The Last House Guest

The Last House Guest Plot Summary

Introduction

The lighthouse beam cuts through Maine's coastal darkness as Avery Greer stands frozen on the bluffs above Breaker Beach. Below, police cars circle like vultures around something pale and broken in the tide. Her best friend Sadie Loman—golden, untouchable, heir to Littleport's summer kingdom—has been pulled from the black water, and nothing will ever be the same. One year later, Avery still haunts the edges of the Loman empire, managing their rental properties from a guesthouse that feels more like a gilded cage. When she discovers Sadie's missing phone hidden in one of their houses, the carefully constructed story of suicide begins to crumble. Someone at last year's Plus-One party knows what really happened on those cliffs. Someone who's been watching, waiting, and killing to keep their secrets buried beneath Littleport's pristine facade.

Chapter 1: The Returned Ghost: Finding Sadie's Phone

The phone shouldn't exist. Detective Collins assured everyone it was lost to the sea when Sadie Loman jumped from the cliffs that September night. Yet here it sits in Avery's trembling hands, pulled from a storage chest in the Blue Robin rental house—the same house where they'd all been partying while Sadie died. The cracked screen flickers to life under Avery's thumb. Sadie had never changed her security settings, and muscle memory guides Avery through the familiar interface. The background image stops her cold: the bluffs at sunrise, photographed from the exact spot where Sadie would later fall. As if she'd been planning this moment, documenting her final view. But it's the photos that shatter everything Avery thought she knew. Connor Harlow sprawled shirtless on his boat, caught unaware by Sadie's camera. Connor, who swore to police he barely knew her, who claimed their paths never crossed in Littleport's divided social landscape. The lie sits heavy in Avery's chest as she scrolls through image after image of their secret meetings. Parker Loman arrives at the house just as Avery pockets the phone. He's different now—hollow-eyed, drinking whiskey at noon, carrying the weight of his sister's death like a stone. When Avery mentions the phone, his reaction is swift and sharp. Too sharp. His questions probe and circle, testing what she knows, what she remembers from that night. The brother who once barely acknowledged her existence now hangs on her every word, and the attention feels dangerous.

Chapter 2: Fractured Reflections: Uncovering the Party's Truth

Detective Collins takes the phone with the weary resignation of a man who's seen too many cases reopen themselves. His green eyes study Avery with new interest as she explains where she found it, how it came to be hidden away for an entire year. The investigation he thought closed begins bleeding back to life. The revelation splits Littleport's summer community like a fault line. Suddenly everyone remembers details they'd forgotten, stories they'd never told. Luciana Suarez, Parker's ex-girlfriend, emerges from her Connecticut hospital job with memories sharp as surgical steel. She describes the rage she witnessed that night—not Sadie's depression, but someone else's violence. A figure silhouetted against the broken window, swinging a stone pillar with deadly intent. Connor's alibi begins to fracture under scrutiny. He admits to the private boat tour, to Sadie's secret visit to the offshore islands where locals hide their darkest business. His weathered hands shake as he describes her swimming to shore alone, disappearing into the wilderness with nothing but a backpack and desperate purpose. When she returned hours later, something had changed. The camera in her hands captured more than just his sleeping face—it caught evidence of whatever she'd discovered in those hidden places. Faith Sylva's name surfaces like a ghost from Avery's guilty past. The childhood friend whose arm she'd broken in a drunken rage, who'd been systematically forgotten by everyone's official accounts. Faith, who ran the Point Bed-and-Breakfast where Parker left his car that night. Faith, who knew every secret passage through Littleport's elite properties and had been using them to wage her own war against the families who'd priced her out of her hometown.

Chapter 3: Blood Money: Tracing the Hidden Payments

The flash drive hidden on the island contains a single screenshot—bank routing numbers and a hundred-thousand-dollar payment that makes Avery's blood turn to ice water. The account belongs to her grandmother, and the payment date falls just days after her parents' car accident fourteen years ago. Money that built the foundation of everything she thought she knew about her life. Sadie had been following a trail of blood money, payments designed to buy silence and bury truth. The Loman family's charitable foundation served as a laundering operation for their darkest secrets, funneling hush money to anyone who might threaten their carefully constructed empire. Avery's grandmother had been bought and paid for, accepting compensation for a tragedy that was never the accident it seemed. The medical files hidden in Grant Loman's locked office tell the real story. Parker's treatment records show injuries sustained the same night Avery's parents died—lacerations and possible concussion consistent with a car crash. He'd been fifteen years old, driving without a license, speeding through mountain curves when he collided with another vehicle and fled the scene. Detective Collins, then a rookie officer, had been first to arrive and made a choice that would haunt him for decades. The second payment on Sadie's flash drive had bought Collins' silence, transforming him from potential whistleblower to active participant in the cover-up. Every year since, the Lomans had owned a piece of his soul, calling in favors and ensuring their protection through Littleport's justice system. When Sadie discovered this network of corruption, she'd signed her own death warrant.

Chapter 4: The Cliff's Edge: Confronting Parker's Past

Parker finds Avery at Harbor Bean, his designer clothes wrinkled and his hands shaking from more than caffeine withdrawal. The golden boy facade has crumbled completely, revealing the frightened teenager who'd killed two people and spent twenty years pretending it never happened. His sister's death has stripped away every defense, leaving him raw and desperate. The confrontation happens in fragments—accusations hurled across a crowded café, truths delivered in whispers that cut deeper than screams. Parker doesn't deny his role in the accident anymore, can't maintain the lies that once came so easily. He speaks of momentum and darkness, of split-second decisions that destroyed multiple lives. But still no apology, no recognition of the suffering he caused. Avery sees him clearly for the first time—not the untouchable heir to a coastal empire, but a coward who let others pay for his mistakes. The Loman family machine had swung into action the moment he called home that night, deploying lawyers and money and influence to transform tragedy into unfortunate coincidence. They'd elevated him while burying his victims, building his future on a foundation of other people's bones. The realization that her entire adult life had been shaped by his crime ignites something dangerous in Avery's chest. The rage she'd felt as a grieving teenager returns magnified, focused into laser precision. Parker Loman had taken everything from her—parents, future, the very possibility of becoming someone different. Now she would take everything from him.

Chapter 5: Betrayal by the Badge: Detective Collins' Fatal Secret

The dedication ceremony for Sadie's memorial draws all of Littleport to Breaker Beach, where a brass bell will forever mark the spot she washed ashore. Detective Collins stands among the dignitaries, his uniform pressed and his expression properly solemn. Only Avery can see the predator lurking beneath his public servant mask. She confronts him in the Loman house while the ceremony continues below, spreading evidence across Grant's desk like tarot cards revealing a cursed future. The medical records, the payment histories, the photographs from Sadie's phone—everything that proves decades of corruption and murder. Collins watches her methodically destroy his life with the fascination of a man witnessing his own execution. His confession comes in fragments, each admission more damning than the last. How he'd pursued Parker's speeding car that night and arrived first at the crash scene. How he'd waited precious minutes while Parker bled from his forehead, calling his father instead of paramedics. How Grant Loman had arrived with briefcases full of cash and promises of future prosperity. The rookie officer's choice had seemed simple then—destroy one family's golden boy or let justice take its natural course. But Sadie had complicated everything by discovering the truth. She'd arranged to meet Collins the night of the Plus-One party, believing she could leverage his guilt into testimony against her brother. Instead, she'd found herself trapped in a bathroom with a man who'd already killed to protect his secrets and wouldn't hesitate to kill again.

Chapter 6: Burning Evidence: The Final Confrontation

Smoke fills Grant Loman's office as Collins methodically burns each piece of evidence, his movements calm and practiced. The flames consume Parker's medical records, the bank statements, every photograph that could tie him to Sadie's murder. Avery watches her proof disappear into ash and understands that some secrets are worth killing for again and again. Collins' description of that night transforms the Plus-One party from celebration to crime scene. Sadie had confronted him in the locked bedroom, offering money and demanding justice for Avery's parents. The argument had escalated when she realized his corruption ran deeper than simple bribery—he'd become the Lomans' personal executioner, eliminating threats before they could surface. The bathroom tiles had been slick with blood after Sadie hit her head during their struggle. Collins had wrapped her unconscious body in blankets from the storage chest, carried her to Avery's car under cover of the power outage chaos. By the time she regained consciousness in the trunk, they were already on the cliff road. Her gold sandals, carefully placed at the edge, would tell the story of a planned suicide rather than desperate murder. Parker's arrival at the confrontation shifts the balance of power one final time. The golden boy who'd spent decades hiding behind his family's protection finally faces the man who'd enabled his crimes. When Collins draws his weapon, Parker's rage overwhelms his caution. The detective's scream cuts through Littleport's morning air as he tumbles from the bluffs to the rocks below, his body joining Sadie's in the unforgiving tide.

Chapter 7: Reclaiming Littleport: Building from the Ashes

The Loman house burns to its foundation while Parker sits in handcuffs, finally stripped of the protection that had shielded him since adolescence. The family empire crumbles with him—properties sold, accounts frozen, the charitable foundation exposed as a money-laundering operation. Grant and Bianca flee to their Connecticut stronghold, leaving behind only smoke and memories. Avery purchases the ruined estate with money earned from her own real estate investments, properties bought with the very funds the Lomans had once controlled. She keeps only the guesthouse, turning the rest of the clifftop into an observation deck where tourists can safely view the dangerous beauty that claimed so many lives. The irony tastes sweeter than she'd expected. Faith Sylva emerges as an unlikely ally, her family's bed-and-breakfast expanding to fill the vacuum left by Loman Properties' collapse. Together, they reshape Littleport's economy around local ownership rather than seasonal exploitation. The town begins healing from decades of corrupt influence, its soul slowly returning as outside money loosens its grip. Connor Harlow weathers the investigation with typical stoicism, his connection to Sadie treated as another casualty of Littleport's toxic divisions. He continues running fishing charters and delivery routes, his boat cutting through waters that hold different secrets now. Sometimes Avery sees him from her clifftop perch, a distant figure moving between harbor and horizon.

Summary

The truth about Sadie Loman's death reveals itself like tide pools at low water—hidden landscapes exposed only when conditions align perfectly. Her murder was the inevitable result of secrets festering in Littleport's corrupt heart, where money had replaced justice and influence had eliminated accountability. Detective Collins died protecting lies that were older than his career, while Parker Loman finally faced consequences that had been delayed by wealth and privilege for over twenty years. Avery's transformation from victim to victor reflects Littleport itself—a place where survival requires adaptation to brutal extremes. She learned to navigate between worlds, gathering strength from each betrayal until she possessed power enough to reshape her hometown's future. The lighthouse still sweeps its beam across dark waters each night, but now it illuminates a community reclaimed by those who truly belong to its rocky shores. Some storms destroy everything in their path, while others wash away only what was never meant to last.

About Author

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Megan Miranda

Miranda delves into the intricacies of human relationships through suspenseful narratives that keep readers on the edge of their seats. Her books often delve into the themes of memory and identity, posing questions about how well we truly know those around us. In "The Last House Guest," selected for Reese Witherspoon's Book Club, Miranda uses a tight-knit community as a backdrop to explore secrets and betrayal, while "All the Missing Girls" innovatively unfolds its story in reverse chronological order to heighten suspense. Her method of intertwining complex character development with gripping plots sets her apart in the thriller genre.\n\nFor readers seeking a deep dive into the darker aspects of human nature, Miranda's work offers a compelling exploration of trust and deception. The author skillfully balances intricate plotlines with a keen insight into the human psyche, making her books not only page-turners but also thoughtful reflections on personal and social dynamics. As Miranda continues to captivate her audience with titles like "The Only Survivors" and the anticipated "You Belong Here," her bio underscores a consistent theme of unraveling mysteries that challenge perceptions. Therefore, her stories appeal not only to thriller enthusiasts but also to those interested in the complexities of interpersonal relationships.\n\nBy situating her narratives in both familiar and eerie settings, Miranda enhances the psychological tension that defines her work. Her academic background from MIT may inform the meticulous structure of her storytelling, providing a logical underpinning to the mysteries she constructs. Fans of psychological thrillers will find her books a rewarding experience, as they offer not just entertainment but a profound examination of the human condition. Through her carefully crafted plots and deep character insights, Miranda continues to shape the genre, ensuring her place as a prominent voice in contemporary fiction.

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