Last Seen Leaving [Import] [Hardcover]

Kelly Braffet (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company; 1ST edition (2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0755321553
• ISBN-13: 978-0755321551
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

More About the Author

I'm the author of Last Seen Leaving and Josie and Jack (known in the UK as Fabulous Things, which is confusing, but you'd be surprised by what writers don't get to decide about their books, really you would). I can be found on the web in the following places (sorry, Amazon doesn't allow links):

www.kellybraffet.com
www.facebook.com/kellybraffetfiction
and at Goodreads, here: http://preview.tinyurl.com/7lnr9ho

Here is a helpful guide to helpfully help you decide which of my books might be right for you.

Do you suffer from ghastly hangovers and chronic frustration at the lack of ghastly hangovers in your reading material? Check out Josie and Jack.

Do you like tacos? Check out Last Seen Leaving.

Do stories about abandoned cats being rescued by kind strangers make you happy? Check out Last Seen Leaving.

Do stories about abandoned sisters being rescued by not-so-kind brothers make you happy? Check out Josie and Jack.

Do you like unicorns? Me, too. Sorry, though. Wrong writer. Try Peter S. Beagle. He's really good.

Do you want to read a book where I prove that I can research math and physics? Josie and Jack.

Do you want to read a book where I prove that I can research New Age spirituality and the CIA? Last Seen Leaving.

Do you want to be taken away on a magical journey full of wonder and amazement? Me, too. Wrong writer again, though. Damn it!

Do you want to be taken away on a dark journey full of ambient creepiness and vivid descriptions of smells? Right, that's totally me. Either book, really.

Do you want to read a story wherein an unlucky waitress consumes pudding? Check out my short story, "Bad Karma Girl Wins At Bingo," in the anthology Who Can Save Us Now? Brand New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories.

Do you want to read a story wherein an imprisoned serial-killing countess consumes stale bread and throws dead rats at people? Check out my short story, "The Pulley," in the Aquamarine Issue of the Fairy Tale Review.

Do you want to read about what a self-obsessed, pretentious dork I was in high school? Check out my essay, "F@ck High School," in the anthology When I Was A Loser.

Do you want to read about what self-obsessed, pretentious dorks other people were in high school? Check out Catcher in the Rye and the Chocolate War.

Do you want to read a really good book about independent film? Check out my husband's book, Reenactment. Out in 2013.

Do you want to read a book about blond people? Josie and Jack.

Do you want to read a book about people who dye their hair unnatural colors? Last Seen Leaving.

Do you want to read a book about a Led Zeppelin fan who works in a convenience store and a waitress who has dark thoughts about lobster and two goth evangelical Christian sisters and a really big shiny truck and another guy who named himself after a Roman emperor and yet another guy who draws wolves all the time? Then run to the nearest publisher, bang stridently on the desk of the first editor you come to, and refuse to leave until I sell my next novel. Thanks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An alternately thrilling and touching read, October 17, 2006

By 

G. Gohn (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Last Seen Leaving (Hardcover)

If you've read Braffet's first novel, Josie and Jack, her vivid prose and extraordinary knack for verbal and emotional illustration in Last Seen Leaving will come as no great surprise. ...Although it may be against the law of averages to have a relatively new author hit the nail so squarely on the head two times in a row.

If you're looking to get swept away by a marvelously written and unforgettable story, do yourself a favor and buy them both.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great read from a rising star author, November 23, 2006

By 

dr j. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Seen Leaving (Hardcover)

Just finished reading "Last Seen Leaving," the new novel by Kelly Braffet and I want to say: it's terrific. Dark, smart, thrilling, it follows a young woman named Miranda whose father disappeared in a mysterious plane crash over South America. She herself is constantly on the run, running from her past, her fears, intimacy...and possibly, a serial killer. This is a book about the secrets we keep from each other and ourselves, sometimes out of love, sometimes out of fear. Can't recommend this book highly enough!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stylish, provocative thriller, November 6, 2006

By 

Mackenzie Barnes (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Seen Leaving (Hardcover)

Wow! Someone just drank a big bottle of Genius and her name is Kelly Braffet! I didn't think that she could possibly top her first novel, JOSIE AND JACK, a creepy love story that had style to burn.

But she did.

On the surface, LAST SEEN LEAVING is a thriller about Anne Cassidy's search for her lost daughter Miranda, and the dual story of Miranda's dangerous new life in a Maryland beach town. Dark subplots abound: a mysterious stranger with a fixation for Miranda; the still unresolved disappearance of Anne's husband, a CIA pilot; and a serial killer on the loose, who lovingly dyes the hair of his victims post-mortem. You just can't put it down.

But it's also a truly thought-provoking piece of work that asks all kinds of questions about identity, about the masks we wear, and the faces our loved ones show us. What a great book.