3.5 of 5 stars!

Clemence Michallon delivers a great story through her second novel, Our Last Resort. Like her debut novel (The Quiet Tenant), the writing is smooth and accessible and easily draws you in to the story and characters. Michallon thoughtfully weaves multiple storylines, bringing the characters’ motivations and actions to the surface by dredging through their difficult pasts.

A brother and sister who were inseparable during their upbringing in a cult based in New York meet at an upscale resort to reconnect after years apart. While their past was harrowing and required them to make difficult decisions, her brother’s life path following their escape from the cult was marred by another tragedy in the early death of his wife. Yet again, the siblings can’t seem to escape trouble - a suspicious death happens at the resort and each becomes entangled in the investigation. As everything unfolds, you’re whisked back in time with alternating storylines between the current crime and life in the cult. Their efforts to save their own self and each other creates an ultimate tug-of-war between eliminating and strengthening their bond. In the final chapters, the death of the brother’s wife is revisited with a secret revelation about her demise and the circumstances of the death at the resort is solved. Can they trust each other the way they always said they could?

** Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. **

They hoped for a fresh start....

....but a murder brings their troubled past back into the light.

Gabriel and Frida were raised in a reclusive cult in upstate New York, one in which they were subjected to abuse and from which they eventually made a dramatic escape marred by tragedy and scandal. Once extremely close to one another, they have been estranged for years but are hoping to bridge the divide during a visit to an upscale desert resort in Utah. Their dreams of connecting as they hike the local trails and enjoy other resort attractions come to a jarring end when a fellow guest, Sabrina Brenner (the young wife of an older and powerful man), is found murdered. When Gabriel quickly becomes a suspect given their past history, Frida has to confront all that went on during their time in the cult. She loves Gabriel, but does she in fact really know him at all?
Our Last Resort is a page-turning tale of psychological suspense, featuring two flawed protagonists who shared a traumatic upbringing which shaped the people they grew up to be. Chapters alternate between the present events at the resort and the pair's past life in the cult led by the charismatic Émile, weaving the two timelines together as the suspense mounts. The characters are well-developed over the course of the story; my one observation is that the cult part of the story seemed to overshadow the murder mystery part, which I felt detracted from my overall enjoyment. Having read and loved author Clémence Michallon's debut novel, The Quiet Tenant, I had high expectations for this novel and while I don't think that it quite lived up to that earlier novel I still found it an intriguing story, a solid summer read with a satisfying amount of psychological complexity....3.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 4. Fans of Emma Cline, Lucy Foley and Andrea Bartz should think about adding this to their TBR stack, as should those who enjoy suspenseful page-turners in general. My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor Books/Knopf Books for allowing me access to this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Our Last Resort by Clemence Michallon

Thank You NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
All Frida and Gabriel knew for the first twenty or so years of their lives was the cult run by Emelie. Then they were able to escape and build lives out in the real world. Gabriel got married to Annie eventually and were married for two years before Annie mysteriously disappeared and her body was eventually discovered. Gabriel was the prime suspect, but with not much evidence, he was never charged. After this, Gabriel and Frida grew apart.
It's now 15 years later and Gabriel and Frida are offered a chance to do a documentary on their lives when they lived in the cult. So they agree to meet up – Frida from New York and Gabriel from Seattle. They meet up and stay at the high-end Ara Hotel in the desert of Escalante, Utah. Now another woman has been found dead, Sabrina, wife of the rich and often temperamental and jealous, William Brenner. The novel alternates between the two timelines...Gabriel and Frida’s past while in the cult and the present at the Ara Hotel. The past slowly builds up to the present and secrets are slowly revealed about Frida and Gabriel and how they were able to escape the cult. But now, at the Ara Hotel, Gabriel has told the police lies about if he knew Sabrina and once again, he is found to be the prime suspect. With Annie’s murder still unsolved and Sabrina now dead, is Gabriel truly innocent or is someone else behind these murders? This is Clemence Michallon’s second novel and I love how she kept the suspense going!!! I loved the twists and how everything tied together at the end! Look for this novel AVAILABLE July 8, 2025!

I was captivated by *The Quiet Tenant*, so when I got my hands on this new copy, I was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement! As you may know, I’m not one to peek at the blurb—I prefer to dive in headfirst and let the story unfold. And boy, was I in for a surprise this time! I had no idea what I was getting into; this book was a rollercoaster of suspense, packed with intriguing insights, and nearly impossible to put down. I devoured it during a long car ride home from vacation, and let me tell you, I was grateful for the extended journey—there was no way I was letting this book out of my hands!

Frida and Gabriel arrive at the luxurious Ara Hotel in the Utah desert for a fresh start after a devastating tragedy that has driven them apart. Their attempt to reconnect is interrupted when the body of a young woman, vacationing with her wealthy husband, is found. Suspicions quickly fall on Gabriel, forcing Frida to confront their shared past in a cult, their escape, and the ensuing scandal. As she grapples with the evidence against him, the story alternates between past and present, leading to a climax that questions the depth of their knowledge of each other.

The main characters, Frida and Gabriel, were a delightful twist! Their development throughout the dual timelines kept me on my toes. I’ve always been fascinated by cults and their peculiar dynamics, and this book offered a wealth of information, even within its fictional framework. It’s hard to fathom how some people can live in such circumstances, especially considering that Frida and Gabriel didn’t even know their parents. The mindset explored in this narrative is utterly mind-bending!

The vividly described environment felt so real and plausible that it elevated the entire reading experience. The pacing was brisk and seamless; I knew what had happened, but I was itching to uncover the how and why. Everything felt believable, which only added to the gripping plot. The buildup and tension kept me on the edge of my seat, and the ending—along with a few unexpected revelations—was both surprising and satisfying.

If you enjoy short chapters and a narrative that keeps you guessing whodunit, this is the perfect summer read! It’s the kind of book you can binge-read in one sitting, so clear your afternoon and buckle up for an exhilarating ride!

Thank you, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Knopf, for the digital ARC copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Quick summary: Though there were some very intriguing aspects to the story and I was fond of the atmosphere the author created, unfortunately this one didn’t quite do it for me.

I was drawn into the desire to read this book based on the MCs being part of a cult. That part of the story was definitely interesting, though I was left wanting more. My favorite part about the book was its eerie ethereal quality. I really enjoyed the atmosphere the author created through her writing, the setting, and the characters’ personalities.

I really wanted to love this book but, sadly, in the end, I was kind of let down. First, the pacing was quite slow, which didn’t really bother me until I got to the end and realized there didn’t seem to be much of a climax. I wanted so much more. Second, I saw the ending and resolution coming but when it got there, it kind of felt sudden and choppy. A strange combination between being able to guess where the story was going but then it abruptly arriving. Finally, I discovered I was not very invested in the MCs and didn’t much care what happened to them.

Despite my disappointment in the story, I do plan to read the author’s other work.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for an ARC of Our Last Resort in exchange for my honest review. I had only heard good things about Clemence Michallon so I was very excited to receive this one.

Our Last Resort tells the story of siblings Frida and Gabriel. Fifteen years ago they escaped a cult, and thought all their troubles were behind them. But when a fellow traveler is murdered at an upscale resort in the Utah desert, the two are thrown back into past traumas and emotions.

I had high expectations with this one after one of my reader buddies (looking at you, Amanda!) sang praises for Michallon's last book. While this one was just a solid thriller for me I can't deny that the author's writing and storytelling is superb. I will definitely be picking up The Quiet Tenant soon!

3 1/2 ⭐️

Publication Date: July 8th, 2025

So good! I was too scared to read The Last Tenant but so glad I tried this and am now a fan of the author!

I went in expecting a vacation thriller with a couple who gets wrapped up in a murder, but got something so much more interesting. When a couple staying at luxury Utah resort (I feel like this had to be modeled on the Amangiri.) learns that the person in the next villa over been murdered, it dredges up all kinds of horrors from their shared past. That was the fascinating part of the story to me. I am usually firmly against cult elements in books, but this added a unique backstory for these two trauma bonded characters. I was so invested in them!

I had an idea as to where this was going. I mean, this was almost a locked room scenario with very few characters. But I was at the edge of my seat! The way this author used backstory was fantastic.

Frida and her brother Gabriel knew nothing of the modern day world after being raised in a secretive cult. But they may know a thing or two about murder…

While on a luxe getaway in the Utah desert, Frida and Gabriel find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation when the young bride of publicity magnate William Brenner is found dead in the hotel. The pair soon find themselves embroiled in something that goes much deeper than what they thought as they relive their past run ins with criminal activity.

Clemence Michallon intricately weaves in multiples timelines to bring together the story of two survivors in a way that will keep you turning the pages to see what twists lie ahead.

Thanks to #NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this novel in exchange for my review.

3⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advanced copy of Our Last Resort.

Frida and her brother Gabriel decide to take a trip together to try to reconnect. They have not seen one another in years and they are hoping this trip will be a reset. While there a murder takes place and somehow Gabriel finds himself in the middle of the investigation. This is not the first time he has been a suspect in a murder and Frida will stop at nothing to protect him. They made that pact when they were kids and became family while they were in a cult. They did what they had to do back then and they will do it again if necessary.

I was really intrigued by the plot of this book but I just felt like it missed the mark. I definitely would not classify this as a thriller because I felt like not much really happened for most of the book. I just felt like the story did not really line up. I am sad to say I was pretty bored for most of the book.

Frida and Gabriel are siblings looking forward to a quiet vacation at the Ara Hotel in Escalante, Utah. The siblings have become distant over the years after a traumatic childhood and horrible tragedy involving the death of Gabriel's wife, Annie. They are hoping to reconnect while on vacation, but tragedy seems to follow them. Sabrina Brenner is the much younger and third wife of the well known millionaire, William Brenner. Sabrina and William are vacationing at the Ara Hotel along with Gabriel and Frida when Sabrina is found dead. Gabriel was a suspect of his wife's unsolved murder and now that focus is back on him as police investigate the suspicious death of Sabrina. The siblings escaped their childhood being raised in a cult, but can they escape the focus being back on them again?

Review:
This one started off a little slow for me and I wasn't totally convinced that I was going to like it. But, that quickly changed as the pace picked up. I loved the alternating POVs between the past and present. I especially was drawn to the childhood chapters that spoke about their cult upbringing. I will say that there wasn't anything that surprised me in this book. It wasn't very twisty, in my opinion. I predicted everything from the beginning, but I still really enjoyed the setting and the overall story line.
Our Last Resort publishes on 7/8!
Thank you to NetGalley, Clemence Michallon, and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor publishing for this ARC of Our Last Resort in exchange for an honest review!

Read this if: you enjoy slow burn mysteries with a lot of back story.

Skip this if: you are in the mood for a propulsive thriller.

Frida and her brother, Gabriel, are reconnecting at a luxury resort in Utah when another guest is murdered following a fight with her husband. What seems to be an open-and-shut case gets complicated by Gabriel's history (he was suspected of murdering his wife nine years ago). The novel moves back and forth between the present and the past, when Gabriel and Frida were growing up in a cult. As secrets from the past surface, Frida must work to prove Gabriel’s innocence.

I liked this book but didn’t love it. It was easy to read, there were some twists towards the end, and books about cults are always interesting to me. I can’t even quite pinpoint what kept it from being really enjoyable, but it could be that the characters just weren’t quite developed enough to make their choices ring completely true. And there was just a bit too much going on in such a short novel to get deeply enough into the murder mystery OR into the cult background. But it was a quick read and had enough potential that I’m going to go back and read The Quiet Tenant soon.

Frida and Gabriel arrive at the remote, luxurious Ara Hotel in Escalante, Utah, hoping to heal their fractured bond after a devastating tragedy, but their plans for renewal are shattered when a young woman is found dead at the resort. As suspicion falls on Gabriel, Frida is forced to confront haunting memories of their childhood in a cult, their desperate escape, and the scandal that changed everything—while grappling with the possibility that Gabriel may not be the man she thought he was.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for this digital e-arc.*

Loved "The quiet tenant", Story kept me on the edge of my seat, not knowing how it would end!
This one I'm on the fence; i did like the suspense around the story, as it kept me guessing as to what was the red herring in the story.
So a pair of teenagers escape a compound; a cult and navigate their way in the new world. It seems though that suspicious deaths keep happening around the brother and then the straw finally breaks the camel's back, we see the TRUTH of everything's that's happened from the beginning and who the real victim and perpetrators really are!

Solid 3.5 Stars !!!!

Thanks to NetGalley & Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for this ARC! Grateful 🙏🏾

OUR LAST RESORT out July 8th 2025

4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you @aaknopf & @prhaudio for the gifted digital and audio copies!

Our Last Resort
Clémence Michallon @clemencemichallon
Publishing Date: July 8, 2025

🎧 Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld @saskiaaudio 🎧


This is my second novel by Clémence Michallon and I liked it even better than the first!!

Here we get dual timeline as we follow Frida and Gabriel. They are found family “siblings” who survived and escaped the cult that they were raised in together. And the traumas didn’t end there for these two. Now they are on vacation trying to escape life for a bit and reconnect. But of course tragedy strikes again and they find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation.

This is a slower paced literary suspense/mystery novel. We go back and forth between the past and present day, learning more about where this duo comes from, what they’ve been through, and then figuring out what is going on in present day with the murder. The two timelines almost could have been elaborated on and made into their own own novels, but the intertwining of them together gives the story much more depth. The author does a really nice job of portraying cult life, the after effects of surviving and escaping that life, and then the long term effects of trauma as well.

I really enjoyed the authors writing style and prose here. I was definitely hooked in and flew through this one pretty quickly on audio.

🎧 Saskia Maarleveld is one of my favorite narrators and she certainly didn’t disappoint here. I will forever recommend listening to books she narrates.

I don’t have too much to say about this one. It’s a murder mystery whodunnit with two main characters who grew up in a cult.

Gabriel and Frida grew up on a commune in a cult with Émile, the abusive cult leader. The story is told in alternating timelines; them growing up in the cult and the years that follow, and now present day at a resort to which they’ve traveled together.

It was fine, a solid mystery novel. Nothing amazing to me, and I was able to guess what happened.

I did like her first novel much more, but this was a solid sophomore book, and I’ll continue to read her books.

Thank you Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, Anchor and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Our Last Resort by Clemence Michallon combines cult fiction and mystery into a fast paced novel that follows Frida and her brother Gabriel. They escaped from a cult fifteen years prior to the present day story timeline. Now they are vacationing at a resort in Utah in order to catch back up after a terrible tragedy made them drift apart. Unfortunately, the stunning paradise of the resort is shattered with the discovery of a dead body. And both Frida and Gabriel end up as suspects.

This was my first Clemence Michallon thriller and I definitely enjoyed it and will be watching for any future books to add to my TBR list. This was a fast paced thriller that will make a perfect summer read.

This was a thriller where halfway through I definitely guessed what the outcome was going to be. It was entertaining and I didn’t want to put it down because I needed to know if I was right. I enjoyed The Quiet Tenant and was so happy to have gotten to read this one early as well.

In Our Last Resort, Frida and Gabriel head to the remote Ara Hotel in Escalante, Utah, hoping to heal after a terrible tragedy tore them apart. The luxury resort feels like a perfect escape until the body of a young woman vacationing with her older, powerful husband is found dead. As suspicion falls on Gabriel, Frida is forced to confront their complicated past, including their childhood in a cult and the dark secrets they have tried to leave behind. I enjoyed this book; it was my first by this author, and I really liked her writing style and how she wove the story together. The alternating timelines kept me hooked, and I was curious to see how everything would unravel. Overall, it was a solid, suspenseful read!

Thank you to @Netgalley and @aaknopf for the chance to review this ARC. Thanks to @prhaudio for the review copy of this audiobook!

Frida and Gabriel are siblings, survivors of a cult they were born into and escaped. They’ve always supported each other. But after Gabriel’s wife’s death, they’ve drifted apart. Now Friday is determined to rebuild their relationship. So she books them a week at a luxury resort in the deserts of Utah. She envisions relaxing by the pool and hiking through canyons. What she gets is her brother arrested for a murder she’s certain he didn’t commit. She’s determined to rescue him. Just like they rescued each other as children.

This mystery is a slow burn with lots of flashbacks as their childhood trauma is laid bare. (Definitely check trigger warnings on this one.) Frida and Gabriel are at times unlikeable main characters but I was still rooting for them to solve the mystery.

Having the story told from a single POV was a perfect choice. We only had Frida’s understanding of what was happening. As always, the great Saskia Maarleveld, a woman with 100 voices, lent her talent to bringing all the characters to life. I always forget there’s only one narrator when she’s doing the voice acting!

I thought this was a fun mystery with some good twists I didn’t see coming!

I really struggled to get into this book. I loved her previous but this one just wasn’t for me as I don’t think I’m the right target audience for this story.