CW: Suicide, rape, physical violence, sexual violence, trauma, self-harm, misogyny, gender essentialism, and drug use.

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead was the first book on my Thriller TBR for this month. I was first exposed to Ashley Winstead when I read her book, In My Dreams I Hold a Knife which was one of the best books I read in 2022. I had high expectations about The Last Housewife and this book was enthralling. I liked The Last Housewife, but I don’t know if I could stomach re-reading it again in the future, that’s how dark this book was. The Last Housewife was a gripping book from start to finish, but please note the content warnings because this book does not mess around.

Shay Evans has a relaxing life; she lives in a nice home with her husband, and she quit her job to focus on writing. As Shay relaxes, she puts on her favorite True Crime podcast hosted by her childhood friend, Jamie. Jamie covers the potential murder of Laurel, Shay’s best friend from college. Shay has flashbacks from her time at college as Shay, Laurel, and their other friend Clem, experienced something traumatic that bonded them together. Shay assumed Laurel had fled from that. With all of this being said, Shay is committed to helping Jamie investigate Laurel’s death and uncover what happened to her.

If there is one thing that I think Ashley Winstead does so well is she writes unlikeable characters that you end up rooting for. If I don’t like a character, I find it difficult to read about them. Ashley Winstead’s books are the exceptions. If you couldn’t tell, I was not a fan of Shay. She parades herself as being a feminist, yet she hasn’t stuck up for the mistreatment of her friends. If that wasn’t enough, Shay spends her husband, Cal’s, money and then doesn’t think he is going to cut her off? I mean c’mon. Cal isn’t a great person, but I don’t agree with Shay that she can recklessly spend money either. Out of all the characters, I liked Jamie the best. He is genuinely a good person and I would love to see a series that focuses on Jamie investigating various crimes.

The Last Housewife is centered on a sex cult and that’s where this book takes this dark turn. It’s interesting to see how someone can go from lecturing about women’s empowerment to how women need to accept their gender roles and that men are superior. The way that this cult recruits young and vulnerable women is incredibly unsettling.

I mentioned previously how dark this book gets and I’m not kidding. There is so much that happens to Shay when she investigates Laurel’s death. There are moments when this book doesn’t let up and it seems to get perpetually darker. I will say that I think this is my max. If Ashley Winstead’s books are this graphic in the future, I may have to bow out and recognize this might not be for me.

I was debating what to rate The Last Housewife. My first thought was to rate this five stars because this book had me hooked. I love Ashley Winstead as an author and this book solidified why I like her books. I think the challenging part for me is the ending which I wasn’t a fan of. I have the ending under spoiler tags on my Goodreads review if you’re curious about how the book ends. For now, I have left this book unrated. That might change the longer time goes on from the time I read this book, but for now, I’ll leave it open-ended. The Last Housewife was great, but please read the content warnings to determine if this book will be for you.