Our Last Resort

A Novel

By: Clémence Michallon

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of The Quiet Tenant comes an immersive new suspense novel: Fifteen years ago, Frida and her brother escaped a cult. Now her brother is the prime suspect in a murder investigation—and it isn’t the first time.

“Clémence Michallon is one of the most daring, exciting new voices in psychological suspense; she writes page turners with stunning and surprising depths.” – #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell

"Thought-provoking and shocking. A perfect summer read.”—Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of She's Not Sorry


Innocence doesn't bail you out; it just makes you easier to trap.

Frida and Gabriel arrive seeking a fresh start at the stunning Ara Hotel in the secluded desert of Escalante, Utah. Once so close they were able to finish each other’s sentences, they’ve grown apart in recent years after a sudden, unspeakable tragedy. Now, at the luxe resort, they are ready to reconnect between dips in the pool and hikes on spectacular desert trails. It all feels like paradise—until the dead body of a beautiful young woman who was vacationing at the Ara with her powerful, much older husband is discovered.

When the local police arrive and suspicion quickly falls on Gabriel, Frida is forced to revisit memories from their upbringing in a cloistered cult in upstate New York, their dramatic escape, and the scandal that followed. Frida’s belief in Gabriel’s innocence never wavered at the time, but now even she can’t ignore the evidence mounting against him.

Alternating between past and present timelines, Our Last Resort builds toward a shattering climax that uncovers the fate of the murdered Ara guest and poses the question: how well do we ever really know those we love? Multi-layered, gripping, and intense, Clémence Michallon’s latest suspense novel is a nail-biter until the last word, cementing her status as a major new talent in the genre.

©2025 Clémence Michallon (P)2025 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Michallon masterfully weaves past cult abuse into a taut present-day procedural, blending psychological complexity with enough terror to make you white-knuckle your beach chair.”—Oprah Daily

“Clémence Michallon is a genuine talent, with a gift for unexpected angles, finding fresh ways of approaching even the darkest subjects that make them feel reinvigorated and daring. You come to Michallon for beautiful, thought-provoking prose and deep characterization. In Our Last Resort, she finds tenderness in a story about cults, dreaminess, and compassion in the lengths to which people will go to save themselves.”—Ashley Winstead, USA Today-bestselling author of Midnight is the Darkest Hour

“[A] nail-biter. . . . Michallon nimbly balances pace, plot, and character, never skewing so literary that she alienates genre fans or so popcorn that the stakes feel flimsy. The result is a robust and memorable whodunit.”—Publishers Weekly

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE SUMMER: The New York Times, USA Today, Oprah Daily, Boston Globe, Marie Claire, CrimeReads, Apple Books, Goodreads, Brit + Co, She Reads, BuzzFeed, BookBub, Tag24

Such a disappointment,loved The Quiet Tenant

I was looking so forward to this book ,it was a pre order ,so excited for another fabulous read like The Quiet Tenant . So disappointed. Wanted to love it but I just didn’t. The whole cult world was so vague. If you’re going to take on the life of growing up in a cult you need to explain a lot and show a lot ,you can’t just skim . And if you’re going to keep something a mystery until the end then you can’t have all your readers no who did what from the start because you know who did what from the start to one of the main mysteries. And the person the main mystery was about shouldn’t have been so stupid about what the plan was. So unfortunately the lack of emotions ,the lack of background story ,the lack of mystery and other things made this book an overall disappointment. Read her other book though The Quiet Tenant ,such a great read. 3 stars and I rounded up because I loved the author’s first book so much

Family is everything.

Clémence Michallon’s second novel is clever, poignant, and compelling. Saskia Maarleveld was the perfect choice to narrate. I didn’t stop listening until the end. Our Last Resort is definitely worth your credit.

Great sophomore novel

Well done! The Quiet Tenant is one of my favorite books of the past few years and this was a solid follow up!