ARC Review: The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka

The Last Place You Look
Author: Kristen Lepionka
Publication: Minotaur Books (June 13, 2017)

Description: Nobody knows what happened to Sarah Cook. The beautiful blonde teenager disappeared fifteen years ago, the same night her parents were brutally murdered in their suburban Ohio home. Her boyfriend Brad Stockton―black and from the wrong side of the tracks―was convicted of the murders and is now on death row. Though he’s maintained his innocence all along, the clock is running out. His execution is only weeks away when his devoted sister insists she spied Sarah at an area gas station. Willing to try anything, she hires PI Roxane Weary to look at the case and see if she can locate Sarah.

Brad might be in a bad way, but private investigator Roxane Weary isn’t doing so hot herself. Still reeling from the recent death of her cop father in the line of duty, her main way of dealing with her grief has been working as little and drinking as much as possible. But Roxane finds herself drawn in to the story of Sarah's vanishing act, especially when she links the disappearance to one of her father’s unsolved murder cases involving another teen girl.

The stakes get higher as Roxane discovers that the two girls may not be the only beautiful blonde teenagers who’ve turned up missing or dead. As her investigation gets darker and darker, Roxane will have to risk everything to find the truth. Lives depend on her cracking this case―hers included.

My Thoughts: Roxane Weary is reeling after the death of her cop father in the line of duty. Despite the fact that they didn't agree on much of anything, she is trying to fill the hole in her life by working too little as a private detective and drinking too much. When her brother Matt sends a client her way, she reluctantly takes the case, Her client is convinced that her brother who is on death row and within months of his execution for killing the parents of his girlfriend is innocent. And no one has seen the girlfriend since the night her parents died.

The client is convinced that she saw Sarah, the girlfriend, at a gas station in Belmont where the crime went down sixteen or so years earlier. Roxane goes to try to find out if it was Sarah. She meets with Brad, the boyfriend, who is still proclaiming his innocence and refusing to implicate Sarah in any way. Roxane's investigation draws the attention of the Belmont cops who don't want to even consider that Brad might be innocent.

Roxane keeps getting rousted and harassed by the cops. However, she has found that there was another murder similar to Sarah's parents. A young mother named Mallory disappeared and was later found wrapped in a tarp. She was killed with a knife after being sexually assaulted. Roxane becomes even more interested when she learns that her father had investigated this unsolved murder.

The plot was interestingly twisted and Roxane was an intriguing character. Personal details of her life added depth to her character and to the story. Her relationships with her father's partner and an old girlfriend add complications as does her relationship with her family.

This one was a real page-turner. I couldn't put it down until I reached the conclusion.

Favorite Quote:

It almost didn't make a difference if any of it was connected, not anymore, I tried to tell myself. Mallory and Colleen and Sarah's parents were still dead, even if no one ever figured out what really happened.

Except that wasn't true. Of course it mattered. It mattered to Brad and Danielle. And it mattered to Veronica and Shelby and Joshua.

And really, it mattered a whole hell of a lot to me.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.