When Delilah meets Sawyer Saffitz (son of the Anya Saffitz, aka Hollywood royalty), she becomes hooked on a decade-old scandal. In her quest for the truth, Delilah uncovers blogposts written by the mysterious “gottiewrites” and is soon caught up in a world of greed, fandom conspiracy theories … and murder. And the deeper Delilah digs, the more dangerous it becomes – because someone is willing to kill to hide the truth.

Last Seen Online is a mixed media YA book featuring teenager Delilah who loves true crime stories and finds herself investigating the death of a TV star.

Delilah’s ambition is to be an actress but during an audition at her school, she embarrasses herself. She finds comfort in Sawyer Saffitz who is the son of a famous Hollywood actress who starred in a detective series back in the day called Loch & Ness. The show ended when one of the main actors was murdered and his co-star was imprisoned for his murder.

Sawyer though doesn’t believe that the police have the right murderer and with Delilah’s love of true crime, she offers to help him prove his theory.

Last Seen Online is a gripping YA book perfect for anyone who adores a good mystery, is into Hollywood stars, and enjoys true crime podcasts/documentaries, etc.

I loved that the book features not only a great story but also messages, scenes from Loch & Ness, blog posts, and comment sections. The reader discovers the same information as Delilah about the case, including information from a missing blogger ‘gottiewrites’ whose site has been restricted by the FBI. They then get to see if they can work out the truth alongside Delilah and see if they come up with the same conclusion.

The book was a quick read and entertaining the whole way through. It becomes edgier and darker the further you read as someone doesn’t like Delilah digging into the past and they may kill to keep the information hidden. Overall, Last Seen Online is a novel that will intrigue and satisfy its YA audience.

Wren James is the Carnegie-longlisted British author of many Young Adult novels as ‘Lauren James’, including Green Rising, The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker and The Loneliest Girl in the Universe. They are a RLF Royal Fellow at Aston University and the story consultant on Netflix’s Heartstopper (Seasons 2 and 3).

Wren is the founder of the Climate Fiction Writers League, editor of the anthology Future Hopes: Hopeful stories in a time of climate change, and a member of the Society of Authors’ Sustainability Committee. They work as a consultant on climate storytelling for museums, production companies, major brands and publishers, with a focus on optimism and hope. They run a Queer Writers group in Coventry.

Their books have sold over two hundred thousand copies worldwide in seven languages. The Quiet at the End of the World was shortlisted for the YA Book Prize and STEAM Children’s Book Award.

Their other novels include The Next Together series, the dyslexia-friendly novella series The Watchmaker and the Duke and serialised online novel An Unauthorised Fan Treatise.

Wren’s writing has been described as ‘gripping romantic sci-fi’ by the Wall Street Journal and ‘a strange, witty, compulsively unpredictable read which blows most of its new YA-suspense brethren out of the water’ by Entertainment Weekly.

Wren was born in 1992, and has a Masters degree from the University of Nottingham, where they studied Chemistry and Physics. They have taught creative writing for Coventry University, WriteMentor, and Writing West Midlands. Their next release is Last Seen Online.