The Last to Vanish

 By Megan Miranda

Scribner 2022

336 pages     Mystery

 Megan Miranda hiked on the Appalachian Trail when she was a child and now lives in North Carolina. The compelling atmosphere of those mountains became the setting for her newest novel The Last to Vanish.   

Abby Lovett came to Cutter’s Pass and the Passage Hotel following the death of her mother when she was looking for a purpose for her life. The inn had been built by some relatives, but Abby knew nothing about the notoriety for Cutter’s Pass as the “most dangerous town in North Carolina.”  It was so named because over 25 years, several trail hikers have disappeared, including a group of four college friends, nicknamed the Fraternity Four, a woman in 2012, a photographer in 2019, and an investigative journalist just four months ago  Abby had met both the photographer and the journalist in her job as manager of the hotel, but she does not become particularly concerned until the brother of the journalist arrives at the hotel looking for information.

It is then that Abby really becomes interested in the mystery and concerned about the role the hotel (or people connected with the hotel) might have had to the disappearances. She finds  an important piece of evidence in an unlikely place, and now she is firmly in the mystery. She discovers how little she really knows about the coworkers, people of the community, and even those closest to her. The tension increases until it culminates in a scene worthy of a scary film.

Miranda does a wonderful job creating the setting for the book. The village of Cutter’s Pass, the Appalachian trail that leads from the hotel, and the nearby waterfall are so well described that the reader settles right in, until the sense of foreboding strangles the beauty of the scenery. Here is a lovely description of an Appalachian morning. “In the distance, the fog was lifting off the mountain, like smoke. Wisps of heavy gray still clung to the trees in sections, muting everything. It was my favorite kind of morning, haunting and beautiful.”

 Miranda also develops strong characters, although I had occasional trouble remembering who some of them were—particularly people from the village who play smaller roles in the plot.

The plot, itself, is a slow burn. A couple of times I thought I wanted to quit because the story moved so slowly, but I kept getting drawn in until I just couldn’t stop reading. The Kirkus reviewer suggests that “the plot finally loses itself somewhat in a tangle of strained connections.” However that reviewer calls The Last to Vanish a “richly atmospheric thriller.” Publisher’s Weekly gave it a starred review and mentions that Miranda is “writing at the top of her game.”

I wouldn’t go so far as to give The Last to Vanish five stars, nor would I say that this was my favorite book of the summer. However, it made me want to go on a hiking trip—just not alone!

Here is Megan Miranda’s website and a list of all her books. The Last to Vanish was the first that I had read although, as it turns out, I have two other of her novels on my Kindle, sent from the publisher. I’ve got a lot more reading to do!