Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
Newlyweds Lina and Cain don’t make it out to their property on gorgeous Lake Tarawera as often as they’d like, so when Cain suggests they rent the house out to vacationers, Lina reluctantly agrees. While the home has been in her family for generations, they could use the extra money. And at first, Lina is amazed at how quickly guests line up, and at how much they’re willing to pay.
But both Lina and Cain have been keeping secrets, secrets that won’t be put off by fresh paint or a new alarm system. And someone has been watching them—their mundane tasks, their intimate moments. When a visit takes a deadly turn, Lina realizes someone out there knows something they shouldn’t…and that welcoming strangers into your home is playing a dangerous game.
For me, indigenous storyteller JP Pomare (Ngā Puhi) is one of the most exciting new voices to emerge in Australasian thriller writing – and beyond – over the past several years. From his terrific first outing, the psychological thriller Call Me Evie (2019), the Melbourne-based Māori novelist has made a mark with readers, critics, and awards judges thanks to his adroit blend of quality prose with keen psychological insights, fascinating protagonists (often heroines), and a rich sense of people and place.
He continued his ascent with his fourth novel, The Last Guests, a tense and terrifying tale of an AirBNB-style rental situation gone horribly, horribly wrong. Lina and Cain are a young married couple who are struggling to deal with past traumas and present secrets. Former Special Forces soldier Cain is feeling lost after leaving the army, having to overcome injuries to body and mind and unable to get traction for his new fitness training business. Lina is a paramedic taking dangerous steps to fulfil her deepest desires.
When an SAS buddy of Cain’s suggest they list Lina’s childhood home on the beautiful Lake Tarawera for short-stay rentals, the couple are conflicted. It could ease some financial woes. But does Lina want strangers living even in short-term in the house where her grandparents raised her, that means so much? The potential for ‘easy money’ outbids the risk, so Cain and Lina dive in. What could go wrong?
As it turns out, a lot. Strange things, then deadly things. Someone has been watching Lina, and her life at home and work is upturned. What can she salvage, and how far will she go?
Pomare conjures a deliciously tense tale that entwines ‘domestic noir’ with issues of technology, voyeurism, and the coping mechanisms people may use to deal with trauma and the stresses of life. This is a ripsnorting read that hums along on fine prose, from a writer who is like a magician with his literary sleight-of-hand.
When Pomare wrote The Last Guests he may have been early in his career (which has continued to flourish with further books, including 2024's outstanding 17 Years Later), but he’s already stamping his mark as a masterful storyteller. Definitely a writer to watch, and to read. Terrific.
Note: this is a lightly edited (updated) version of a review first published in Mystery Scene magazine in the United States in 2021.
Craig Sisterson is a lawyer turned writer, editor, podcast host, awards judge, and event chair. He's the founder of the Ngaio Marsh Awards, co-founder of Rotorua Noir, author of Macavity and HRF Keating Award-shortlisted non-fiction work SOUTHERN CROSS CRIME, editor of the DARK DEEDS DOWN UNDER anthology series, and writes about books for magazines and newspapers in several countries.
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