The Last to Drown by Noelle W. Ihli

Five days. Twenty strangers. No way out.

The rafting trip was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime. But Kaia’s starting to think she made a mistake.

Because ever since the whispers about Camas Creek began, all she feels is dread.

Seven years earlier, a guide murdered a group of rafters on this same isolated stretch of water. The killer’s body was recovered downstream—but the true-crime community has never stopped asking questions.

And for good reason.

The incidents start small—a flipped raft, missing supplies, and screams in the night—but the pattern is sickeningly familiar. And with eighty-four miles of whitewater until any sign of civilization, safety has never felt so far away.

Kaia suspects that one of the guides is lying. One of the guests knows more than she’s saying. And somewhere on this river, someone is planning to finish what started at Camas Creek.

Kindle Edition, 290 pages

Expected publication July 16, 2026

 by Dynamite Books

3.5/5 stars

I've read Noelle W. Ihli before (Ask for Andrea and Forget You Saw Her), both I really enjoyed. She writes dark and she does it well. 

The premise is undeniably gripping,  an all-women whitewater rafting trip on a stretch of river with a very dark past. About 84 miles from civilization with someone among the group who may not be who they say they are.

This started off with a bang and I settled in. There is a large cast of characters and I found myself struggling to keep them straight early on -  though that problem does sort itself out as the story progresses, for reasons I won't share.

What I did appreciate was the emotional depth woven through the story. Our main character Kaia is still navigating grief two years after losing her husband and that thread adds a layer to her character that goes beyond the survival story.

I felt the ending was a little abrupt, leaving a couple of questions unanswered that I would have liked resolved.

All in all an entertaining read, just not the edge-of-your-seat thriller I was hoping for.

My thanks to Dynamite Books for a digital arc (via netgalley) in exchange for a honest review.