It's been a while since I was completely immersed in a thrilling "Who Done It".  Thus I totally enjoyed Wendy Corsi Staub's The Last To Know.  With a terrifying premise, fully developed characters, and a giant list of interesting suspects, I wasn't bored for a moment!  And, when I finally found out "Who Done It", I was not disappointed for a moment.  Yup - this book was really enjoyable!

Imagine the fear, when a serial killer is on the loose.  And his victims are eerily similar to you.  That's what Tasha is facing.  Life in her idyllic town has been turned upside down, since her friends started dying.  Each victim is a young, stay-at-home Mom, just like Tasha.  And with three young kids to take care of, and her husband constantly away, no wonder Tasha's scared to death!  Who could possibly want to kill these women...  And could Tasha be next? 

That's the terrifying premise Ms Staub poses. 

Along the way, we get to know Tasha and a whole bunch of her neighbors and friends.  If anything, this book gives us too much character development, which is not a complaint I frequently have.  But, this book definitely spends a lot of time letting us get to know these families.  The women, the kids, and the ups and downs in their marriages.  Constantly bouncing around the many points of view, the book comes off a bit like a soap opera.  While I personally wasn't bored, I can well understand someone complaining that the book is a little light on the action, and a bit heavy on the touchy-feely drama in these women's lives. 

Indeed, it does take quite a long time before the real guts of the story gets going.  And then we start finding suspects around every corner.  It seems that every one of these families is hiding some juicy secret or other, and therefore we get lots and lots of suspects.  The fun is figuring out if our "favorite" suspect is the guilty party.  The author does a very good job in leading us down several paths, and not really letting us know, until the very end, which path is the correct one.

I do have to say that the husbands are really given the short end of the stick, in this book.  Mostly, they are emotionally absent from their wives, oblivious to everything going on around them, and basic jerks.  It would have been nice, if we could have seen a marriage where both partners are happy, working together, and supporting each other, instead of bickering, or simply co-existing.

Still, this is a very enjoyable book, one that held my interest throughout.  With no gratuitous sex, and no graphic violence, I can highly recommend this book for lovers of the "Who Done It" genre.

Recommended: Yes