If you’re a teenager, or even young adult, you might enjoy a short novel I just read. Here is my book review of Famous Last Words.

This exciting, mysterious and slightly romantic novel Famous Last Words written by Katie Alender had me captivated until the end, in this murder-mystery thriller. Katie takes us on a ride alongside Willa, a teenage girl with some supernatural talents that give her clues to catch a killer.

Famous Last Words is about a teenage girl named Willa who moves to Hollywood to live with her mother and new stepfather. When she gets there she thinks she is seeing things. Things like a dead body in her swimming pool and scribbled messages on her walls. It seems as if someone is trying to send her a message. Willa thinks that these strange things that keep happening could have to do with a serial killer that stalks young actresses and sets up their deaths as famous movie scenes.

I have to admit that I didn’t know who the ghost was until it was revealed. I enjoyed the way Alender kept me reading to see when Willa would figure out who the killer was. Cynthia Hand, NYT bestselling author of the Unearthly series quoted, “This fun, creeptastic book is a thrill ride that kept me guessing until the last moment. Nobody does ghost stories like Katie Alender.”

Although the book started out slowly and it was obvious who the killer was, I still enjoyed the theme of the murder mystery with the plot of the famous Hollywood actresses and movies. Booklist describes it as, “Gothic horror meets Hollywood glamour in this satisfying mystery-thriller with a supernatural twist”.

Alender uses first person and writes in simple terms and words so it easy to understand. The novel allowed me to imagine some things on my own but was still descriptive enough to set a scene in my mind.

Although the novel had some weaknesses, I still enjoyed it because it kept me wanting to read more. Even though I thought it was obvious who the killer was there was still a plot twist; therefore, I would rate it 3/5.