The Last Party

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of emotional abuse.

The Last Party is set in the fictional gated community of Brighton Estates, located in the real suburb of Pasadena, California. Pasadena is a city known for its attractive residential architecture and high quality of life. The city boasts many major cultural centers, such as the Pasadena Playhouse and the Norton Simon Museum, and major technological and educational centers, including the California Institute of Technology. Pasadena is also well-known for having several exclusive residential districts for the very wealthy, like the novel’s gated community of Brighton Estates. The novel’s setting plays a key role in its plotline: The superficial nature of Brighton Estates works to Perla’s favor, allowing her to keep Sophie and Grant isolated while projecting the image of a perfect family.

Appearances and status are extremely important in Brighton Estates, where the nuclear family reigns supreme. The men work high-powered jobs, the women drive Range Rovers, and the children attend expensive schools. The neighborhood’s outcasts are women who don’t fit into this highly gendered mold. “The female execs, the single moms [and] the internet models” (49) are shunned, while women like Perla are embraced.

Brighton Estates’ bubble of extreme conformity provides Perla with a ready-made template for fitting in and obscuring the truth of her character. By maintaining her appearance and making the correct social moves, Perla breaks into Brighton Estates’ inner circle, presenting herself as “a cookie-cutter version of the other wives” (49). She knows that fitting in with the other Brighton Estates women will aid her in the wake of her crimes, providing a host of trustworthy character witnesses to “give the right answers about […] [her]” (49).

Brighton Estates fortifies Perla’s deception by keeping the Wultz family isolated. Though the neighborhood families are civil to one another, their connections rarely extend beyond the surface level. In Chapter 55, Perla’s friend Morayi notes that Perla “d[oes]n’t have any close friends” (203). Perla makes the correct social moves to blend in with the other wives but is able to avoid letting anyone get too close to her family life. Since the Wultzes appear to be the “right” kind of family, the community largely assumes that they must be a happy and healthy unit. No one bothers to look twice at what is going on in their household. This environment allows Perla to freely abuse Grant and Sophie, exerting control over them as she plans the second Folcrum Party. The superficial nature of Brighton Estates thus allows a killer to hide in plain sight because, on the surface, she fits right in.