Book Review: The Last Mrs. Parrish

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: ebook

My Rating: 🐢🐢🐢🐢

First of all, I gotta admit I only read The Last Mrs. Parrish out of curiosity just to compare it with The Housemaid, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Well, turns out it’s better. Much better.  And actually, makes more sense. The writing alone puts it in a different league. 

Let’s start with the basics: the story follows Amber, our ambitious, manipulative, social-climbing anti-hero, who worms her way into the life of Daphne and her very wealthy husband, Jackson. At first, you think you’re just signing up for a juicy domestic thriller where you’ll hate-read Amber’s scheming while secretly admiring how shameless she is. But then, halfway through, the narrative flips and suddenly you’re deep into Daphne’s point of view. And oh boy, that’s when things get dark!

Here’s the thing: the book does what The Housemaid tried (and kind of failed) to do. It gives us manipulation, deception, rich people's problems, and gasp-worthy secrets. Except here, it doesn’t feel rushed or sloppily stitched together. The build-up is actually worth it. The pacing is on point. And the character work? So much better. Amber is delightfully hateable, Daphne is sympathetic without being boring, and Jackson… well, Jackson is every red flag rolled into one toxic man-shaped package.

Now, the ending. I know this is where people sometimes disagree, but for me, it was satisfying. Was it perfect? Not quite. My petty little heart wanted Amber behind bars, in an orange jumpsuit, writing her memoirs from a prison cell. But nope, that didn’t happen. Still, justice was served in its own twisted way, so I’ll let it slide. That’s the only reason I couldn’t give it a full five stars. It’s more like a strong 4 or 4.5.

And can we talk about Jackson? I don’t think I’ve ever come across a manipulative, gaslighting husband like him in fiction. Seriously, I hated him so much for humiliating Daphne. The worst part? Some of his verbal ways of emotional manipulation and gaslighting started to feel personal. Reading this book was both creepy and empowering, because it reminded me that those subtle little digs and shifts of reality aren’t imagination or hallucination. That hit harder than I expected from a thriller.

And that’s the beauty of this book, it entertains and unsettles you at the same time. It’s juicy, it’s dramatic, it’s occasionally over the top, but it still manages to feel sharp. Unlike The Housemaid, it didn’t feel like I was reading a rushed first draft. Instead, The Last Mrs. Parrish felt deliberate, polished, and actually thought through.

So, final verdict? The Last Mrs. Parrish is a very good read. It’s a domestic thriller with manipulative characters and a storyline that makes you gasp while also questioning your own taste in men. It’s dramatic in all the best ways, with just the right amount of soap opera flair. I won’t deny the fact that I enjoyed The Housemaid, but you can’t help but smell plagiarism. It’s too obvious how the two books are similar. So, would I recommend The Last Mrs. Parrish over The Housemaid? Every single time.