Following authors on Twitter reminds me of my childhood goals to write series like The Baby-sitters Club and Sweet Valley High. I actually just found out that David Levithan was instrumental in the publishing of the BSC. So cool!!!

I enjoy following the author of Last Seen Leaving on The Tweeter because his Tweets are awesome and very much reminds me of one of my high school besties.

Plus, I hadn't read a good murder mystery in a long time, and Last Seen Leaving fit that bill.

HERE BE SPOILERS.
.
.
.

The book begins by fooling the readers with a description of a Halloween-decoration-style corpse and jumping right into the action of Flynn finding the police at his house to question him about his girlfriend January's disappearance. I really enjoy the narrative style of the book--instead of Flynn giving us exposition about January's and his relationship, we readers "flash back" via italicized text and relive the experiences with Flynn.

A red herring was established with January's senator-wannabe stepfather, ruthless campaign manager, and a**hole stepbrother. These suspects seemed too obvious for me; plus, motives weren't obvious. The more Flynn (and I as the reader) learned about January, the more untrustworthy she seemed, in a very Gone Girl way. I immediately zeroed in on January's former drama teacher, who gave off extremely creepy vibes.

Then the body of another student is found, and the s*** hits the fan. Flynn needs to solve the mystery before someone else is killed.

Kaz, a former coworker of January's, becomes Flynn's friend/love interest, helping him to solve the mystery of January's disappearance. I love those two boys, but I seriously doubted their intelligence for a key scene. In a TSTL move, Flynn breaks into the main suspect's apartment to find . . . what? Some Scooby-Doo style mask?  Smocking [sic] gun evidence?

Me, reading the book: Flynn, what are you DOING?  

My children: Mom, the characters in the book can't hear you. 

Me: FLYNN! What the heck; he's obviously crazy. LEAVE! This will not end well!!!

Children: The people in the book aren't real, Mom.

Me:  KAZ!  Quit calling his phone and GET YOUR A** up there and get him OUT!  

My 6-year-old then put me in timeout for cussing, but she let me take my book with me. Ha. Rookie mistake. 😉


Anyway, I thought I had the ending figured out, but then it took a turn for the disturbing, and then even more mysterious twists at the end revealed that I didn't have a clue what really happened to January. YES. The best kind of ending.

Also, Roehrig's simile/metaphor/imagery game is ON POINT.  Observe:

• "Anson Walker was the d***hole equivalent of a kung fu master" (paperback edition, pg. 22).
• "  . . . all the blood in my body made an immediate, mad rush. . . like a horde of Black Friday shoppers at the opening bell" (pg 95).
• "The second I closed my eyes, the darkness in my room filled with swarming ravens, black feathers flashing as they were drawn by the scent of my ex-girlfriend's blood" (pg. 151).
• "I felt the room do a complete barrel roll, my stomach growing as cold as the ocean floor" (pg. 217).
• " . . . he stood out like a tuxedo at a hootenanny, and about a hundred curious eyes followed me as I headed his way. I was starting to get used to being tracked in the hallways like some exotic migratory bird" (pg. 231).
• "It was the expression of a man who'd just caught a pickpocket in the act of stealing his wallet" (pg. 241).
• " . . . breakneck drivers crisscrossing our path with the brutal, unyielding determination of charioteers in the Circus Maximus" (pg. 245).

This English teacher approves. 👍


This book is on the 2018 Rainbow Book List.


My final takeaway (in 75 words or fewer): Definitely read it--even if you figure out the "bad guy" in theory, you won't be able to predict the ending. And that is high praise.


Memorable quotes/passages from the book:  See all of the quotes above and also:

• "He'd said I was a good kisser; he'd said he wanted me to call him. I was embarrassed and confused and upset and thrilled all at the same time" (pg. 149).
• "I was already sort of crying and laughing at the same time, overwhelmed with relief, when he added, 'And I am really, really glad you didn't get anybody pregnant'" (pg. 167).
• "I had cousins, too, and I wondered if this was the sort of thing they said to their gay friends when they found out about me. And how funny was I going to have to be to fit in, anyway?" (pg. 177). 
• "Sweat prickled like a rash across my scalp, the air around me stifling, and my heart chugged like the engine of an ocean liner" (pg. 281).

Other reviews: Books for a Delicate Eternity and Vegan Daemon


This book is available in the Greensboro Public Library.