The Last Housewife

In this disturbing psychological thriller from Winstead (Fool Me Once), there’s no hiding from the past for Shay Deroy, who has been running for eight years from the trauma she and her two closest friends at New York’s Whitney College suffered at the hands of the charismatic older man who initially captivated them, then held them captive. Alarm bells sound for Shay, now a Dallas trophy wife, when she learns that her surviving bestie, gentle Laurel Hargrove, has been found hanging on the Whitney campus, eerily echoing the scene at other bestie Clem Jones’s apparent suicide her senior year. Coincidence? True crime podcaster Jamie Knight, Shay’s friend since childhood, doesn’t think so—and he makes a public plea for her help investigating. Still feeling guilty about failing to protect Clem, Shay agrees to join forces with Jamie. Back at Whitney, she runs up against some of the same malevolent forces that seduced her before. Winstead offers insight into the masochistic psychology that can set up vulnerable women to be recruited into cults, but readers should be prepared for ugly scenes of self-harm, suicide, rape, and misogyny. This dark suspense novel may be too grim for some. Agent: Melissa Edwards, Stonesong. (Aug.)