A wild ride! Or a cruise?

The premise intrigued me: a woman wakes up on a transatlantic cruise to find herself alone without any clue on what happened to her partner and the passengers and crew. As the story unfolds, it becomes more terrifying, darker and quite harrowing. I had a lot of ideas of what is going on and how this story may end, but I was happy to suspend my curious nature and just be taken for a ride. Some of them I got, some I was utterly unprepared to read.

Few things I would change:
- it's repetitive: I was trying not to roll my eyes at the constant reminders of Caz's dad's gambling additions (every chapter it seams!)
- this might made this book a bit too long - the first third/half was very sluggish (albeit entertaining)

Ending. This could be very polarizing to people but I LOVED IT!

WHAT A PAGE TURNER! Did I stay up wayyy past my bedtime last night to finish this? You will too. Caroline “Caz” is taking a well deserved vacation on a cruise ship. She is with her boyfriend on the “Atlantica”, a very luxurious ocean liner headed to NYC.
The first night is a normal night, everyone on board is enjoying themselves getting familiar with the boat. When she awakens the next day, she discovers she is the only one on board. No boyfriend, no other guests, no crew. The boat is still cruising along with no one at the helm.
I have never read @willrdean and I will be looking up his back catalog. Thank you to @netgalley for the advance copy. What a great thriller!

4.5/5 rounded up to 5. This book kept me guessing the whole time as to what was going on. It also made me really mad at times because I felt for the characters 🤪 there were a few twists that honestly surprised me and the ending was 🤯 although I somewhat guessed that. Overall a good read, don’t read if you’re going on a cruise - wait until you get home 😂

This was a pretty crazy book. I was riveted in the beginning and then the explanation wasn’t too bad but then it dragged and become way over the top and then it reeled me back in again. I literally screamed at the ending. Oh noooo! I thank Netgalley and Atria Books for this entertaining rollercoaster ride of a book!

Wow, what a wild, crazy and fun ride this book was! And excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor after that ending! This was an intense, spell-binding suspense filled book that flew by and I couldn’t get enough of. This was my first book by Will Dean and I can’t wait to read his others now. It was full of thrilling twists, had a unique plot and was a locked room style thriller. I can’t say much else about this book because I don’t want to give too much away! Pick up a copy of this one if you are looking for a fast paced twisty thriller with a Hunger Games style.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atria for my early digital copy of The Last One for my honest thoughts and review!

This book was good until the last 1/4. The ending was rushed and completely unbelieveable. I was let down with the story and then the flat ending.

Oh my god, that was wild! The premise really gives nothing about the plot away at all, which is insane. I definitely didn’t see the twist coming and had no idea that’s where the book was going with the plot.

I really cannot say much more without giving away spoilers and I truly think this book should be read knowing as little as possible.

I do feel like a few chapters towards the end started to drag and were a little repetitive about certain things and I wanted things to just move along. But overall, incredibly fast paced and the ending was WILD. The last sentence .. insane! It had me so shocked.

Wow, just wow. So many unexpected twists. I couldn't put this book down. Read it in two days. Gave me similar vibes of the TV show Lost (which I was a huge fan of). Kept me on the edge of my seat. Hard to describe without spoiling some surprises, but I'll try. Caz boards a cruise ship with her boyfriends. When she wakes she discovers the ship is empty, except for 3 other passengers. They struggle without power, food, and fresh water. The longer they spend on this ship they discover not everything is as it seems.

What on earth did I just read????

The premise of this book pulled me in. It follows Caz, a woman in her late 40s, who is taking a cruise with her boyfriend Pete. However, after the first night, she wakes up the next morning to find that she is the only person left on the cruise ship.

I was intrigued by the synopsis in general and I’m also a sucker for books that take place on cruise ships.

However, this book had some major pacing issues. One of the reasons I enjoy reading thrillers is because I know I can finish them pretty quickly. Not the case with this book. It plodded along and was very repetitive (I don’t know how many times Caz’s gambling addict father was mentioned).

Also, I didn’t like the direction the story went in. The more of the plot I uncovered, the less I liked it. It seemed so ridiculous. And I absolutely hated the ending.

I wish I had enjoyed this book more than I did.

This book was amazing. I was riveted by the premise itself and couldn’t put the book down once I started. This is my first book by the author but I will be looking at his previous books based on this.

Thank you to Atria for providing me with a NetGalley ARC. In return, here is my honest review;

First of all, I immediately stopped in my tracks when I heard about the premise for this book and I had to pick it up for myself. It starts out with our main character, Catherine (aka Caz) waking up completely alone while aboard a giant cruise ship. A recipe for an intense, pulse-pounding mystery/thriller - or so I thought. So I went in with excitement and high expectations only to realize just a few measly chapters in that the story is taking a huge turn and will not be what I was expecting AT ALL!

I'm all for a vague synopsis and leaving more to the imagination, but I do not like the feeling of being led astray so I did not enjoy the direction it ended up going in. I also found the writing to be a bit haphazardly written and long-winded. This book is too long for what it is!! It was losing me and going downhill quick once I reached about the 40% mark. The middle was such a draggg.

The writing was not as atmospheric as I would have liked considering it takes place on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic, it definitely did not feel like it at times. I would have appreciated more ominous tones and moodiness to the idea of physically being stranded at sea and less on pointless character backstory.

There is a lot to unpack in regards to the ending as well. I did like some aspects of it (I think??) Maybe not for this particular storyline, but just in general I guess. Either way it was somehow able to salvage itself from being a 1 star, but still I just couldn't wait to get it over with. I really was not a fan of this and it upsets me and I have nothing else to say about this one.

So the problem with hyping up a book with things like “a shocking ending” or “nothing is what it seems” is that some readers (like me) will be waiting for something they’ve never seen before. And while this was compelling, part of it was wanting to get to this “heart-stopping” ending. But I’ve seen all this before. This is basically the plot of the movie “Escape Room.”

It wasn’t bad but it was hyped up to be something new. And I ended up disappointed that nothing was really shocking.

"The Last One" by Will Dean takes readers on what should be a thrilling and suspenseful journey as Caz, the protagonist, steps onboard the exclusive cruise liner RMS Atlantica with her new love, Pete. Little does she know that this vacation of a lifetime will quickly turn into a nightmare. The anticipatory atmosphere of the novel quickly shifts when Caz awakens after her first night on board to discover Pete's absence. Panic sets in as she realizes that something is terribly wrong. The tension builds as she ventures out into the corridor, only to find all the cabin doors mysteriously open.
The premise of this story was really promising, but I felt that the story fell flat quickly, and continued to lose credibility as it went along. I have no problem with stories that require readers to suspend their disbelief, up to a point, but thought that “The Last One” went far beyond a reasonable narrative that readers would find at all believable.
I did not find the characters to be well-rounded or relatable, which made it hard to care what might happen to any of them by the story’s conclusion.The supporting characters come to play significant roles in the story, but I found that as the plot twists became more and more unbelievable, they too were not worth caring about.
I really enjoyed some of Will Dean’s earlier work, so I will definitely give him a try in the future, but “The Last One” was not for me.

The Last One by Will Dean
Publisher Atria Books
Release Date August 08, 2023


Characters: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Pace: 5/5
Suspense: 5/5
Overall Enjoyment: 5/5


WOWZER! What a freaking nail biting thriller. Dean is definitely an amazing storyteller. The ebbs and flows between chapters are the icing on the cake because they change pretty frequently and the pace is perfect. I was hooked from page one. I honestly was so engrossed in this well written thriller, that time actually got away from me. The authors description’s allow for the readers mind to envision you actually there….on the boat.

The premise of this book may be one that has been done before but not like Dean. In this book we meet a well developed, flawed, likable, and very determined character named Caz. She and her new lover Pete are going on a very much needed vacation on the RMS Atlantica for some fun in the sun. After a night of partying, Caz wakes to find that Pete is nowhere to be found. But the horror continues when she goes outside of their room and finds that no one is there. No crew, no guests……no one but her. Now her adrenaline kicks in and she must find out what happened. There is no predictably here but the author does leave tiny bits of bread crumbs for the reader. This is one thrilling ride that has more twists and turns than a roller coaster. If you enjoy edge of your seat heart pounding suspenseful thrillers, this one needs to bo number 1 on your list of books to read.

Get your copy as soon as it is released


Thank you to NetGalley as well as the the author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.

I really enjoyed this one! I’ve always have been fascinated by ships in history where the crew went missing, such as the case with the Mary Celeste, and knew this book would be of huge interest to me. I really enjoyed the different twists and turns and loved where the plot went about a third of the way through. I enjoyed the interactions of Caz with each other the other characters and their drive to survive. This one was five out of five stars for me!

What did I just read? That was exactly what I thought when I finished this book! The Last One is a gripping, shocking, jaw dropping page turner!

Caz has boarded the RMS Atlantica with her boyfriend, Pete. She is in love and looking forward to their time together. They have a lovely first day but when Caz wakes up the next morning Pete is nowhere to be found but he's not the only one. It appears that she is completely alone on a ship on the open sea.

Enter The Twilight Zone vibes stage left.

Where has everyone gone? How will she get off the ship?

I had no idea what I was getting into with this book, and it was quite a wild ride! The Last One did not make me want to set sail any time soon! Just when Caz thought she was in the worst possible situation, she learns that she is not even close to being in the worst possible situation - let's just say it will not be smooth sailing for her. The worst is yet to come!

I had no idea about what was going to happen and was left blind sighted with my jaw hanging open with each shocking twist and reveal. Will Dean you clever, clever, man. I enjoyed the sense of unease, tension and danger that flowed throughout the book. Wowza! I could not put this gripping and shocking book down! It became a jaw dropping page turner for me!

A gripping, shocking, well written, and twist filled page turner!

The Last One By Will Dean was an exciting read. The storyline was uniquely different but very captivating and almost impossible to put the book down. This book will stay with me for a long time and I highly recommend it.

Wow! Fantastic thriller with twists and turns around every corner! Best thriller I have read in 2023 by far. The story starts with Caz and Pete on their first cruise together. Everything is starting off smoothly until Caz wakes up seemingly alone on the cruise. Pete is missing, the crew is missing, and she is alone. This story felt extremely unique to me and kept me flying through the short chapters. At times I felt like the author went on and on a bit about subjects, but overall it was a quick read for me. 4.25/5 stars!

short chapters; OBSESSED w/the concept; survival-of-the-fittest vibes; gripping & terrifying; so much tension & constant action; a true page-turner & I was sad when it was over; the twist is a little predictable but I still fully enjoyed it; not sure how I feel about the ending but if there's a sequel, I'll be snatching it up in a heartbeat

Special thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books & NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Caz is excited to be going on a cruise with her boyfriend Pete. However, after the first night, she wakes up alone. Upon investigation, she realizes she is alone. Well at least according to the synopsis. In reality, she does find three other people and pretty quickly. There are lots of other twists and turns, including that this is a reality TV show/competition none of them signed up for?? Were there good twists and turns in this book? Yes. Were there perhaps too many? Yes. I also was not a huge fan of the writing style. I don’t know why but I just felt like I wasn’t at the edge of my seat. Whenever a twist happened, instead of being shocked, I was like ok then, that’s new.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.