The Last One was a locked room style adventure on a seemingly abandoned ship steaming across the Atlantic. The premise was intriguing, the execution was just ok for me. It was a little bit of a slow burn and took awhile to get to the action. For me, that’s not a problem UNLESS I’m expecting otherwise, and I guess I was expecting more of a thriller from the get-go.

This was an edge of your seat thriller that sees one British woman going on a cruise with her partner only to wake up and find all the passengers and crew members have disappeared. What follows is a crazy, blood-thirsty reality tv show that pits her against a few other passengers as they try to fight to survive and win a chance at $5 million dollars, all while viewers watch and vote on the dark web from the comfort of their own homes. A Hungers Game esque plot that honestly didn't seem that far from the realm of possibility with just how much people crave real-life drama. Good on audio too and definitely my new favorite from this author! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Wow this was probably one of the most fun thrillers I’ve read this year!

In this crazy thrill ride by Will Dean, our main character Caz is starting her long awaited vacation on the RMS Atlantica, along with her new boyfriend, Pete. On their first night they enjoy a nice dinner and explore all that the ship has to offer as they get ready for a relaxing week. However, when Caz wakes the next morning, she notices that Pete has gone missing, and as she walks out into the corridor, she soon realizes that the ship is completely empty and that she is the only person on board. But she finds that this is just the beginning of a terrifying journey that she will find herself in, and that she may not be alone on the ship after all…

After reading this book, I found this to be such a crazy, unique and different plot that I have ever read in a mystery/thriller book before, and not only was it super fun, but it also could be very sinister in nature. The setting of the book, which is a locked room mystery and finds our characters feeling isolated while being out in the middle of nowhere, really gave this book a creepier and thrilling aspect to it, while our main character’s fight for survival made the situation very high stakes. I loved how the main plot of the story gets mentioned right at the end of the first chapter, so you’re already on the edge of your seat waiting to find out what happens next, and i desperately wanted to find out the big mystery of why everybody vanished off the ship & where the final destination was really going to be.

The one con that I have with this book would have to be how I feel that the plot stalled at parts in the middle to the point where I found myself not getting into the book and fighting to get through a lot of the filler parts. I also felt that some of the conversations between characters sounded like unnecessary filler & didn’t make any sense to the storyline. However, the plot really picks up towards the halfway point all the way to the end, and it starts to get really interesting once we know why they’re all really on the ship in the first place.

Overall, I thought this was such a fun and intense read with a lot of crazy plot twists and turns that I certainly never saw coming, and I loved a lot of the character development that happens throughout. And the ending of this book?? Absolutely speechless!

Thank you to Atria & NetGalley for my advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review!

Link for my Goodreads review attached and listed below 👇🏼:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5409398296

Will Dean has become one of my favorite authors. This book is as good or maybe even better than his others. The characters are very believable and you definitely end up rooting for them, even the one that’s not that nice. This story feels very “now” - which makes it all the more eerie and unsettling. I could not quit reading and I think I’m still holding my breath even after finishing. What a ride! Luxury cruise anyone? Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this book. All the stars!

The Last One is a LOT. The premise is compelling - Caz and her boyfriend board a ship for vacation. The next morning when she wakes, she’s alone. Not only is Pete gone from their room but when she leaves the room she discovers she’s alone on the ship.

From there, things just get crazier. I expected a thriller but at times felt like this was leaning more towards horror. You need to really suspend your disbelief. And the very ending made me roll my eyes.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook.

Thank you Atria Books, and author Will Dean for sending me both physical and eARC in exchange for an honest review. This book is out now!

✍🏼 My Thoughts
Oy vey. This is another book where it can be challenge to write a review because it might just ruin the whole story. I will do my best though not to! Let’s start with the main character Caroline, or Caz — the author showed her conflicts and inner demons that influenced her decisions throughout the book. This novel definitely gave me a feel of a specific movie that I loved years ago…again, if I said it, it’s like I told you the ending already lol! It could’ve easily been shorter, 448 pages is a LOT for this story but the good part was the chapters were a breeze, only a few pages each. I give it 4 stars because it was intense, definitely kept me hooked to keep reading, but to me I find the ending to be unsettling where I needed answers. This is still a fun, fast-paced read; but if you don’t want to pull your hair out at the end of the book, I advise you to take a moment and see if you really want to read it—perhaps you would still want to pick this up since it has now piqued your curiosity ;)

This book was fantastic! I was hooked from the very beginning. I enjoyed that the main character had a traumatic past because that made her more realistic and it gave a foothold for the story to develop alongside it. The very end would be my only complaint (and not even a ‘complaint’) but I thought the last 30 pages or so happened so fast and I was left a little confused until I read it a few times (and I hadn’t been confused for the entirety of the book thus far). Overall, a great read and would recommend.

The Last One by Will Dean is a psychological thriller about Caz, who is on a cruise with her new love Pete. They have fun their first night on the cruise, but the next morning Caz wakes up and everyone is gone. The cruise ship is empty. I cannot give away much more of the plot, but suffice it to say, this is one crazy story. And I truly enjoyed it. It was so unique, so completely wild, and it kept me guessing all the way to the end. And that ending! Wow! Highly, highly recommend! Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

WOW! This is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year! Unpredictable in the best ways! It grabs you from the first chapter and does not let go. Twists and turns all the way up to the last sentence. I found myself saying “WHAT?!??? with my mouth open over and over again. Solid 5 stars! Highly recommend!

*3.5 stars

Well, that was a grim ending.

This is a story that you need to go into knowing next to nothing, but also you need to know you'll have to suspend your disbelief (majorly).

This story was too long for my liking and could have been probably 100 pages shorter and been all the better for it.

I really wanted to like this book, but it was a slow read for me and very long and very detailed in the descriptions. Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc!

first, i would like to extend my deepest appreciation and gratitude to netgalley, atria books, and atria/emily bestler books, for the advanced reader copy. i am a tad bit late with reading this arc, but i am glad i read it. 😁

3 ⭐!

i saw this book on tiktok as this reviewer received a physical arc and reviewed it. i watched it and was so interested in the plot that i hope that atria accepted me for an arc. i was so ecstatic once i got accepted and read it! 🚢🌊

let me say that the book had no reason to be so long. i felt like the author could've wrapped it up around 300 pages, instead of having it be around 400-500 pages. the first 40 percent of the book was very slow-burned, dragged-on-like. quite frankly, i was getting a little bit bored, but the short chapters made it convincing for me to continue on and finish the book. short chapters for the win! 🚢🥶

to talk more about the book without writing a 10-page in mla format about the book with sources, i would describe it as a big brother, 1984, survivor, squid games, the truman show, and the hunger games type of book. if you love the books/shows, then i think you would like this book. tie it together with the movie, "the titanic" due to the characters being in an ocean liner/ship, then that is how i can describe the whole book. 🏔✈️

the characters in the book, i did not relate to them or like them at all. one of them however, his name was smith and i found him to be the most relatable. the other characters wanted me to hate him, but i found him to be the most reasonable. this is a very intense book because if i were one of the characters in the book, i would simply break down and cry. but warning, there are some very serious topics/subjects in the book that should be approached with caution. overall, for the book being so long, the author had very bizarre stuff happening to these poor people who were on the ship and i just felt so bad for them. 🚣‍♀️🌊

all in all, i thought this book was okay and average. i did not hate it, but i did not love it. i wouldn't read this book again, but with that ending, however...i would be curious and open to reading a second book if there happened to be a sequel. once again, thank you to netgalley, atria books, and atria/emily bestler books, for the arc! also to will dean for thinking of this suspenseful, stressful, and unique plot line! can't wait to read more from him! ⛴️🌊

book has already been released on august 08, 2023! go get the book, if interested! :) ✨🤗🙌

I had such high hopes for The Last One since I loved First Born, and the novel started off great! Imagine getting on a cruise ship, only to wake up the next morning and everyone was gone? The premise of this "locked room" mystery was so unique, and I really liked the characters, or I liked to dislike them in some cases. The first half was extremely suspenseful. That said, I do think it got a little outlandish at a certain point, so I wouldn't say I loved the second half of the book. Because it felt so unbelievable, the suspense-level significantly dropped for me. Overall, the ending pulled it enough together for me to give it a solid four stars.

This was a book that totally went in a direction that I wasn't expecting. Cass, a hardworking restauranteur, is finally getting away on a much deserved dream cruise with her boyfriend, Pete. Having gone through the trauma of having her dad accused of fraud in her younger years, Cass has never felt worthy of good things. As she embarks on her voyage, she's starting to think that maybe she does deserve good things in life. Then, waking up after a good sleep, things seem off. Soon she discovers that Pete is gone and not only Pete but she can't find anyone else. What has happened to everyone else and more importantly who is steering the ship? A book with an interesting premise that has you questioning what is really going on. Then when you find out it becomes a social commentary and a horror novel wrapped up together. I enjoyed most of the book I just felt that it stretched the middle of the story for too long. The resolution to the conflict was somewhat disappointing and unrealistic. However, the ending had me looking forward to the next from the author. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ecopy for an honest review.

A locked room mystery set on a cruise liner crossing from the UK to the US. This was an incredibly fun read! I didn’t love it but I definitely enjoyed the ride and the ending caught me off guard.

Intriguing reviews gave me the interest to try my second Will Dean book with the first being a little slow. I didn’t feel very invested in his characters but the creative plot for this one made it fun getting to the end. Without giving any spoilers, I did feel a big part of the story was very predictable. If the first two books for an author are just so-so for me then I will typically back off but this one hit a mark that I think will give his next book a try.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity in exchange for an honest review.

I want to thank NetGalley, and Atria Books, for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 out of 5 stars.
I enjoyed the setting of this book as there aren’t many psychological thrillers that are set on cruise ships. The idea of being stranded on a large cruise ship had me hooked from the beginning. As someone who has been on this type of cruise before, I found it easy to imagine the ship and the characters.

However, I didn’t seem to connect to any character and I found myself bored and wanting to skip through certain parts. There were also a few dialogues in which I found to have been more descriptive and drawn out than they needed to be. There was a bit of repetition in dialogues throughout the book that I thought took away from the suspense because they didn’t seem to flow well as a believable conversation. It is a bit long and I think it would benefit from another round of editing.

Overall, I would recommend this book to fellow book lovers who prefer psychological thrillers. It wasn’t my favorite but I think a lot of readers will enjoy it.

I tried so hard to like this book. It just wasn't for me. The writing is fine, I just found it to be a tad too unbelievable and not my style. Thank you for the opportunity.

This thriller set on an ocean liner on the Atlantic has only four passengers, since the hundreds of others disappeared one morning with their luggage and personal effects, leaving the four alone to fend for themselves on a self propelling vessel bound for who knows where.

I thought at first this was sci fi or fantasy, but then the real world of today crept in to give a chilling take on reality and the people who are entranced by it. I kept reading as the challenges for the four ramped up to unbelievable levels, and the ending floored me.

It was a hard to read book, as it may have been the author's intention, but I can say I was intrigued but not entertained.

I've stayed away from thrillers lately but this premise was just too intriguing: a woman boards a cruise ship headed to New York with her boyfriend. She wakes up the first morning to find she is the only person on the entire ship.

The book dragged a lot in the middle. So much of Caz' inner dialogue is repetitive. Which I guess would happen if you trapped on a boat by yourself cut off from the world. But as a reader it really slowed down the story.

I hope someone I know reads this soon so we can discuss. <spoiler>The ending! what?!?! Is the boyfriend doing this all to her? why? was his family affected by her dad's gambling?</spoiler>

*Thank you for the advance reader copy of this book from Atria/Emily Bestler Books and Netgalley. I am required to disclose that in my review in compliance with federal law.