The Last to Vanish

Product Information

Welcome to Cutter's Pass where no one knows anything and people act weird and probably guilty of something. Into this came Abagail Lovett, who acquires a dream job as a manager of the Passage Inn, where beauty exits and also a very ugly truth. People, starting with the Fraternity Four, keep on disappearing over the years. The community, plus law enforcement seem to turn a blind eye to these weird occurrences. When Landon West, a journalist, comes to town, the turmoil existing on a low level begins to churn and the why of the disappearances comes to the surface. A serial killer? A bear? A sinkhole? Something paranormal, Lost style? Is the Last to Vanish a paranormal?

Another theme in The Last to Vanish is that of appearance versus reality. In the beginning of the book, Abby describes the Passage Inn as a place that cultivates a false sense of “authenticity” by keeping logs in a gas fireplace. What, in your opinion, is the author’s intention in revealing this detail to the reader? Can you think of real world examples of places (or people) that work to cultivate a certain, perhaps false, image? Trey is the brother of Landon West, who went missing at the inn four months before. Abby gives him his brother’s former room. Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): YES Blooming rhododendron get a mention during the search for Landon in April; usually this bush doesn’t Bloomingdale North Carolina until June.My traitorous brain, which always says that there is no way I'd go on a cruise, spend time on a deserted island, or go down into a dark basement, none of those dumb book character choices for me...it kept wanting to go hiking, as I listened to this book. Of course, not hiking at the book's location since seven people had gone missing there. Hiking somewhere else, safe and not in a town that seems to be holding in secrets. Abby still isn’t quite an “insider” in this small town — and everyone else is divided into locals who were present during all the disappearances or just the latter few. Abby arrived just after Alice disappeared, but she is slowly discovering that all of the missing, including the original four, might not just have the woods and the Shallow Fall Trail in common, but also her inn seems to play a central role. Many different forms of “reality” appear in The Last to Vanish . Characters divulge rumors, talk about myths, and share practical (as well as comforting) explanations for the vanishings of past visitors. What does the novel suggest about truth and its relationship to myth? And mysteries they are. Over the years, a few hikers have just disappeared, starting with a group of hikers named the Fraternity Four who together all went missing over ten years ago and not one body has ever been discovered. Then another hiker disappeared and another. The town had been quiet for a while until three months ago when Landon West, a journalist researching the missing hikers disappeared. He has not been found and the tourists are once again coming to the town in full force. This is sure to make my favorites list this year, and I am already looking forward to seeing what Megan Miranda dreams up for us next!

What an engrossing way to spend my birthday this year. Abby Lovett has lived in Cutter's Pass, a small town infamous for visitors going missing, for the past ten years, since her mother died. She helps run an inn. When another visitor, a journalist, goes missing and he was last seen at their inn, Abby starts to get deeper into the mysteries that the small mountain community holds. Explore the role that “outsiders” play in The Last to Vanish , as well as in real life. Are they, like Landon and Trey West, able to pierce through the secrets that close-knit communities hide? Consider, in your evaluation, the role that Abby (who is both an outsider and not) plays in this novel. What kinds of revelations is she privy to as someone who occupies this unique position?The main character, Abbie even though she was a young adult , makes the most stunning decisions, some of them so dumb it left me shaking my head. She's depicted like an overwrought drama queen, with coincidences piling up one upon another. The strange disappearance of these four may have faded with time, except that there have been MORE THAN THESE FOUR WHO HAVE VANISHED!!! Most recently a journalist, Landon West! Abby is the sole narrator. I never love MM’s heroines, but I found Abby the most likable of them all. Even though the plot is focused on events from the past, the narrative takes place in the present, which worked well to stoke the tension and suspense as the reader isn’t quite sure what is going on in Cutter’s Pass, as the town exists in a history built of myth, rumors, and reality.