Last Act - Review

Author: Christopher Pike

Genre: Horror/ Young Adult

Format: Paperback

Pages: 226

When I was younger, in middle school ages, Christopher Pike was one of my favorite authors. Now of course that meant he wasn't a part of my small town's accelerated reader program, but every summer I would devour every Pike our local library had. Now as an adult and seeing how many books this man has written I realize wasn't really a lot because I've discovered so many I'd never heard of before, including Last Act. That was one of the reasons I wanted to go back and start reading Pike's again, and the fact I wanted to remember if some of the ones that still lived rent-free in my head were as gruesome as I remember. 

I will say that early Pike and late 90's Pike (which I read the most of) are two different kinds of story. Honestly, I like them both. I like this less horror and more murder mystery. It was softer in tone and not super fast-paced either, though it was far from a sleepy mystery either. Last Act also didn't needs the gore or the usual horror tropes to work. It's a multiple-layer story with three stories being told at the time: Melanie's point of view of the murder she was set up for, what happened the summer before she even arrived in Careville, and the big double cross.

However, it all works together because every piece fits together so perfectly, almost like a chain reaction. Because this happened and this story was told, it caused this to happen, and then the perfect patsy arrived, and the entire evil plan came together. And, from the second the murder happened I was like, this person did it. I don't know what, but I swear it was this character. Then as Melanie starts to investigate I was like, maybe it was this person. Oh, what about this person.

I fell for the distraction. And, I kind of secretly wanted to be a little bit like Scream for reasons. 

As a main character, I liked Melanie well enough. Actually, I honestly liked most of the characters for what they were meant to be. As a kind of Final Girl, Melanie was a solid character, determined, smart, and not backing down. As a leading female character in the 80s and 90s thriller fiction, I liked her. All of the characters were a bit two-dimensional, but I don't think it pulled from the story, and the plot is solid enough you don't really notice they each character is kind of beige. 

What I find, and maybe it's because of my age now as I read these 'teen thrillers' is would parents really just be left alone like this, all the time. Also, who just goes back to school after becoming the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Especially in small towns USA where gossip is better than gold because ain't no one got anything better to do. Also, who goes back to school and doesn't face backlash from the students. My small town would never. In fact, I could see our school board informing Melanie's father that it would be best if she didn't return until all of this was settled. 

Also, Melanie's lawyer was garbage. I wanted to throat-punch her.

 I'm also not overly fond of that happy ending, for the type of story that is Last Act it makes sense. Melanie deserved a happy ending and that sort of looks like what she was going to get. However, I hate epilogues. I don't know why, I cannot give you a rational explanation for this. I get it, with stories like this it's a jump forward to where are they now, and how did they survive. But, I hated how Last Act set it up. It felt like it was needed. I feel like it could have just been another chapter with a time jump. But I guess it was a full-circle thing, ending the story where it really started. Still, I almost didn't read it because I don't feel it really adds must to the story. Other than to explain how Melanie got saved at the end. Which we could have just gotten instead of a time jump. But, I'm being picky.

All-in-all a solid read. Not my favorite Christopher Pike, but it was still decent. I a fun idea, one I think would make a good mini-series. Of course, I think most of his books would make a solid mini-series. They tend just to be weird, and Last Act was no exception to that. 

HAPPY READING!!