The Last Cabin Girl (Detective Josie Thompson Series) by Tom Swyers – Review by Tara Johnson Barnes

The Last Cabin Girl by Tom Swyers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Josie is a waitress working in a small diner in her hometown that she cannot wait to leave. After leaving her abusive husband she is waiting for her divorce to be finalized so that she can start fresh somewhere else with her two kids. Unfortunately, life has other plans for Josie and suddenly she is mixed up in a murder case.

When Josie discovers a body floating in the river near the isolated cabin that her and her kids live in, she chooses to look the other way and not say anything to anyone about what she saw. From personal experience Josie knows what the reaction would be from friends, family and the local folks who love to gossip. Josie knows this because she was teased and ridiculed years ago when she saw a body in the same river when she was younger. What Josie never expected was for the FBI to charge her with one of the murders. Now faced with living her life behind bars and never seeing her children again, Josie is desperate to prove her innocence. But who can she trust to help?

As Josie starts looking into the mystery of the dead bodies in the river, she stumbles onto some dark secrets that have been held for years. Secrets that even her own parents have kept from her about her identity and where she came from. Secrets that they will not divulge for fear of what will happen to them all. Josie is already struggling with her own personal demons as well as growing concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic so this news could not have come at a worst time. Still unsure of who to trust Josie asks the help of her brother to solve the murders and prove her innocence.

The author did an amazing job of keeping the reader hooked and wanting more. I found this book impossible to put down as it took some twists and turns that I never saw coming. The character of Josie was well written and contained many layers. As the story unfolded there were moments that I could not help wondering if Josie really was innocent. Was Josie capable of murder? Did she black out during one of her episodes? There were so many questions that begged to be answered which of course required reading until those questions were answered. I highly recommend this psychological thriller!

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