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Nightmare Hall #17
Last Breath
Finding her seemingly perfect life haunted by a series of strange occurrences, Cassidy is frustrated by rumors that she is losing her mind, until a fall down the stairs and an encounter with poison prove that someone wants Cassidy dead. Original.
243 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1994
About the author
Diane Hoh
84 books298 followersDiane Hoh is the author of fifty-seven novels for young adults. She grew up in Warren, Pennsylvania but currently resides in Austin, Texas. Reading and writing are her favorite things, alongside gardening and grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 15, 2024
Night time read with the kiddo. A little more mature than our usual, but still okay. I did ask her at the end if it was too scary but she laughed at me.
This story follows Cassidy, a college age girl who has taken on a lot of recreational activities around campus and has started to question if she just might be losing her mind. A TransAm no one around campus can verify the existence of has been following her. She’s making mistakes in her cash handling and party planning activities, and no one believes the excuses she’s giving for these mistakes are real.
I did generally guess where this was going although not really the whodunnit.
Anyway, I thought there were some genuinely creepy moments in this! I think I might have been a little too young for Dianne Hoh when these were being published, I was probably a perfect age for Goosebumps, and I’m sorry I missed her.
Will keep my eye peeled for more of this series at thrift shops and check out more of her work.
This story follows Cassidy, a college age girl who has taken on a lot of recreational activities around campus and has started to question if she just might be losing her mind. A TransAm no one around campus can verify the existence of has been following her. She’s making mistakes in her cash handling and party planning activities, and no one believes the excuses she’s giving for these mistakes are real.
I did generally guess where this was going although not really the whodunnit.
Anyway, I thought there were some genuinely creepy moments in this! I think I might have been a little too young for Dianne Hoh when these were being published, I was probably a perfect age for Goosebumps, and I’m sorry I missed her.
Will keep my eye peeled for more of this series at thrift shops and check out more of her work.
October 8, 2014
OMG, I spent most of this book irritated. Irritated with the other characters and irritated with the main character. I'm sorry, but after a few so-called screw-ups where nobody believes me about it not being my fault, I'm going to start taking pictures to prove crap. And I seriously wanted the epilogue to show everybody eating crow. And Ann should have been punished more then just losing a boyfriend. She KNEW about that TransAm and that for at least that Cassidy was telling the truth and was being tortured by it. GAH! Totally hate that there was no crow for everybody to eat.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 11, 2016
This is definitely one of the better Nightmare Hall books, and I had a blast re-reading it.
I was completely wrong about the ending, though. I think I had this mixed up with a Monk episode, because I was positive it was .
I was completely wrong about the ending, though. I think I had this mixed up with a Monk episode, because I was positive it was .
November 10, 2013
One of the 90s horror authors that I never encountered before! Reminded me of R.L. Stine's Fear Street or Christopher Pike's books. Good old fashioned fun.
October 28, 2022
This was so entertaining, readable, and nostalgic. I'm really loving my early mid life crisis rn.
August 14, 2026
An actual Nightmare Hall book written by Diane Hoh.
I think a different title would have been better for this book, but it was already taken: The Experiment.
It goes by Last Breath because the main character, Cassidy Kirk, has asthma.
Get it?
I know that it can be fatal so I'm not saying it to be mean spirited. So, take it with a grain of salt for this as well because this book has a crazy person behind all of this and even the motivation for our antagonist is head scratching.
On the other hand, this is probably the best sort of book with very effective gaslighting.
Cassidy has never been able to do much due to her asthma but now that she is at her freshman year of college at Salem University, she intends to be more active in clubs and fundraising and dating.
She may be handling too much because she does suffer an asthma attack, the first one in a while due to inhaler medication. Cassidy is laid up for days after having her energy drained that she has been missing her classes in her Psychology major.
Getting back to class, Cassidy ends up falling asleep and has her professor tell her that she is still expecting a term paper from her. Being ill is no exemption at the college level.
Cassidy thought she gave it to Travis to hand in for her. That is one big problem because you see Travis was her boyfriend before they had a big fight that half of the campus heard and was a trigger for her asthma attack. Now, he hasn't even checked on her to make sure she is okay because that is what he used to do all the time.
This is just one of the first things that starts to go wrong.
At a car washing fundraiser, a driver in a black Trans-Am shows up three times with a mud caked car. Cassidy can't see the driver's face and each time, they pay in fresh bills. A ten-dollar bill and a couple of twenties without collecting change. That's fifty dollars going toward the upcoming dance!
Until Cassidy goes to count the money and finds it fifty short.
No one accuses her of stealing it but even her new squeeze, Sawyer, says they did not see a black Trans-Am go through the line even one time. Next, it's having her watch go missing and then showing up an hour late for class because a clock in the joined suite of her dorm said it was an hour earlier. Going back to the room, no missing watch and the correct time.
A party being thrown at Nightmare Hall and Cassidy shows up on the wrong Friday night.
The same black Tran-Am tries to mow her down at the mall but no one sees it.
The band who said they would play the dance says Cassidy never asked them even though she sent a letter and got one in return. Someone orders the colors for a rival university to decorate for the dance.
The book embellishes a little on its back blurb because there is a fall down the stairs but there is no poison. Cassidy's ice cold can of Coca-Cola is switched out for piping hot coffee and then is back to being soda again when she goes to get her friends.
Things get so bad that everyone thinks Cassidy is going off the deep end. Towards the end, Cassidy is even beginning to believe that she is insane and even though we as readers know she isn't we get in-story conformation.
This is to have us get to the reveal because we have had a pretty ripe suspect pool. Her psychology professor, ex-boyfriend Trevor, her roommate Ann, her suitemates Talia and Sophie and possibly even new boyfriend Sawyer. Heck maybe even some random person in the background!
A swift climax and a pay-off of the big dance everyone has been so hyped up about. Cassidy ends up rescuing herself and learning a lesson about taking on too much at a time.
Characters from the first Nightmare Hall book show up: Jess, Ian, Cath and Milo. To Cassidy, she thinks they might just be pitying her, but I assure you that these characters are much nicer to her than any of her so-called friends.
IF you know you KNOW..., am I right?
Last Breath is actually a breath of fresh air in the Nightmare Hall series but not enough that I would give it five stars. The who and why of the antagonist tormenting poor Cassidy is just not very cohesive or clever enough.
I think a different title would have been better for this book, but it was already taken: The Experiment.
It goes by Last Breath because the main character, Cassidy Kirk, has asthma.
Get it?
I know that it can be fatal so I'm not saying it to be mean spirited. So, take it with a grain of salt for this as well because this book has a crazy person behind all of this and even the motivation for our antagonist is head scratching.
On the other hand, this is probably the best sort of book with very effective gaslighting.
Cassidy has never been able to do much due to her asthma but now that she is at her freshman year of college at Salem University, she intends to be more active in clubs and fundraising and dating.
She may be handling too much because she does suffer an asthma attack, the first one in a while due to inhaler medication. Cassidy is laid up for days after having her energy drained that she has been missing her classes in her Psychology major.
Getting back to class, Cassidy ends up falling asleep and has her professor tell her that she is still expecting a term paper from her. Being ill is no exemption at the college level.
Cassidy thought she gave it to Travis to hand in for her. That is one big problem because you see Travis was her boyfriend before they had a big fight that half of the campus heard and was a trigger for her asthma attack. Now, he hasn't even checked on her to make sure she is okay because that is what he used to do all the time.
This is just one of the first things that starts to go wrong.
At a car washing fundraiser, a driver in a black Trans-Am shows up three times with a mud caked car. Cassidy can't see the driver's face and each time, they pay in fresh bills. A ten-dollar bill and a couple of twenties without collecting change. That's fifty dollars going toward the upcoming dance!
Until Cassidy goes to count the money and finds it fifty short.
No one accuses her of stealing it but even her new squeeze, Sawyer, says they did not see a black Trans-Am go through the line even one time. Next, it's having her watch go missing and then showing up an hour late for class because a clock in the joined suite of her dorm said it was an hour earlier. Going back to the room, no missing watch and the correct time.
A party being thrown at Nightmare Hall and Cassidy shows up on the wrong Friday night.
The same black Tran-Am tries to mow her down at the mall but no one sees it.
The band who said they would play the dance says Cassidy never asked them even though she sent a letter and got one in return. Someone orders the colors for a rival university to decorate for the dance.
The book embellishes a little on its back blurb because there is a fall down the stairs but there is no poison. Cassidy's ice cold can of Coca-Cola is switched out for piping hot coffee and then is back to being soda again when she goes to get her friends.
Things get so bad that everyone thinks Cassidy is going off the deep end. Towards the end, Cassidy is even beginning to believe that she is insane and even though we as readers know she isn't we get in-story conformation.
This is to have us get to the reveal because we have had a pretty ripe suspect pool. Her psychology professor, ex-boyfriend Trevor, her roommate Ann, her suitemates Talia and Sophie and possibly even new boyfriend Sawyer. Heck maybe even some random person in the background!
A swift climax and a pay-off of the big dance everyone has been so hyped up about. Cassidy ends up rescuing herself and learning a lesson about taking on too much at a time.
Characters from the first Nightmare Hall book show up: Jess, Ian, Cath and Milo. To Cassidy, she thinks they might just be pitying her, but I assure you that these characters are much nicer to her than any of her so-called friends.
IF you know you KNOW..., am I right?
Last Breath is actually a breath of fresh air in the Nightmare Hall series but not enough that I would give it five stars. The who and why of the antagonist tormenting poor Cassidy is just not very cohesive or clever enough.
July 16, 2024
There was a party at Nightmare Hall in this one.
It was okay, but it dragged. I was starting to think that if the main charater just died maybe the book would end faster 😂
It was okay, but it dragged. I was starting to think that if the main charater just died maybe the book would end faster 😂
September 2, 2020
I read this a kid. Not the best Diane Hoh book, I admit. But still a fun summer (re)read. My sister has kept a few, so maybe I'll try out another one, like Pretty Please.
October 26, 2014
Stfu Cassidy you have asthma boo hoo. If the so called heroine wasn't such a whiny pain in the ass this book would have been better.
December 5, 2023
College student psychological warfare. Slay.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews