What a rollercoaster I consented to ride! “Last Days” started off strong, kinda sorta puttered about in the middle, and then just…ended. Sure, there was plenty of tension. Thrills and chills? Absolutely! It scared the crap out of me more times than I’d care to admit to the seven people who read my reviews. Did this book place Adam Nevill on several Big Whopper (TM) horror lists? Apparently! If it were a competition of how many times he could explain how fat the mean bad lady was, he definitely won!

Hyperbole aside, I feel it’s petty of me to dwell on the boredom created by the (rather insidious, if you think about it) misogyny depicted in “Last Days,” but I can’t help but tack off a few points because of it. It is such a let-down when the story is captivating in all the right ways, but you kind of end up wishing the worst for the characters because of their shitty personalities. I don’t think we’re supposed to read Kyle as a whiny edgelord but if the duck quacks? My sympathy dwindled as I read and read and read. I suppose a certain irony can be found in my attachment to literally every other character than the protagonist, given the subject matter of the narrative.

Regardless, I’d recommend this book to a fan of spooky cult reads with a warning of its density and lead character quality.

3/5 because of the gristly layer of “um, actually”