Last Seen
- Judith D Collins
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
By: J.T. Ellison
Narrators: Saskia Maarleveld,
Scott Brick
Brilliance Audio
ISBN: 9781662520372
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: 08/01/2025
Format: Other
My Rating: 5 Stars + (ARC)
Darkness hides in unlikely places.
From New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison comes a twisted psychological thriller about the bonds of family and the disconnect between memory and the truth.
Come here. Come closer.
Halley James knows her marriage is over. But she’s not prepared for the rest of her life to fall apart too.
No one can hear you. No one can help you.
She just lost her job at the forensics lab. Her dad needs emergency surgery. But the biggest blow comes back home in Marchburg, Virginia, where she discovers her mother didn’t actually die in a car crash. Her mom was murdered—and her father lied about it all these years.
I have nothing to hide from you. Are you hiding something from me?
Since she was six years old, it’s been Halley and her dad. Now, she doesn’t know what to believe. Desperate for the truth, Halley chases down a lead in Brockville, Tennessee. But all there is not as it seems. Brockville’s utopian charm hides a chilling darkness. And Halley’s search for answers threatens to expose an unspeakable reality.
My Review
NYT bestselling author J.T. Ellison (a long time favorite) returns to a previous book setting, Marchburg, Virginia (with cameo appearances from The Goode School) from her book Good Girls Lie (5 stars) Blue Ridge Mountains Virginia to the creepy town of Brockville, Tennessee in this electrifying thriller, LAST SEEN which will keep you turning the pages to solve this engrossing mystery of what happened to a mother and sister.
In this chilling, sinister psychological thriller, Ellison keeps the suspense high to the shocking conclusion, leaving you on the edge of your seat!
Darkness hides in unlikely places.
About...
In 2017, in Washington, DC, Halley James, a forensic scientist at NISL, was fired (due to whistleblowing for sexual harassment) after she was expecting to be promoted and a raise. She loves lab work. This sudden loss of her job, a broken marriage, and her father's hospitalization after a fall, set the stage for the upheaval in Halley's life.
After all, she had offers from the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, and ATF. She also left her husband, Theo, three weeks earlier, their house in McLean, and their dog, Charlie. She wanted children, a family. He did not. Now living in a furnished basement apartment in Georgetown, and now this.
Now she is crying for more than her job, her failed marriage, and her childless belly. She is crying for the promise of a life that no longer exists.
Then she receives a call from her dad, who is in the hospital. He took a tumble down the front stairs and broke his femur. She must return to Marchburg, VA, to help out her dad (since she no longer has a life). Her dad teaches at the Goode School, a private girls' prep school.
Her parents moved from Nashville to Virginia after the car accident that took her mother and sister's lives when she was six. It has been she and her dad since. Being the daughter of a professor was always a positive.
When her father asks her to retrieve some insurance papers for him, she looks in his home office instead of his work office. She uncovers some shocking information that changes everything she thought about her life, leaving her and the readers stunned.
She discovers her mother, Susannah Elizabeth Handon, age 35, was murdered, and her 16-year-old daughter was held for questioning. He is horrified. Her half sister, Catroni (Cat), murdered her mother?
What is happening? She was told they both died in a car accident when she was six, twenty-eight years ago. She barely remembers pieces, flashes of memories
Now she is getting a headache, something she has experienced since the accident. Why had her father lied?
Did something sinister happen? She must confront her father. Now her childhood home belongs to a stranger. She is shocked. Her dad betrayed her and lied to her.
From here, Halley starts a search for the truth. What she finds says Catrona is dangerous and has not been seen since 2002, fifteen years earlier. Where did she go?
Driven by a fierce determination for the truth, Halley chases down a lead in Brockville, Tennessee. It appears that her sister attended a literary workshop in 2002 at Brockville Artist Colony and has not been seen since.
But Brockville’s utopian charm hides a chilling darkness. And Halley’s search for answers threatens to expose an unspeakable reality.
My thoughts...
LAST SEEN is one of J.T. Ellison's best, and she pulls out all the stops!
A haunting, intricately layered, and lyrical novel about family secrets, unspoken evil, and the search for the truth, no matter the costs.
In a town no one ever leaves, there are only so many places to hide. The sinister tone builds relentlessly and conjures a menacingly beautiful setting with darkness underneath the surface. There is plenty to hide and the ruthlessness to keep their secrets hidden.
Ellison's writing truly shines in her descriptions of the town of Brockville's residents. A compelling exploration of the meaning of family: the sacrifices we make, the secrets we keep, and the lengths to which we will go to protect the ones we love.
I was utterly glued to the pages in this edgy, gritty, and twisty spine-chilling psychological suspense with all the Gothic creepy vibes that will keep you turning the pages into the wee hours of the morning! Creepy in the best possible way,
The utopian, isolated, elegant village of Brockville was fascinating, eerie, and creepy, setting a spine-chilling tone.
Atmospherically, the author brilliantly sets the mood with contrasts of beauty and idyllic to dark and evil below the surface. There are also a lot of metaphors and contrasts with the settings and the characters.
The story masterfully intermingles mystery and psychological tension, emotional depth, with a standout main character who wrestles with her memories and the present. In this thrilling adventure, the author explores the haunting shadows that can lurk beneath the surface of a picturesque facade.
Brockville reminds me of Serenbe, a beautiful wellness community connected to nature on the edge of Atlanta, Georgia, which I enjoyed visiting. (but unlike Brockville's evil side). Rea Frey also has a book that was based on this project.
I was excited to revisit The Goode School (if you read) Good Girls Lie, where we get an update and visit past characters.
With her signature style, Ellison combines family secrets, domestic violence, cults, trauma, mind control, manipulation, memories, and childhood drama with complex characters, mind-bending suspense, a twisty plot, lyrical prose, and an atmospheric setting—delivering a top-notch, compelling page-turner!
LAST SEEN is a clever, twisted, and shocking whodunit, as the author carefully peels back the layers of dark secrets and the mysteries of the past and how they connect to the present. This engrossing tale of a charming town hiding a chilling past is Southern Gothic at its best.
Thriller fans, this is a must-summer read!
Audiobook...
I am currently listening to the killer audiobook narrated by two favorites, Scott Brick and Saskia Maarleveld. Highly recommend!
Recs...
LAST SEEN is for fans of the author and those who enjoyed her Good Girls Lie, as well as fans of Gothictown by Emily Carpenter, The Girls by Emma Cline, Bald-Faced Liar by Victoria Helen Stone, What's Done in Darkness by Laura McHugh, and the hit show, a speculative fiction series, Paradise.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: Aug 1, 2025
My Rating: 5 Stars
About the Author
Photo Credit: Kidtree Hello Photography
J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty novels and the Emmy Award–winning cohost of the literary TV show A Word on Words. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.
With millions of books in print, the author has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards for her work. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.
J.T. lives with her husband and twin kittens, one of whom is a ghost, in Nashville, where she is hard at work on her next novel. WEBSITE
Praise
“My favorite kind of thriller—dark family secrets, high-stakes mystery, and a shocked daughter who will stop at nothing to determine the truth. Wherever J.T. Ellison goes, I want to follow.”
—Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Still See You Everywhere
“In Last Seen, J.T. Ellison weaves a gripping tale of family secrets, broken trust, and the slippery nature of memory. When Halley James learns her mother was murdered—not killed in an accident—her search for the truth leads to a deceptively perfect town hiding dark secrets. With twists that keep you guessing, this masterfully crafted thriller showcases Ellison at the top of her game.”
—Liv Constantine, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish
“Darkly original and bursting with hold-your-breath suspense, Last Seen by J.T. Ellison is a haunting deep dive into a harrowing crime, buried memories, and one woman’s obsession to discover the truth no matter the consequences. At the top of her game, Ellison’s expert storytelling is on full display—Last Seen is a must-read for thriller fans.”
—Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author of The Overnight Guest and The Perfect Hosts
“If someone lies about the things that matter most to you, it’s your right, isn’t it, to go after the truth? So, bravo to fearless forensic scientist Halley James for daring to peel away the layers of deceit in this dark, twisty, and gripping thriller that grabs you, pulls you in, and keeps you guessing until you reach the final page with your heart pounding in your chest.”
—Kate White, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Time She Saw Him
