3.5 stars
📖 The Last One at the Wedding
𝙰𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛: Jason Rekulak
𝙿𝚞𝚋 𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎: 10/08/24
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Thriller, Mystery, Psychological thriller
𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝: Audiobook (11h and 13m)
𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Thank you so much to Macmillan Audio, NetGalley, and the author for this gifted ALC in exchange for my honest review.

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𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜: Okay, so I have a lot to unpack here. First of all, please don't go into this book thinking it is a 𝘏𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 2.0, because it isn't, and that's okay.

Our main character, Frank Szatowski has had no-contact with his daughter, Maggie, for three years. So it comes with a huge surprise when Maggie calls out of the blue inviting him to her wedding. Her husband-to-be is not just any man though, he is Aidan Gardner, son of a famous tech billionaire.

Frank spends time with Aidan and his father, trying to get to know them better. Frank isn't too sure on how to feel about Aidan because while he is trying to know him at a deeper level, Aidan's head seems to be elsewhere and is not sharing much or asking questions back.

On a random day, Frank receives an anonymous package to his his home suggesting that Aidan was involved somehow with the disappearance of a young woman named Dawn Taggart. From that point on, things begin to unravel.

So, for me, this book reads more like a domestic thriller. I feel like the only thing that got me through the incredibly slow beginning was the narrator, John Pirhalla, who did an fantastic job. I found this book to be way longer than necessary and it managed to lose my attention bits at a time.

As I kept listening, I still had no idea where this story was headed, which I guess is what managed to keep me engaged. Toward the middle, it definitely picked up and I was excited to finally be getting to whatever deep, dark secret was about to be revealed to us but it just didn't quite deliver for me. Although the ending was fair, it was not an ending justifiable enough for all that build-up that was done for 8+ hours on audio.

I debated between a 3 or 3.5 but the suspense of "what's next" and the middle/ending really kept me going. I truly don't know if I would've been able to pull through on this one if it weren't for the audiobook.

No hate at all to the author; I love his previous work and will pick up anything he publishes next. I may not have loved this one but maybe you will.

This one was just okay for me. I was really liking it for a long time (despite the fact that a lot of the characters were pretty unlikable) and there were some good twists but the ending just fell flat for me. It was a bit boring and felt unfinished. The narrator was good though.

Last week I listened to the audiobook of The Last One at the Wedding. I rated this 3.75 🌟🌟🌟✨ and would recommend to anyone who likes family thrillers, strained father/daughter relationships, and cold cases!

We follow Frank, who has not spoken to his daughter, Maggie, in three years. He gets a call from her randomly and she tells Frank that she’s getting married and he is invited to the wedding! Unbeknownst to Frank, a UPS driver, the groom is rich (like super rich), and seems to be hiding something.

This book was a fun, twisty thriller with great atmosphere. The wedding takes place at on a private estate in New Hampshire where everything is not what it seems and the family and staff all have their secrets. 🩸💀

Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for an advanced copy!

This did not deliver as a "breathtaking work of suspense" as the publisher pitches, nor was it an "edge of your seat thriller" like they promised. If I had gone into this as a mystery around rich people problems and family secrets, I may have enjoyed it more. I did enjoy the audio production - the narrator does a fantastic job in representing Frank. I was rolling my eyes at many of the plot twists because they seemed too-far fetched and unrealistic.

The beginning grabbed my attention right away but I found the middle to drag, with Frank rambling on and on about his sister and his experience of raising his daughter. Then the end got weird and it was just not what I was expecting, but not in a good way. I would like to give Rekulak a chance so I will read Hidden Pictures since it sounds wonderful and has high reviews, so hopefully he can do it again after this disappointment.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
Pub Date: 10/8
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Let me start this review with - if you are expecting Hidden Pictures, just let it go, because this is an entirely new and fresh experience from Rekulak.
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The Last One at the Wedding is about Frank, a man who has been estranged from his daughter, Maggie, for a few years, who gets an invitation to his daughter's wedding to billionaire Aiden Gardner. Once he gets to the wedding festivities, the math isn't mathing and Frank begins to do his own investigation into the Gardners, the bodies that seem to be piling up and this wedding.
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I absolutely loved the family drama in this story. I found myself drawn to it and I really loved how Rekulak incorporated the family drama and Frank and Maggie's past into the mystery surrounding the deaths and also the whole wedding situation. This is more of a slow burn but I feel like the story is gripping enough that it is one that you wont want to put down. There are some absolutely wild twists thrown in there and I am not going to lie, did not see that ending coming at all, but I definitely appreciated it very very much.
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There are a decent number of characters in this one, but they are all easily distinguishable. There is the perfect mix of likeable vs unlikeable vs shady characters thrown in there. I had no trouble deciphering who was who and I listened to this one via audiobook.
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I listened to this one thanks to MacMillan Audio. John Pirhalla was the perfect narrator for this story. He absolutely transported me to the woodlands of New Hampshire, and I was right next to Frank trying to figure out why everything just seemed to weird. I highly recommend the audio for anyone thinking of picking this one up.
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Huge thank you to Jason Rekulak, NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

After reading Hidden Pictures, I was excited to hear that there was another book by Jason Rekulak, The Last One at the Wedding.

Frank is a long-time UPS driver. He lives a simple life. He is estranged from his daughter, Maggie. He is super excited to get a phone call from her. She invites him to her wedding. A few questions Frank wonders - who is she marrying? Is he good for her? Where is the wedding?

He finds out it will be held at a fancy private residence. Frank knows this is not his world. He tries to reconnect with his daughter and figure out his soon-to-be son-in-law. Both families have their own issues to deal with. The story has lots of twists and turns. If you like thrillers, you won't be disappointed with this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy for my honest review.

It is every parent’s nature to want your children to be safe. Even when they’re adults! Frank has been estranged from Maggie for 3 years and I surprised when she calls to bury the hatchet and invite him to her wedding. When he finds out it’s to a family with lots of money and power he begins feeling out of place. He also notices several red flags, that he just can’t let go!

I listened to this and I could not stop! I had to know what was going on, and I felt the same anxiety Frank did the whole time! This was a great story and now I can’t wait to go back and read more by Jason Rekulak! There was a lot I didn’t expect, and the character building was a great flow! Aunt Tammy is my favorite character by far!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for my advanced copy on NetGalley! Opinions are my own!

Fifty-year-old delivery driver Frank is delighted to hear from his estranged daughter, Maggie. She has great news. She's getting married, and she wants her dad to be there. So Frank, his sister Tammy, and her foster daughter Abigail pack up and head to the wedding. What could go wrong?

From the get go, I could not stand sexist Frank, the poster child for the patriarchy. Why did I think I would enjoy a book narrated by a fifty-year-old man? Not only is Frank wildly unlikable, but so is everyone else in this book. In a book like this, who am I supposed to root for? Not only that but I was bored to tears listening to this book. In fact, I zoned out more than once. The tension was very low, and since I didn't care about any of the characters (except maybe Abigail), I didn't really care what happened to them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this book. While John Pirhalla was a fine narrator, I did not enjoy this book, and I think I very much am not the target audience for it.

I had seen this one floating around on Instagram and was incredibly excited to see this one available on NetGalley and getting a copy of the audiobook! I really enjoyed the writing, the twists and turns we go on throughout this story. I will definitely recommend this to my friends and followers. The main character is invited to his estranged daughter’s wedding and he finds out more and more about the family she is marrying into as the story unfolds. This is the kind if story that will have you guessing!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the ARC

Loved this. I recently read Jason Rekulak’s Hidden Pictures and when I saw he had a new book releasing, I knew I had to get my hands on it! I received an advanced copy of the audiobook, and nearly listened straight through! Such a great story with intriguing characters. A little different feel from Hidden Pictures, without the paranormal aspect, this is a true edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller with plenty of twists. I couldn’t wait for the conclusion, but didn’t want it to end. This is one of those books that when you finish, you can’t start anything else for several days because you miss these characters! Highly recommend for fans of mysteries / thrillers.

Let me start off by saying the author did a fantastic job of writing the characters to be as insufferable as possible. Not a single one of them is a good person. Well except for the poor little girl Abigail, who got dragged along by sheer luck.

Frank is basically estranged from his daughter Maggie, due to some incident in the past. Maggie randomly calls Frank up one day to say "Oh hey btw I'm getting married to a man i just met, and the wedding is in a few months, hope to see you there!" And Frank of course is like "woah wait what??" and understandably wants to meet the new member of the family.

Maggie's fiancé Aiden Gardner is standoffish and quiet, not really giving much away of himself, or even asking Frank anything about himself. But Frank just wants to support his daughter so he can stay in her life.

So Frank travels to the wedding with his sister, and her foster kid Abigail. Right when he gets into town the locals are already not saying good things about the Gardner's, and something seems very wrong. They arrive at the Gardner's private summer camp estate, where they are hosting the wedding, and instantly Frank feels very out of place. In the days leading up to the wedding, Frank tries his hardest to spend time with Maggie and bond with her. But he still has that nagging feeling that something is wrong, so he starts snooping.

Why do the locals hate the Gardner's? Why is security at the estate so ridiculous? Where is Mrs. Gardner and why hasn't she come to greet anyone? And what's with the random picture Frank got in the mail of an apparently missing woman?

I had the pleasure of listening to this audiobook, and the narrator did a great job of making everyone sound as insufferable as they are written. All together I liked this story, a lot of it wasn't exactly predictable, and I hate that Frank was more of a decent father to Abigail in the end than he ever seemed to be to Maggie. Again, everyone sucked. They were all terrible people that made terrible decisions. Aiden was the closest to a decent person that seemed to get sucked into the drama that was his family. Everyone was concerned with appearances, fitting in, getting their way, and being rich and powerful. I enjoyed trying to string together wtf was going on, because it truly was all over the place between Frank and Maggie's drama, the Gardner's drama, the wedding drama, and the local town peoples drama.

I was intrigued at the beginning of this book but sadly it slowly lost my interest. It's also rare that I'm truly baffled by the ending of a book but that was the case here (and not in a good way.)

Main character Frank is a hard-working UPS deliveryman and estranged father to a woman named Maggie. Out of the blue one evening he gets a call from Maggie, who informs him she's getting married and would like for him to attend the wedding. He soon finds out that Maggie's fiance is the son of a famous tech billionaire. Frank is taking the news all in stride, until the wedding weekend arrives and he starts to believe that things may not be as perfect as they appear on the outside.

I'm not sure what would have helped me enjoy this one more as I just found the whole plot to be a little dull and the "twists" didn't really surprise me. So I'm thinking this was probably a case of 'just not for me,' especially as it seems to have a majority of favorable reviews. So I recommend giving this book a try for yourself. But don't expect a faster paced book like Hidden Pictures was. I listened to the audiobook and I thought the narrator did a fine job.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me an ALC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Beyond annoying to hear a book from a white mans perspective. He was annoying and rude, very selfish character. Really hard to follow the story, that went on and on and didn't make sense.

Frank Szatowski is surprised when his estranged daughter Maggie suddenly contacts him for the first time in years. The second shock is that she is getting married to the son of a tech billionaire. Frank attempts to get to know Maggie's fiancé Aiden Gardner but finds him to be evasive and uninterested. Frank decides to focus on making his relationship with his daughter better. As the wedding draws near Frank, his sister and her foster child travel to the Gardner's family estate in New Hampshire. Before arriving at the compound they find that the local community is very distrusting of the Gardner family, particularly Aiden. Frank wants to get to the bottom of things but does not want to push his relationship with his daughter.

This was a very interesting book. There were a lot of things that worked for me but was very frustrated with Frank on multiple occasions. Especially when it comes to his relationship with his daughter. It is difficult to get far into the plot for spoiler reasons. There are quite a few fun twists and turns. This was a fantastic audio experience. John Pirhalla did a great job with the narration.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book especially the perspective of the main protagonist felt very fresh and not often utilized, there were some aspects that I felt were farfetched but then when I tried to rationalize where the decisions were coming from I was more accepting I would definitely recommend to friends and reading whatever Jason Rekulak publishes next

Frank Szatowski is suprised to hear from his estranged daughter when she called to invite him to her wedding. Her fiance turns out to be the son of famous tech billionaire, Errol Gardiner. While Frank is excited to be back in his daughter's good graces, as the wedding weekend commences, things seem off.

This could be a great fit if you enjoy:
- rich people problems
- parents protecting their kids
- when weddings go wrong

Based on reviews so far, I think I'm an outsider on this one, so take it with a grain of salt. I thought it was good, not great. As much as Frank fit the typical dad role with his protective and skeptical nature, I found myself rolling my eyes at him. There were a few unsettling moments with some creepy-crawly creatures and unhinged characters, but I thought the tension could have been ramped up quite a bit.

This was a quick audiobook with an awesome narrator. He was a perfect match for Frank!

Rating: I liked it! (3)

I'm kind of surprised to see all of the positive buzz about this one -- the plot was a bit too far, and the characterization seemed unnuanced.

Review copy provided by publisher.

3.5 stars. I enjoyed many parts of this story, but also parts that were just off for me. The daughter is a horrible person. I just can't get over how messed up her mind is. I did enjoy the narration.

I liked this one. Kept me guessing until the very end. The daughter of the main character really bothered me which I guess is what made it so much fun. Glad this was fiction.....

I got an advanced copy of the audiobook from Net Galley. This is a spoiler free review.

Narrator - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Plot - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is one of those books with a slow start and a exciting back half. For probably the first 40%, I wasn't even sure I liked the main character (which is an issue for first person pov). The story itself was interesting once it got going. However it did feel exposition heavy in the beginning despite there quite a few blanks in the story that were slow to be filled in. Rekulak is a talented writer, so it was an enjoyable listen and I could picture everything very easily. The only thing I would have changed would have been less exposition and more action post climax.