The Last Illusion of Page White, Vanessa McClausland (Review by Jackie Adair)

This is a dual timeline dual POV story revolving around Paige White, a popular Social Media influencer who turns up dead just hours after a haunting picture is taken of her and on her birthday. She seemed to have it all prior to her death as her family (her, her husband and daughter) are the envy of many. Her family and town is shocked; wondering who could have done this to her? Her best friend from High School, Jane (known as Janie in High school) is a journalist in Sydney Australia and has returned for Paige’s funeral. She has wanted to put the past behind her but her boss/significant other is pressuring her to cover Paige’s death and the upcoming funeral. Part of the story is told by Paige after her death as she is in limbo between death and the afterworld. During this time she is trapped in a van with images of her life flashing before her eyes; giving herself another look at her life and making her truly examine if she life had been as idyllic as she thought it was. I really enjoyed this book. Sometime dual timeline books can throw a reader off but in this case it did not. As a reader you were able to see the backstory of Paige and Jane and their road to their lives today. It was mostly dual timeline between Jane and Paige but you had a mystery third characters POV In there as well as the POV from a follow classmate. When I found out at the end who is was, it truly threw me for a loop. I did not find this book to be at all predictable and it kept me guessing. This seemed to me to be more of a mystery book than a thriller but still very enjoyable. I especially found the character of Jane to be relatable. I also think this book discussed how Social Media can be more of a smoke and mirrors show versus the real life of influencers. I look forward to reading more books from this author in the future.