Overview

“A morally complex and life-affirming exploration of what it means to be alive, and of the enduring power of love to transform, reanimate, and redeem.” —Celeste Ng, New York Times-bestselling author of Our Missing Hearts “The novel’s immersive quality and intricate structure is reminiscent of Liz Moore’s recent bestseller, The God of the Woods, while the boys’ lyrical voices, told from an obscure afterlife, harken back to such contemporary classics as Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones.” —The Boston Globe Caleb was driving home for Christmas. Steven was pounding beers at a local bar. Matthew was out looking for his ex-girlfriend. Leo was walking in the woods on a winter night. Then they disappeared. Days, weeks, years later, their bodies turn up in icy rivers hundreds of miles apart. How did they get there? What, if anything, connects them? Some of their loved ones believe the official answers. Some are convinced the boys are victims of an insidious network called the Smiley Face Killers. Some are trying to forget them altogether. Meanwhile, Caleb, Steven, Matthew, and Leo find one other—and other boys like them—in the murky depths of the afterlife. Each tells his story in his own way, speaking his version of truth, confessing his desires and grievances and even his hopes for a future he still somehow believes belongs to him. Each revelation brings the reader deeper into their intertwined fates, along a journey through the landscapes of identity, intimacy, and the haunting echoes of unresolved grief.

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Reviews

“Christopher Castellani is a master of portraying love and longing, and his latest novel may be his finest yet. Deftly interweaving the stories of four doomed young men—and those they leave behind—Last Seen explores our changing notions of masculinity and the ways grief can both make and unmake us. A morally complex and life-affirming exploration of what it means to be alive, and of the enduring power of love to transform, reanimate, and redeem.” —Celeste Ng, New York Times-bestselling author of Our Missing Hearts “A brutal and luminous novel. Christopher Castellani delves into the turbulent waters of one of American society’s most misunderstood characters: the troubled young male. Last Seen begins in death—boys mysteriously found in rivers—but in unraveling the mysteries of their fate, Castellani creates a mesmerizing panorama of young lives on the brink. This novel haunted me with its clarity and rage. Enter at your own risk.” —Christopher Bollen, author of Havoc “A riveting thriller of unparalleled heart. At once a murder mystery of dead young men and a kaleidoscope of beautifully felt humanity, Christopher Castellani’s Last Seen is a virtuosic performance by a brilliant storyteller: smooth, incandescent, and devastating. When Castellani trains his precisely observant eye on each of the young men who died, they shimmer to life, and the resulting crescendo cracks open the heart. I gulped this book down.” —Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a Body

“Mesmerizing and luminous . . . [Last Seen is] a literary mystery with a supernatural twist, rooted in humanity and enduring love . . . Castellani renders his characters . . . with exquisite sensitivity and compassion, crafting a nuanced and propulsive tale that resists expectation and cliché . . . Complex and absorbing, Last Seen weaves together a wide assortment of characters and dovetailing narratives, which in less capable hands might read as meandering and confusing. Yet Castellani expertly braids together these various plot threads in an illuminating and engaging capacity right up to the book’s moving conclusion.” —Olivia Kate Cerrone, Boston Globe “Christopher Castellani is a master of portraying love and longing, and his latest novel may be his finest yet. Deftly interweaving the stories of four doomed young men—and those they leave behind—Last Seen explores our changing notions of masculinity and the ways grief can both make and unmake us. A morally complex and life-affirming exploration of what it means to be alive, and of the enduring power of love to transform, reanimate, and redeem.” —Celeste Ng, New York Times-bestselling author of Our Missing Hearts “A brilliant mystery and a haunting meditation on the human experience—its echoes through the hearts of those caught in the currents of love and loss. Castellani’s latest is a richly detailed, deeply moving mosaic of voices brought to life by masterful prose.” —Mona Awad, New York Times-bestselling author of We Love You, Bunny “Last Seen is a masterful novel; a ghost story, an elegy, a love letter to young men who go missing without a trace. Christopher Castellani writes beautifully about painful things—murder, loss, despair—and yet, by the end, my heart felt full of revelation and tenderness.” —Victor LaValle, author of Lone Women “A brutal and luminous novel. Christopher Castellani delves into the turbulent waters of one of American society’s most misunderstood characters: the troubled young male. Last Seen begins in death—boys mysteriously found in rivers—but in unraveling the mysteries of their fate, Castellani creates a mesmerizing panorama of young lives on the brink. This novel haunted me with its clarity and rage. Enter at your own risk.” —Christopher Bollen, author of Havoc “In stunning prose filled with acute observations about the relationships that save us, Christopher Castellani has skillfully dramatized the voices of four young men connected by one unforgettable love. Last Seen is a deeply moving novel that reveals how the bonds between the living and the dead continue forever. Its characters are now part of my soul.” —Marjan Kamali, author of The Lion Women of Tehran “A riveting thriller of unparalleled heart. At once a murder mystery of dead young men and a kaleidoscope of beautifully felt humanity, Christopher Castellani’s Last Seen is a virtuosic performance by a brilliant storyteller: smooth, incandescent, and devastating. When Castellani trains his precisely observant eye on each of the young men who died, they shimmer to life, and the resulting crescendo cracks open the heart. I gulped this book down.” —Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a Body

Author Information

Christopher Castellani is the author, most recently, of the novel Leading Men. He has written three previous novels—the trilogy A Kiss from Maddalena, The Saint of Lost Things, and All This Talk of Love—and The Art of Perspective, a book of essays on the craft of fic­tion. The winner of a 2024 Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Gug­genheim, and a Mass Cultural Council Fellowship, he is the current writer in residence at Brandeis University. He lives in Boston and Provincetown.

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