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Is “The Last Room on the Left” a Feminist Take on “The Shining?”
A review of Leah Konen’s 2025 novel
Although I’d never read anything by thriller and YA author Leah Konen before, the buzz around her latest book made it one of my most anticipated reads of winter 2025. Inspired by her friend and her agent to write a feminist take on The Shining, The Last Room on the Left sounded promising for fans of horror and thrillers. While I didn’t expect this novel to rival Stephen King’s classic, it didn’t live up to the marketing hype or its initial inspiration.
After her husband left her and she cut ties with her best friend, Kerry’s drinking has gotten worse. With a book deal looming, she takes a job as a caretaker at the retro Twilite motel, hoping it will provide the perfect opportunity to finish her novel and get a fresh start. During a blizzard, she spots an arm protruding from a heap of snow. Trapped alone in the mountains, Kerry must escape before a killer comes for her too.
“And yet for me, it was perfect, my own little Overlook Hotel, where I could finish my book (minus the ghosts, psychotic break, and homicide, of course). And unlike Jack Torrance, I didn’t even have a family to terrorize and I wasn’t going to be drinking a single drop. All work and no play was finally going to make Kerry a truly successful girl.” — Leah…
