The Last Verse by Caroline Frost (2024)
Can't express enough how much I enjoyed this book, an addictive, immersive read that makes you lose yourself in the high drama of its lead character. Even better, it also performs an expert tightrope walk between the heartrending elements while functioning as a suspenseful thriller to you keep riveted as to what happens next.
It's 1977. 19 year old Twyla Finch, shy, innocent and living under the domineering thumb of her Evangelical mother, impulsively breaks free. Upon hearing of Elvis Presley's death, she boards a bus to Memphis, joining the grieving crowds at Graceland. A gifted fledgling singer-songwriter (as was her late father), Twyla meets Chet Wilton. He's the son of weathy Nashville uppercrusts who've indulged his futile, untalented efforts to front his own country band.
Like countless others, Twyla moves on to Nashville to pursue her dreams of singer-songwriter stardom. But when she crosses paths with Chet again, all of her life's ambitions and hopes become upended in catastrophic ways she could never imagine. (and which I'll not go into any detail here so as not to spoil the experience of the book's many twists and turns. )
What does come out of Twyla's travails is a remarkable, stunning song......but it's a song that not only reveals her innate amazing talents, it also uncovers an agonizing, crushing guilt that she can barely contain. And what's worse for her, she's not alone in knowing where the song's inspiration came from.
I loved how this book seized my attention immediately and had me rooting and worrying for Twyla from the first chapter on. The story gives off definite Nicholas Sparks vibes, in that it keeps your heart breaking and aching as her small triumphs and terrible troubles escalate . And if that isn't enough, the story throws in all the suspense of a procedural thriller.
And those last epilogue chapters, I should warn, are expertly crafted to put readers through an emotional wringer ......meaning I didn't have to think twice about giving "The Last Verse" 5 stars (*****). This one stands as one of my favorite 2024 reads so far.
If you enjoy some real drama mixed in with suspense, here's a top choice to put on the top of your list.........
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