The Last One by Will Dean

 

My thoughts

I am again in the minority with a Will Dean book. I did not enjoy this book. Yes it had some very intense things going on but it was so unrealistic. I didn't for a second believe one bit of this story. Not that any of it was true but still. Usually you get a realistic sense with a book. 

A couple, Pete and Caz, board a ship for a much needed cruise. They have a great first night. But what comes next is nothing but horrific. No matter how you read it, it's horrible. Caz wakes up and no one is on this ship. Not one single person. All the cabin doors are open and the rooms empty. The thousands of people are all gone. Including her love Pete. What the heck? What is everyone?

Then of course there are three others who were left behind. Frannie, Daniel and Walter Smith who goes by Smith. They are informed that they are now the participants of a reality tv show and have to complete tasks. Whoever does the best will win a significant sum of money. But they are first starved, left thirsty, cold, and so alone. On a huge cruise liner they are abandoned. Each is giving a task to complete. Some may not even survive. 

You meet each of these people and as a group how they work together to make it through. After a devastating loss it's finally down to two. Walter and Caz. 

Caz spends a lot of time on the water before she is finally rescued. Now the part I really did not like. I can't tell you all or I give away many secrets. I did figure this out even the very ending which was another unbelievable storyline. 

I read this hoping it would grab me and make me enjoy it but that never happened. It is very well written and would probably make a great movie but as a book I just didn't enjoy it. If this happened I would NEVER leave my significant other. It just would not happen. Yet Pete left. Of course it was not what he wanted to do. He was swept up in a mob but still.. I would have fought.

Thank you #NetGalley, #WillDean, #Atria/EmilyBestlerBooks for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

3 stars from me. Read it and decide for yourself. You may love it. I didn't.

Synopsis

An unputdownable locked-room thriller about family, trust, and survival from the acclaimed author of the “utterly thrilling” (Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author) First Born.

When Caz steps onboard the exclusive cruise liner RMS Atlantica, it’s the start of a vacation of a lifetime with her new love, Pete. On their first night they explore the ship, eat, dance, make friends, but when Caz wakes the next morning, Pete is missing.

And when she walks out into the corridor, all the cabin doors are open. To her horror, she soon realizes that the ship is completely empty. No passengers, no crew, nobody but her. The Atlantica is steaming into the mid-Atlantic and Caz is the only person on board. But that’s just the beginning of the terrifying journey she finds herself trapped on in this white-knuckled mystery.