Is quirky the right word? This one was an interesting ride. I never really knew what to expect with this one. Solid read

DNF at 35%. While I was very intrigued by the concept and elements introduced, what I read was highly disappointing. The first 20% is filled with scientific babble about an unknown experiment that makes zero sense from context and clues. The MC Tamsin’s experiment seems like it could be something interesting but were given absolutely no information on it and the actual “what” of it is completely glossed over. We also know that the city is sinking, “possibly” because of her experiment, but like I said we still don’t know what that is or the connection. It’s just not enough information given to stay invested. Then we’re introduced to Tamsin’s doppelgänger. I was hoping for a little more creep factor right off the bat but the experiments are tedious and somewhat boring. So far, I definitely wouldn’t categorize this book as the horror I was expecting. I also tried this as an audiobook and the narrator is extremely monotone and does not differentiate voices much at all. Everything she says sounds sarcastic. All in all, there’s very little to keep me going on this one and I will not be finishing.

Thank you to St. Martins Press, Caitlin Starling, and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

An amazing book by an amazing author - not my first read from Caitlin Starling, having loved all three of the others I've read by her. Full of science, vibes, mystery and emotion. Highly, highly recommend this & any other book Starling has written!

All I needed to know about this book was that there was a mysterious door, which is always fun, and a doppelgänger (I just love that word), and I had to read it.

Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starling is a captivating combination of sci-fi thriller and psychological horror…once the double shows up. Seriously, the first 20% is a struggle. The letters, DNF, were constantly scrolling through my brain. In the author's acknowledgements, she mentions the word, technobabble, which is exactly what it is. A continuous onslaught of pseudoscientific meandering. However, with the arrival of the double, the tone and pace of the book start to shift, and you begin to understand why it was written that way. A lot of it was essential to understanding the main character and just how much of an impact the double's existence made on her psyche and her life. Maybe, it could have been a bit shorter though.

The best stories about doppelgängers add extra meaning to the phrase, to lose oneself, and I think this book does that extremely well. The MC’s transformation is just as enjoyable as it is terrifying. She is not a good person, but you can’t help but dread what’s going to become of all this. I also really enjoyed the clever way the author elicits thoughts on human nature, identity, obsession, and how far people will go to pursue and hoard knowledge.

I definitely recommend this book, especially if you like stories about doppelgangers, just try not to get too hung up on the science-y bits. Cause I’m thinking, maybe the whole point is sometimes, we’re just better off not knowing.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was so thoroughly not what I was expecting it to be. We’re introduced right off the bat to Tamsin, who’s just the most irritating girlboss, treats all her coworkers like crap, and also is working to conceal from the public the fact that the city is sinking and no one knows why but it might be related to her research. As I said. Girlboss. But then an apparent clone of her shows up from the door that has mysteriously appeared in her basement and things get REALLY WEIRD. A lot of the book (maybe more than necessary) is spent watching Tamsin’s classic descent into madness. Which she also works to conceal from everyone around her, including her handler, Lachlan. I have to say, Tamsin’s relationship with Lachlan (and Lachlan as a character) was actually the highlight of the book for me, and I really wish there had been more of it. It became shockingly sweet and gentle, and also I really want a tall hot lady with a prosthetic arm to come busting into a basement to rescue me.
Anyway, the one problem with this book is the one I always seem to have with horror novels: the ending fell apart a bit. The climactic scene in particular was really hard to follow, and I had to reread it to try to figure out what on earth (or not earth) had happened. Also, because the revelation was sort of crammed into the end, it didn’t really feel like all the various phenomena that occurred over the course of the book were really clearly linked together. In fact, the more that I think about it now, the more it seems like there were quite a lot of loose ends that didn’t get tied up. But I’m going to be a bit of a pain in the butt here and say that honestly, I still really enjoyed reading it and would absolutely recommend it with the caveat that I wouldn’t do so to people who want their horror/sci-fi to have strong, well-woven world-building.

DNF @ 16%

This book is such a slog to get through. The character is not compelling and the writing isn't holding my attention. The mystery is interesting, but we're doing the same thing over and over and over again, and I'm not willing to sit through another 300 pages to find out what it is.

Slow paced, creepy scifi. Dr. Tamsin Rivers, a scientist, is in the final stages of her breakthrough communications project. Then she notices that the city in which she resides is slowly sinking... and her own basement is sinking much faster. Is this related to her project? Even stranger, a door has appeared in her basement, a door which doesn't lead anywhere and is impossible to open. This defies the laws of physics, and she's quickly obsessed with the phenomenon. When an exact doppelganger of herself somehow comes through the door, Tamsin is even further engaged. But her obsession with these strange occurrences begins to affect her wellbeing. Will she find the truth, or will she lose herself along the way?

This was inexorably creepy. The horror elements build up so slowly. I was constantly awaiting the next revelation. Tamsin is initially quite unlikable. She's highly intelligent, but ruthless and obsessed with her work, no matter the consequences to others. You definitely feel for her as the story progresses though, as you watch her life slowly deteriorate. By the midpoint, I was hooked. It's a strange and unexpectedly engaging story. Would recommend.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Dr. Tamsin Rivers, head of scientific research at Myrica Dynamic, is hiding a secret. The city of San Siroco is sinking, but her basement showed the first signs and is sinking faster than the rest of the city. Sinking might not be the right word, stretching seems more apt, and a door that was never there before has appeared. Despite all of her efforts, it does not open. Then it does, from the other side, and a copy of her steps through.

At first, the doppelganger is childlike. But as time goes on, Tamsin begins to lose track of time. Black spots in her memory, and her copy takes care of more and more responsibilities. With her employer growing suspicious, and the city continuing to sink, Tamsin must figure out her own health, and exactly what this doppelganger has to do with it.

The whole novel is from Tamsin’s POV, so the reader feels Tamsin’s arrogance, and later her fear. The reader is sent through this horror of what it might be like, forgetting who we are and the struggle to regain our identity. It makes one wonder about the illnesses of dementia and Alzheimer’s, and if this is what those patients experience. Anyone with experience might be triggered by this topic. I know I was.

However, that doesn’t change that I did not like Tamsin. She was arrogant and at times cruel. I felt that she could have solved many problems by simply admitting to what was happening and receiving help. At the middle, I began to feel sorry for her, but I still did not like her. I wanted to know more about Lachlan, her story, and how she came to Myrica.

This is another perfect novel to read in October, or whenever readers want a feeling of dread and horror. I am already not a fan of basements, so this just followed along with that creepy feeling. The Death of Jane Lawrence is still my favorite, so far, but I will continue to follow Caitlin Starling.

Overall, I rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars.

Tamsyn Rivers has a problem. The city she lives in, San Siroco, is sinking slowly every day. And her basement is sinking even faster...and it reveals a strange door. The door, when it opens, lets another Tamsyn into the world, and Tamsyn is stunned. Who is she? Is she me?

This book was...disappointing, kind of. Starling's style does draw you in, drawing pictures as you read. Unfortunately, the beginning of the book is boring. The only interesting things, the doubles of Tamsyn and her cat, and the door, are kind of shunted to the side as Tamsyn...works? A lot? And then works..some more while her "handler" Lachlan is breathing down her neck in service to their nebulous corporation. Tamsyn is unstable, and soon begins to lose her memory, but it's not done very well and you're left wondering whose POV you're actually reading, even when the POV shifts to that of "Prime", the double.
Then you get to the second half of the book and things really start to get interesting. And it's interrupted by lesbian...erm...self love? And then the weird pseudo-relationship between Tamsyn and Lachlan. It's like Starling forgot that this book needed to have gay in it and so she went back after she finished the book and shoved some in. It feels like an afterthought, not developed at all.

Overall, it did have a spooky atmosphere, especially with the basement (which Tamsyn spent 1/3 of the book even avoiding thinking about, yeesh) and the creepiness with the clone factor and the body horror. It was an okay read, but not one I'll read again.

Starling writes "unnerving" better than almost any author I've ever read, and LAST TO LEAVE THE ROOM is no exception. The premise here is so gripping, and the ongling uncertainty of "what the hell is even happening" is so expertly done. Overall I found this book less disturbing than THE DEATH OF JANE LAWRENCE, but that is not a complaint.

This was a rollercoaster of emotions and I absolutely loved it! It was SO good, gave me House of Leaves vibes. There’s so many unexplainable things going on as you read, I felt so compelled to continue reading because I NEEDED answers. The characters were morally questionable, the writing was great, and the horror was what horror should be. I was so scared at certain moments 😂 Piece of advice, don’t read this in the late hours of the night… you’ll be paranoid like I was. This is a wonderful blend of horror mixed with science fiction and thriller themes! I’m really excited to read more by this author.

I was so excited to receive an ARC of Last to Leave the Room after falling in love with The Luminous Dead, another one of Starling's novels! I read this book over the course of my vacation and I adored it. Starling really knows how to write a sapphic, sci-fi horror novel. There was a nice amount of twists near the end that kept me guessing on what was going going to happen with Tamsin and her doppelganger. My biggest criticism is that I really did not like the two main protagonists. I got that both were meant to be these cold as steel type business women who had no time for emotions, but I really would have liked to at least like them a little bit, therefore I would have been able to empathize with them a bit better.

This one has mixed reviews, but as a Sci-Fi fan, I really enjoyed it. The idea of a doppelganger, just popping into existence, is a favorite trope for me. Last to Leave the Room does this well, I think, and it made for a good story.

There is a lot of contemplation, especially towards the end, but that actually made this more interesting for me. Sometimes it works, and sometimes not, but this time it fit well.

If you're a fan of Sci-Fi, with a touch of horror, this is one to grab and read. I sincerely appreciate St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Caitlin Starling is not an author for everyone. She fits a very specific niche that unfortunately is not one of my favorites. While I have read another book by her this was not the same genre and fell flat for me. Anyone who loves a more science based book with a bit of speculative fiction will love this.

great queer horror. it had no pacing issues, it grabs in and reads like a movie. an absolute gem of a horror novel

I'm not even sure what I just read...

Last to Leave the Room started off a bit slow and felt like a hurdle to get through. We have multiple chapters dedicated to explaining research teams and attending meetings, looking at data points. However. by the end, I understand it set the scene for the research world and Tamsin's personality and relationship with others. This plays a bigger part by the end when things start to unravel. It just didn't do much for me at the time when I wanted a book to get me hooked.

Once we got to "The Double" section things really picked up and really got strange. But, once again, the plot seemed to starkly pivot from the city sinking to this doppelganger storyline. While I didn't mind this it also added some dissonance for me, the reader, as to where this book was going and what its story was (and again again, trust in the process because it did tie in later).

This is one I need to sit on a bit longer to figure out how I feel about it. The themes around identity, personhood, and trust were all very well done. This book kept you on that knife edge of discomfort, especially in the second half, which I am always looking for in a psychological horror. Overall it is an immense web that I spent 95% of the book trying to figure out how it could all possibly come together and felt uneasy the entire time, which I think was very much the point. So well done!

This was an exciting and weird story! It took me way too long to finish it due to time constraints, but I never wanted to give up on it. It was definitely different than anything I’ve ever read before.

The story is very scientific, which made it difficult to understand in parts, but not so scientific that it made me not enjoy the story.

I thought the basement and all the details that went into the description was fascinating and it made me want to know more about what was going on.

The story is suspenseful and interesting all the way throughout. I kept wondering if I’d get any concrete answers, and I was not disappointed in the end.

Last to Leave the Room is a work speculative fiction with horror and thriller elements. Dr. Tamsin Rivers, is a scientist developing communication technology. The city is sinking and Rivers discovers a doppelgänger in her basement. It's an interesting concept, but it fell flat for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I have loved all of Caitlin Starling's previous books especially the Luminous Dead so when I saw that this book was coming out, I knew I had to read it as soon as possible. Starling is also a PNW author and I always love supporting PNW authors.

This was a WILD ride! I didn't know what to expect. I didn't look into this book too much before diving in. That is my favorite way to read horror and thriller books. This book was a bit slow at the beginning but it goes from zero to hundred so fast! I won't say anything specific because this is one of those books you should go in blind.

I will always recommend Caitlin Starling books!

3 1/2 stars

This book had great promise but I just couldn't get into it the way I hoped. I think the storyline was inventive and original. Unfortunately, there were inconsistencies for me that detracted from the story. I couldn't connect with the characters and was left scratching my head a great deal.

I'm sure this book will be a favorite for many. It just wasn't for me.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The narration was actually very strong. I toggled back and forth between the ebook and audiobook. I probably would have listened more consistently to the audiobook but I found that with the complexity of the plot, it was sometimes difficult to follow by listening and I was better actually reading it. However, I believe that is just because it's how I respond best. 4 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review both the ebook and audiobook.