Last Breath

Nightmare Hall #17

by Diane Hoh

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.

Genres: Young Adult, Horror, Thriller

243 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1994

About the author

Diane 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.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Jina · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 her teacher driving her insane.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[absolutely _ grim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so entertaining, readable, and nostalgic. I'm really loving my early mid life crisis rn.

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 😂

* Cassidy is at Salem University and has taken on a lot of responsibility, with multiple clubs and fundraising for charity.
* Cassidy starts noticing a black TransAm, it turns up 3 times at a charity car wash, and then tries to run her over a couple of times.
* Other things start happening. Money goes missing, Cassidy turns up at class an hour late and misses her class because she thought her clock said an hour earlier. Letters go missing, an essay goes missing, she turns up a week early for a party, her bike is run over, then turns up looking like new. She drinks a coke but it's boiling coffee, then coke again, she's pushed into the basement and nearly dies from an asthma attack, but there's never evidence of any of these things so people start to act like Cassidy is going nuts.
* Eventually, Cassidy ends up in the university infirmary and the Doctor tells her that the black TransAm does exist, it belongs to a doctor who died last year, and is now kept in his wife's garage.
* Cassidy realises that she's not going nuts after all and sets off to confront her roommate who babysits for the dead professor's wife.
* On the way to confront Ann she is accosted by a doctor and put into the trunk of the TransAm. She realises that the person making her think she's nuts isn't her roommate Ann, but her suitemate Talia, who is actually a bit nutty herself.

[Miki · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[LJP1610 · Rating 2 out of 5]

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.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

College student psychological warfare. Slay.