Review: Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig

Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig
Published in 2016
Genres: Mystery, Suspense

Flynn's girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking question he can't answer, and her friends are telling stories that don't add up. All eyes are on Flynn―as January's boyfriend, he must know something.
But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January's disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself.

This book wasn't an intentional pick-up. Browsing the library catalog, I requested a book they didn't have. I needed the ISBN, so I checked Amazon. Under the "Customers who bought this item also bought" was Last Seen Leaving. The cover was intriguing enough for me to click, and it got my interest.

I brought it with me to my father's doctor appointment to read in the waiting room, and I was blown away.

And I'll come out and say it, in case there's anyone 'not into' this: there is gay romance. And kissing. Oh no.

And it's not just something that happens to be part of the character. It's a minor part of the plot, which makes it much more fun to read. This book keeps you on your toes until the very last page - and I really do mean last.

"There was a corpse in my neighbor's front yard"

With an opening line like that, you've caught your reader's attention from the beginning.

The story only took off from there. We find out about January's vanishing pretty soon, and after that, the story goes slow, but that isn't always a bad thing.

The mystery was harder to figure out then I expected, and the final twist in the last chapter was like being stabbed a second time.

A complaint many people seem to have about this book is Flynn's vocabulary being too mature for his age. Well, he's not shown to us as an average 15-year old, and there are teenagers who use SAT words in daily conversation - myself included.

And then there's the people saying that a 15-year old solving the case before the police is unrealistic.

Of course it is. It's a YA. The entire point is to give teenagers a world where they aren't powerless.

Flynn's self realization was one of my favorite parts, easily. His slow self-acceptance mirrored something I have seen in real life with friends.

"'I can't believe you dove at me like fucking Batman. It was kind of badass actually."

Then there's the one part that is rightfully questionable. The romance.

Flynn is 15-year old who ends up with a college student. Extremely questionable, but it's completely overlooked in book.

Regardless, I enjoyed the rest of this book, earning 4.5 stars.