The Last Time We Drowned by Saratoga Schaefer

From Cosmopolitan’s Cosmo Reads imprint comes The Last Time We Drowned, a razor-sharp, atmospheric, and impossible to put down locked-room psychological thriller where luxury curdles into terror and survival comes at the highest price.

Six influencers. One luxury yacht. Nowhere to hide.

Charlie Engels is broke and desperate when her bookstagram account lands her the offer of a lifetime: join Empress, a state-of-the-art yacht houseboat off the Florida Keys turned influencer paradise. Lucrative brand deals and a ready-made “sisterhood” of internet stars—it may not be Charlie’s dream job, but she knows she’d be a fool to turn it down.

It’s also the perfect distraction; Charlie’s eager to outrun her past and a staggering betrayal by her former best friend. Now, aboard Empress, Charlie is surrounded by dazzling women with their own baggage: the magnetic but ruthless leader, the spiraling fashion queen, the inseparable twins, the peacemaker with cracks in her confidence, and the memory of the influencer who Charlie is replacing. The same influencer who Charlie keeps seeing on board, even though the others insist she quit.

But when a hurricane traps the group at sea with their billionaire boss, the dream turns claustrophobic. Communications cut. Supplies dwindling. Old betrayals bubbling to the surface. Then the first body drops.

As paranoia mounts and alliances splinter, Charlie realizes the real danger isn’t the storm outside—it’s the deadly games being played below deck. And if she can’t outwit a killer, her past won’t be the only ghost that comes back to drown her.