“‘There’s nothing like it. The way the world gets real quiet when a gator’s nearby…And then the water, suddenly boiling as that black head surfaces and the ancient reptile erupts into the air hissing like a devil…’

The Labasques aren’t like other families.

Living in a shack out in the swamps, they scrape a living hunting down alligators just to get by. To the good people of Jacknife, Louisiana, they are trouble-makers, outcasts, the kind of people you wouldn’t want living on your doorstep.

So when Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two rough-cut brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter’s childhood friend, Loyal May, who has just returned home to care for her ageing mother.

Loyal left town at the age of 18, having betrayed everything she valued most. Now, there may be no way for her to find forgiveness, but there may be restitution…

Set against the haunting beauty of Southern Louisiana, Our Last Wild Days is a stunning, evocative novel about the ways in which we come to understand our place in the world.”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey. Our Last Wild Days is published by Doubleday Books today (that’s Thursday 24th April 2025) and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats with the paperback to follow. I chose to read a free ARC of Our Last Wild Days but that has in no way influenced my review. My grateful thanks to Alison at Doubleday Books for sending me a proof copy.

I have been waiting nearly four years for Our Last Wild Days to be published. No exaggeration. Our Last Wild Days is the second book by super-talented author, Anna Bailey. Anna Bailey of Tall Bones fame. Anna Bailey who wrote one of my all-time favourite books (and if that wasn’t enough, Tall Bones was their debut!). The excitement is real! I could not wait to see what Bailey had in store for us readers next. Would it be as epic as Tall Bones? Would I love it as much? Yes, and most definitely yes!

The Labasque family make a meagre living hunting alligators out in the Southern Louisiana swamps. They’re outcasts in Jacknife and the locals will go out of their way to avoid them. They have a reputation for a reason. Particularly Dewall, the older sibling. When a body turns up in the swamp, the fact it belongs to Dewall’s sister, Cutter, doesn’t seem to really worry anyone. And that includes her two brothers. However, Cutter’s teenage best friend, Loyal, is devastated. Having returned to Jacknife to care for her ailing mother, and having parted on bad terms with Cutter all those years ago, Loyal now realises that she will never be able to make amends for what she did. Loyal immediately dismisses the official verdict of suicide. There’s more to Cutter’s death than meets the eye and Loyal is going to discover exactly what…

Our Last Wild Days is a gorgeous, dark, evocative literary mystery. Full of emotion, full of regret and overflowing with beautifully written suspense. Gosh, I loved this book! The small-town setting comes to life on the page. Bailey’s descriptions of Jacknife and the swampland are exquisite. The setting becomes as much a part of the story as any of the characters are. And those characters are sublime. The Labasques are secretive, brimming with aggression and drowning in poverty. Scraping a living from farming alligators and risking life and limb on a daily basis to do it! Beau, a drug addict and the younger brother, is clearly traumatised by his sister’s death but isn’t prepared, or willing, to show it. Especially not in front of his brother, Dewall. Dewall’s reputation precedes him. Self-appointed head of the household after the horrific death of his parents years before. Could Dewall have killed his sister in a fit of rage? Loyal May is a journalist and was once, due to her friendship with Cutter, partially accepted by the family. She ended that though the moment she wrote a scathing piece on the Labasques in the ‘Bayou Leader’. Turning her back on Jacknife ten years ago for Houston, and only returning to see for herself how badly her mother’s health is declining, Loyal is immediately distracted by Cutter’s sudden, brutal death.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. Our Last Wild Days is a beautifully drawn, atmospheric mystery from an author to watch. Everything about this book worked for me. I loved the pace of the book, the slow unveiling of whodunit and why. I loved the complex, multi-layered characters, their interactions with each other and how the multiple plot threads all come together in the end. The author’s descriptions of the setting transported me to Southern Louisiana, the heat, the humidity, the claustrophobia of a small-town and the ever-present threat, particularly from the primordial inhabitants of the swamp! I loved it. Every little detail. A highly immersive, hugely compelling tale. Gorgeously dark and totally unforgettable. Highly recommended.

I chose to read and review a free ARC of Our Last Wild Days. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey was published in the UK by Doubleday Books on 24th April 2025 and is available in paperback, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Anna Bailey is a Sunday Times (London) bestselling author from Gloucestershire. Their debut novel, Tall Bones (published in the US as Where the Truth Lies), inspired by their experiences living in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, was nominated for the Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year and Goldsboro Glass Bell awards, as well as the Prix Nouvelles Voix du Polar. Their short stories, based on their travels through rural America, have been dramatised for BBC Radio 4, including “Long Way to Come for a Sip of Water”, which was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. They live in Bordeaux with their wife.