Review: Last Train to Babylon by Charlee Fam

Last Train to Babylon

by Charlee Fam

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 352

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Who put the word fun in funeral? I can’t think of anything fun about Rachel’s funeral, except for the fact that she won’t be there.

Aubrey Glass has a collection of potential suicide notes—just in case. And now, five years—and five notes—after leaving her hometown, Rachel’s the one who goes and kills herself. Aubrey can’t believe her luck. 

But Rachel’s death doesn’t leave Aubrey in peace. There’s a voicemail from her former friend, left only days before her death that Aubrey can’t bring herself to listen to—and worse, a macabre memorial-turned-high-school reunion that promises the opportunity to catch up with everyone… including the man responsible for everything that went wrong between she and Rachel. 

In the days leading up to the funeral and infamous after party, Aubrey slips seamlessly between her past and present. Memories of friendship tangle with painful new encounters while underneath it all Aubrey feels the rush of something closing in, something she can no longer run from. And when the past and present collide in one devastating night, nothing will be the same again. 

But facing the future means confronting herself and a shattering truth. Now, Aubrey must decide what will define her: what lies behind… or what waits ahead.


Kritters Thoughts:  Aubrey returns home to bury a friend that maybe wasn't the best of friend in the end and there is a reason why this friendship didn't make it to adulthood, but the reader is left in the dark for a bit to wonder what happened to these two friends.  

Switching between present time and past stories, this book takes the reader on the journey of two friends and maybe isn't the most positive of friendships!  Without completely ruining the core of the book, I loved how the reader finds out what really happened to make this friendship unravel and it made my thoughts change about both Aubrey and her "ex" best friend Rachel - it is kind of fun when your opinions change on characters.  

Although the book is definitely biased in Aubrey's point of view, I still felt like I saw a true picture of Rachel and the other "friends" in their semi group.  I adore when authors send their characters to their hometowns to confront things from the past and it's even better when their hometowns are small and everyone knows everyone and everything!

This was definitely a debbie downer book which made me glad to read it during the fall season and not in the bright sunshine of spring or summer.  If you have read many thriller books, then this book is definitely different then the rest and I would recommend picking it up.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.