One Last Breath

by Ginny Myers Sain Narrated by Sophie Amoss

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Gruesome crime and plenty of suspects make this a tense and twisty paranormal page-turner that is guaranteed to get your spine tingling. And yet, underneath all that darkness if a true love that stands against all else.

The New York Times bestselling author of Dark & Shallow Lies delivers another chilling supernatural thriller filled with murder, romance, and a decades long mystery that haunts a small Florida town.

The perfect blend of Natasha Preston, Krystal Sutherland, and Delia Owens, with a paranormal twist.

Mount Orange, Florida, is famous for two things: Cerulean freshwater springs, ideal for free divers who aren't  afraid of lurking gators. And the gruesome cold case murder of best friends, Bailey and Celeste, twenty years ago.

Bailey and Celeste's murders cast a permanent darkness over sunny Mount Orange. Tru has always lived in that shadow. Now she's supposed to head to FSU in the fall with her boyfriend, but those unsolved murders -- and the death of her own sister -- invade her every thought. It's only in the shadowy deep of Hidden Glen Springs that she can breathe. 

When a strange girl named Rio rolls into town, hell-bent on figuring out who killed Bailey and Celeste, Tru can't resist entangling herself in the thrill of solving the decades old mystery any more than she can resist her familiar, aching attraction to Rio.

As the summer heat ignites, so does the spark between Tru and Rio...along with their other-worldy connection to Bailey and Celeste. But when someone begins stalking them, the girls become convinced the killer is back in town. And if they keep digging into the past, Tru and Rio know this time, it could be their blood that makes the springs run red.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

02/19/2024

Eighteen-year-old Trulee Langstaff’s rural Mount Orange, Fla., town has always been shadowed by the Hidden Glen murders, the unsolved double homicide of best friends Celeste and Bailey. More recently, Tru has also been grieving the tragic death of her older sister Dani in a hit-and-run. On the eve of the Hidden Glen murders’ 20th anniversary, Tru meets 18-year-old Rio, a beautiful and secretive foster runaway who’s camping out at the site of the crime. The girls bond over their shared obsession with free diving, and soon learn that they’ve also both been inexplicably drawn to the Hidden Glen murders their entire lives. Delving into feverish investigation, Tru and Rio unearth unexpected connections to Celeste and Bailey and, as the past and present begin to blur, come to the chilling realization that they could be the next victims of the killer at large. Though some twists strain credulity, Sain (Secrets So Deep) weaves together a grounded depiction of the stifling closeness and quirky personalities of a small Florida town, beautiful descriptions of free diving in freshwater springs, and a propulsive, true crime–informed murder investigation to craft a page-turning thriller. The protagonists cue as white. Ages 14–up. (Mar.)

From the Publisher

"Suspense drips from every scene, and the alarming and scary elements build expertly toward a thrilling climax that will surprise even devoted fans of the genre." —Kirkus Reviews

"Murder, suspense, and reincarnation blend together in Sain's latest psychological thriller. Sain pulls no punches in telling her story." —Booklist

"Sain weaves together a grounded depiction of the stifling closeness and quirky personalities of a small Florida town, beautiful descriptions of free diving in freshwater springs, and a propulsive, true crime–informed murder investigation to craft a page-turning thriller." —PW

School Library Journal

03/29/2024

Gr 10 Up—High school graduate Trulee has long been plagued by the senseless unsolved double murder her small Florida town is known for. Despite the crime happening before she was born, Tru feels an inexplicable connection to Bailey, one of the victims. As the 20th anniversary approaches, a mysterious girl, Rio, comes to town with a similar connection to the other murder victim, Celeste, and they can't help but try to figure out what the police have not. The book is marketed as a supernatural thriller, but paranormal fans may want to skip this one unless the concept of reincarnation is appealing. The first half moves at a glacial pace, trudging through every tedious action of Tru's days accompanied by her monotonous, repetitive inner monologue. Then the plot moves so quickly readers will feel they have whiplash. They will be guessing who the murderer is until the absolute end, and probably won't see it coming. The romance subplot between Tru and Rio feels forced, especially because Tru has a long-term boyfriend. It's difficult to relate to Tru or Rio because of their alluded reincarnation of Bailey and Celeste—it's hard to discern which traits and emotions belong to which girls, and it feels like we don't really scratch the surface of them. All the characters are white-presenting except for one side character. Contains cursing, underage drinking, and drug use. VERDICT An OK read for those in the mood for some suspense—or those who can make it through the first half. Recommended for collections where Sain's other works are well loved or where the thriller genre needs a boost.—Kara Jonson

Kirkus Reviews

2023-12-06
Trulee and Rio, who’s new to town, find themselves engrossed in unraveling a pair of unsolved 20-year-old murders.

It’s late May in sweltering Mount Orange, Florida, and recent high school grad Trulee plans on spending the summer with her boyfriend, East, working her summer job at the local newspaper, and free diving at Hidden Glen Springs. While she’s diving one day, Tru meets Rio, and the two girls feel an instant connection and simmering spark. Both skilled divers, they’re drawn to the water’s depths—and the missing evidence that could be hiding there from the gruesome murders of Bailey and Celeste, two teen girls who were attacked while camping in the area decades prior. Tru and Rio are obsessively focused on solving the crime when they slowly realize they could be the killer’s next targets. The page-turning mystery sustains readers’ interest, and amid red herrings galore, they’ll be desperate to solve the whodunit. Suspense drips from every scene, and the alarming and scary elements build expertly toward a thrilling climax that will surprise even devoted fans of the genre, although some may find the resolution slightly too convenient. The well-rounded characters are carefully crafted and believably express a range of emotions. A natural queer sexual awakening unfolds that’s full of spine-tingling pining, lust, and love. All main characters read white.

Fast paced and thrilling. (Mystery. 14-18)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940160128436
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	03/05/2024
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

ONE

Usually, it's the soft sound of the knife that wakes me. The noise it makes when it slices through the canvas. Like a whisper. I roll over to ask Celeste what it was that she said, but she can't answer because she's already dead. Staring and bloody.

So I run.

Other times when I imagine myself as Bailey, it's the crunch of leaves or the snap of a twig that makes me sit up straight in my sleeping bag.

I stare into the dark, not realizing that the rest of my life can be measured in minutes.

Even in my dreams, though, that night always ends the same way. With me dead. Floating on the surface of the spring. I fade into the blackness, my hair spreading out around me in a sea of blood, without ever knowing that Celeste and I have become the most famous citizens of Mount Orange, Florida.

But then I wake up. Take a deep breath. Hear the hum of the air conditioner. I count the old glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling and feel the softness of clean sheets against my skin. I inhale the mountain breeze dryer sheets my mother uses, even though neither of us have ever even seen a mountain in real life. Every time, I'm hit with this rush of relief. Because I'm not Bailey.

I'm not Celeste, either.

I'm Trulee.

And instead of bleeding out in the water, right now I'm standing on the courthouse lawn while the high school choir sings a memorial song for two long-buried girls who have always felt more alive to me than any of the people standing here dripping in the late-May heat.

I squint and glance up toward the sky. All that smooth, endless blue reminds me of the surface of the freshwater springs that lie right outside the city limits. It's the perfect day to be free diving out at Hidden Glen, but I felt like I had to be here. So did everyone else, I guess.

Downtown Mount Orange is a three-block strip of insurance offices, real estate offices, and four or five junk stores that like to be called "antique shops." Other than the memorials to Bailey and Celeste scattered around town, and the old crime scene out at Hidden Glen Springs where they died, the only real things of interest are an old-fashioned ice cream parlor called The Cone Zone and a beauty salon called Kurl Up and Dye. Every business sports a dark green awning out front, and big planters of ferns and pink hibiscus line the sidewalks. It would be picturesque, probably, if you didn't live here.

But I do.

I wipe at my sweaty forehead and glance up at the Florida flag flying over the courthouse.

My home state is known for four things.

Alligators.

Beaches.

Theme parks.

And serial killers.

There's Ted Bundy. Danny Rolling. Aileen Wuornos. The legendary Glades Reaper. He's maybe the worst of the worst. The things he did were so unspeakable that the mention of that name is enough to stop a conversation in its tracks. The original Florida boogeyman.

But I'm not thinking about him as I stand in the baking afternoon sun, struggling to fill my lungs with thick, wet air that feels more like warm oatmeal than anything else.

On a little stage at the front of the crowd, our illustrious mayor, Knox, is rambling on about the new memorial fountain in the town square. I'm not thinking about him, either, though.

I'm thinking about Bailey and Celeste again, our own local horror story.

The anniversary of the murders out at Hidden Glen is coming up in just a few weeks. It happened almost twenty years ago, but it's clear that nobody has forgotten about what went down out there that night, because everyone has gathered here in the hellish heat to see yet another memorial dedicated to our dead girls.

When we were little, my friends and I used to pretend to be them. We didn't understand that they were dead. Murdered. We only knew they were famous, their pictures framed in our school hallways and their names written on plaques all over town.

Once we understood the gruesome truth, we found other games to play. But I never lost my fascination with Bailey and Celeste.

Especially Bailey.

When I reenact the murders in my mind, I always play her role. It's her eyes I see it all unfold through. Her panic that swells in my chest. Her last moments that play over and over in my head.

I look around the crowd. There are a lot of true-crime people here today. A couple hundred, at least. Podcasters and writers. Plus their fans, creepy murder enthusiasts who travel the country visiting beautiful places where ugly things happened. These are the kind of weirdos who get off on playing detective as they pore over clues on internet forums, and there are so many more of them than any normal person would think. That's why we need another memorial. Because the lines get too long at the first five. The murder ghouls might have to wait a few seconds to snap their selfies, which might piss them off. And we can't have our guests leaving town dissatisfied. What if they didn't stay for pie at the diner and antique shopping on Dickson Street? That would be a real tragedy for this town.

I glare at a woman who steps right in front of me, blocking my view. She doesn't even offer up an "excuse me" or a "sorry." She's too busy fanning herself with her hat as sweat soaks through the back of her fancy silk blouse. She's an out-of-towner. I can tell because they're always dressed too formally. The uniform of choice in Mount Orange is shorts and a swimsuit paired with flip-flops. Put on anything else, and you're gonna stand out.

It isn't only the tourists who turned out today. There are plenty of locals, too. I wave at some girls I know from school. And the lady who cuts my hair. But my eyes keep searching the crowd until they land on Celeste's mom. She skipped the last few memorial dedications, but today she's standing off to one side, staring up at the courthouse windows. When the mayor points her out, the crowd offers up a polite round of applause for the murder victim's mother. Her shoulders tighten, but her face never changes, and she never looks anywhere but up at those empty second-floor windows.

Knox is bellowing from the podium now, giving his best impersonation of a Southern Baptist preacher getting really worked up on this Sunday afternoon. "This mystery will be solved," he promises us, one hand raised skyward like he's waving a Bible. "The guilty will be punished! Someone knows who did this. And nothing stays a secret forever. The killer is someone's son. Someone's father. Someone's brother." He pauses for effect. "Maybe even yours."

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