The Last Word

In Emma’s perspective, she has a memory of Shawn scolding her for driving while distracted. In the memory, Shawn warns her that she is going to kill someone. One day, while she is driving, she keeps checking her phone in hopes that she will get a message from work that will allow her to spend less time with Shawn’s family. When she looks away from the road for a moment, an 18-wheeler veers into her lane.

The narrative returns to the present moment. Emma apologizes to Deek for stabbing him. She tries to staunch the bleeding with her sweatshirt, then finds some tape to cover the wound. She longs to drown herself in the ocean and compares this desire to her mother’s decision to drown herself in alcohol.

In Murder Beach, the narrator describes two police officers arriving at the house and knocking on the door.

From Emma’s perspective, she hears the officers announce their presence. Kane comes up behind her and puts the barrel of his gun to her head. When the police continue to knock, he tells her to claim that everything is fine. Kane turns the gun on Deek, threatening to shoot the man if Emma doesn’t comply.

Emma opens the door halfway, and the police ask her if anything suspicious has happened. She lies and says that she is alone watching TV. While talking to the officers, she realizes that Deek has brought his gun; it is somewhere in the house. Emma asks if Deek called them. The police confirm that Deek has a superfan stalker, but he did not call them. Jules arrives just as the police explain that she called in the wellness check.

Jules apologizes, saying that she was worried when Emma did not answer the phone, so she called the police. Emma claims that everything is okay and that she has received the stun gun. Jules and the police discuss whether the testicles are the most painful place to tase someone. Then, Jules rants about the local population of unhoused people, saying that a masked man showed up at the house even before Emma arrived to housesit. Emma is unable to answer further questions, and an officer starts to peek behind her.

In Murder Beach, Kane describes seeing the police through the window and rustling the curtain.

The narrative returns to Emma’s perspective as she continues to be unresponsive to the officers’ questions. An officer tries to get her to signal if she needs help. Emma claims that she is experiencing challenges to her mental health. She talks about her grief, and Jules and the officers offer condolences. Internally, Emma vows to be more outgoing if she makes it through the night. As Jules leaves, Emma grabs her arm and mouths the words “Howard. Grosvenor. Kline” (291). Jules nods. One of the officers tells Emma that he lost his wife the previous year and that her grief will lessen over time. The officers and Jules leave.

After the officers leave, Emma asks Kane if Deek is still alive. He responds to her admission of grief and loneliness to the officers, claiming that he and Emma are similar, and cries.

In Murder Beach, Kane claims never to cry and states that he saw Emma mouth his name to Jules.

Back in Emma’s perspective, Kane sobs and says that he didn’t want anyone else to die.

In his book, he claims to be a merciless killer.

In Emma’s perspective, he punches a wall and expresses remorse for killing Jake. Emma is confused, stating that he has done this before. Kane claims that the other books were only fiction and states that he wouldn’t write about real-life killings. He also says that he accidentally killed Laura, but he keeps her teeth, earrings, and the sword that killed her in his bedroom. He confesses to stalking Emma in the house even before she wrote her review. Kane offers to spare her life if she runs away with him. She is revolted at the idea of being his girlfriend, and as he threatens her, she sees Deek pick up his gun and point it at her.

This chapter returns to the flashback of Emma’s car accident. The 18-wheeler hits her car and sends it off the road. Shawn, Emma, and the other driver all survive the crash.

In the present moment, Deek tells Emma to get down and aims at Kane/Howard. He tells Howard to lower the sword and gun. Howard complies, and Emma takes Howard’s gun. Howard spits out one of Laura’s teeth and tells Deek that he will kill him with his sword. Deek suggests that Emma leave, but she refuses. Then, Jules returns and reveals that she is Howard’s mother.

Jules tells Howard to turn himself in. Emma realizes that Jules never called for help when Emma mouthed her son’s name.

In Murder Beach, the narrator describes Jules returning to the house.

In Emma’s perspective, Jules apologizes for Howard’s behavior. Emma realizes that Howard lived in the house before she arrived; this explains his intimate knowledge of the building. Emma fires Howard’s gun at a window and realizes that it is only a pellet gun. Jules explains that Howard has “schizoaffective disorder” and is not legally allowed to own a real gun. Emma wonders if Deek’s gun is loaded since he said that he didn’t have bullets.

When Deek greets Jules, she blames him for Howard’s behavior. Deek explains that Howard kept leaving manuscripts on his doorstep, and after Deek harshly criticized his writing, Laura went missing. Deek believes that he inspired Howard to abduct Laura, and he claims to feel guilty for his harsh criticism. Emma reveals that Howard killed the delivery driver.

In Murder Beach, Kane describes how his mother’s body will be found in the house, and he plots his next move against Emma.

In Emma’s perspective, she has a bad feeling “[a]bout everything.” This is because Deek originally recommended that she read Murder Mountain.

Deek asks Jules to call the police, and Emma says that the Wi-Fi and phone lines are cut. Deek has Howard empty his pockets, which contain Emma’s locket and keys. Deek insists that Emma take the keys and go for help with Jules. When Jules calls Howard Howie, Emma realizes that Jules’s online account is “HowieGK’sTopFan”; she is the only one who has been leaving him good reviews. Jules refuses to go with Emma. Deek tells Emma to drive until she has enough cell signal to call for help. Emma admits to him that she briefly believed he might be working with Howard, but she doesn’t believe that anymore. She tells Deek that Howard indicated that the two men were working together. When Deek says he’ll call his daughters after this is over, Emma realizes that his daughters are alive, not dead as she previously believed. As Emma is leaving, Howard calls her a liar and claims that she was responsible for the car accident. Then he lunges at her.

Deek fires, but Jules pulls his hand so that he shoots into the ceiling.

Howard slams Emma into the wall and chokes her, ranting about her review, the condition of her mental health, and his role as a writer. When Deek shoots the gun, this distracts Howard long enough for Emma to escape into the laundry room. She thinks that she hears Howard attacking Deek and Jules pleading with him to stop. Then, Howard rants that Emma has cornered herself in a room without an exit. Emma climbs into the laundry chute and pushes up toward the second floor.

In Murder Beach, Kane describes tying up his mother and taking Deek’s gun. Then, Howard thrusts his sword into the laundry chute.

In Emma’s perspective, the sword cuts her cheek. As Howard retracts the sword, it breaks, and Emma continues to climb.

Upstairs, Emma hugs Laika. Howard starts chipping away at the barricade to the bedroom with his broken sword. Emma breaks a window and carries Laika out onto the roof. She positions herself above Jules’s bushes and recalls climbing atop a different roof after being told that she was unlikely to conceive. There, Shawn told her that he had a star named after her. Now, Emma jumps into the hedges with Laika as Howard breaks into the bedroom.

In Murder Beach, Kane describes running through the house and shooting at Emma. He misses.

In Emma’s perspective, Laika flees at the sound of the gunshots.

In Murder Beach, Kane describes trying to head Emma off before she gets to Jules’s car.

In Emma’s perspective, she gets into the delivery driver’s truck.

In Murder Beach, Kane describes approaching his mother’s car and finding it empty. Emma hits Kane with the delivery vehicle. Kane muses that “Jake Stanford got the last laugh after all” (350).

As Howard stands up and finds the gun, Emma drives away.