The Last One by Will Dean is a thriller set aboard the RMS Atlantica, a luxury cruise ship.
The main character, Caroline (Caz) and her boyfriend set off on a romantic weekend with hundreds of other guests.
When she wakes up the morning after the ship departs, Caz discovers the Atlantica is empty except for three others: Daniel, a 30-something adventure sports instructor/jack of all trades; Francine, a 20-something college student; and a surly passenger simply known as Smith, an American who runs a vending machine business.
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| Image via Indianapolis Public Library |
Together, the four must figure out where the ship is going, why the Atlantica's crew and passengers disappeared, and how to survive when the massive luxury liner has no electricity, no food, and no running water.
To say much more would spoil this briskly paced read. Then again, there's part of me that would like to spoil it so you could decide whether or not the entire novel is a waste of your time.
I'm kind of fifty-fifty on that. It's a perfectly intriguing setup, although the stakes escalate at a ridiculous pace and the ultimate payoff made me roll my eyes, as did the "ending." I'll just say that there are some truly horrific elements and tension that end up being completely undercut once Caz reaches the finale.
I'm also not sure I liked many of the characters, which is a problem given that the book prominently features four people and is told by Caz through a first-person perspective. Daniel seems too good and competent; Francine too naive and whiny; Smith too inaccessible and brusque. Caz's personality seems to mold itself to whatever the book's next false crisis requires, and she's almost always overdramatic.
Listed at 445 pages, The Last One has 133 chapters, meaning chapters average less than three and a half pages each. It's clearly designed to suck you in with short chapters that'll have you saying "just one more" with each miniature cliffhanger. It is effective, I'll give it that.
My recommendation would be to give it a try, just so that we can commiserate on whether the many twists and turns were worth it, given where things end up.