For the Last Time is the latest thinky thriller by popular author Heidi Perks. Ms. Perks has a talent for upending whatever the reader believes is happening, and this story includes the numerous surprises and twists she is known for.

The book blurb mentions something that occurs at the literal fifty percent mark, but doesn’t list the almost dizzying number of narrators included or timeshifts that take place. For the sake of clarity in this review, I will not name all the narrators, and I will review the book in a sequential fashion. I will also cover material up to the point where the event the description talks about takes place.

It begins with a necklace. Erin and Will typically don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, but this particular year, Will gives Erin a necklace that has a charm with their daughter Sadie’s fingerprint and name engraved on it. The beauty and thoughtfulness of the gift move Erin to tears, but when Will goes to put it on her, she flinches away from him. He is a bit hurt and confused; she, too, is bewildered but also angry. She suddenly feels something is wrong, wrong with Will and wrong with their relationship, even though moments before, she would have said everything was fine. A bemused Will leaves for work, and Erin spends an uneasy day with Sadie. They pretend everything is normal when he comes home, although both are well aware it is not. While Will is making dinner later that evening and watching their little girl, Erin takes some time to work on the children’s book she is trying to write. This leaves Will watching the stove, their daughter, and Erin’s beloved dog Coco. He manages the meal and toddler quite well, but at some point, Coco goes missing. They spend the evening searching for her but have no luck finding her. Erin is devastated and angry. Will has never loved Coco as she does, and she can’t help but simmer with resentment that her adored pet has gone missing on his watch.

The text jumps forward to several weeks down the road, with Erin and Will visiting a relationship counselor. Erin has become cold and distant, and Will is desperate to fix whatever is wrong in their marriage. The counselor’s name is Maggie, and she encourages them to talk about what is happening. Erin is agitated and anxious throughout the sessions and becomes increasingly so as time goes on. Moreover, according to Will, she has begun to imagine things. She claims there had been damage to his car, something he says didn’t happen, and which she insists he had repaired the next day while he was at work. I had to laugh at this point. Anyone who has ever owned a car knows you can not get that kind of structural repair work done in twenty-four hours! Erin is convinced Will is gaslighting her regarding both Coco and the car. Will is concerned Erin is losing touch with reality. Maggie is worried that this couple’s problems are beyond what she can help with. She continues to meet with them, but rather than soothing their anxiety, the sessions add to hers.

At yet another awkward meeting, Erin accuses Will of lying to her about a necklace she is positive she saw in the boot of his car. He denies it ever existed and points out that when he went to the car with Erin to address her concerns, it wasn’t there. When Maggie asks Erin to describe the jewelry, her words send a chill down Maggie’s spine. The pretty piece Erin depicts is a unique charm that had been worn by Maggie’s dead sister. It was last seen on the day she was murdered and was not recovered with the body. Suddenly, Maggie finds herself wondering just why Will and Erin chose to come to her office for counseling. They said she had been a word-of-mouth recommendation, although they don’t say who, specifically, the referral came from. Are Will and Erin really a couple with marital problems, as they claim? Or is something far more sinister going on here?

Throughout all of the above, we are flipping back and forth between the present, where Erin lies in a coma in the hospital, the victim of a suspicious hit and run, and various points in the past. We receive the viewpoints of two different detectives working the case, Erin’s estranged mum, her best friend, her husband, Will, her mother-in-law, one of the nurses, Erin, Erin’s dad, and Maggie – at the very least. There might be more. It is rare that I say this, but I don’t think this novel would make for a good listen/audiobook. I would, personally, have a hard time keeping track of who everyone is and when everything happens without being able to reference the subheadings whenever I needed to.

The positives of the book are its numerous twists, the interesting (if often unsympathetic) characters, and the lovely prose. The language evokes a gothic atmosphere, even though we are missing the classic element of the creepy house. The idea that one of the characters is gaslighting the others – although whether it is Will, Maggie or Erin that is responsible, we simply don’t know – gives the story a chilling and very sinister atmosphere. I loved how frightening was the idea of a manipulative, murderous villain in the background, juxtaposed against the ordinary suburban lives of these three people

The author does a fantastic job of showing how average people can have dark sides we just don’t expect, and she showcases the complexity of family spectacularly well – from Will’s family, who loves too much, to Erin’s mom, who doesn’t love at all, the text captures beautifully how difficult relatives can actually be.

I do have some quibbles, though. I really disliked Maggie, who I felt from the start was irresponsible in how she handles her position. She seems neither able to deal with all that Erin and Will have going on nor able to process what is happening/had happened in her own life. The pacing is slow, and very little actually takes place – the gaslighting aspect of the book leans heavily into the menacing ambiance of the prose to provide the mystery factor the plot itself sometimes lacks. As a result, much of what does happen falls into red herring territory since we are meant to be questioning the sanity and perception of at least two of the players involved.

Those foibles mean that For the Last Time, while very, very good, may not be for everyone. If you are a fan of clear-cut police procedurals or prefer stories with brisk pacing and a neat puzzle to solve, I would give this a miss. If you love books that depend more on psychology, subtlety, and/or the possible psychosis of the characters, then I would strongly recommend reading For the Last Time.