Review and Spoilers for The Last One

Want to know about The Last One by Will Dean? Or did you read The Last One and need to talk about it? Yes, this is going on two of my book lists: books with a Big Twist and Last Minute Plot Twists. This will be a review which is safe to read with spoilers at the end, so check out my Review and Spoilers for The Last One by Will Dean!

The Last One by Will Dean

Published on August 8, 2023 by Atria Books

Thanks to the publisher for the advance review copy which I accepted under FTC guidelines! Please see my Editorial Policy for more details.

I read this book in August 2023

Jen’s Quick Take on The Last One by Will Dean

• I’m calling The Last One a cross between suspense and a thriller. There’s a LOT of gaslighting but also a high sense of peril
• On my list of Travel Thrillers Set on Airplanes Boats Cars and Trains
• A couple of truly shocking twists which were also pretty outlandish
• Not for readers who like a believable story!

What Else Has Will Dean Written?

Will Dean a British mystery writer who lives in Sweden. He has published a Swedish mystery series featuring journalist Tuva Moodyson, with five books that came out between 2018 and 2022.

His standalones are The Last Thing to Burn (2021) and First Born (2022).

Review and Spoilers for The Last One by Will Dean

Okay, the SPOILER FREE review will be first and if you don’t want the spoilers, there will be an opportunity to bail out in time (haha get ready for ALL my ocean-themed puns…)

The Last One is a book that will either thrill or infuriate you.

First, here are a few of my spoiler free thoughts.

As the story opens, forty-something Caroline “Caz” Ripley and her boyfriend Pete board the RMS Atlantica, an ocean liner that will be sailing from Southampton in the UK to New York City. They do the required safety drills. After dinner on board, during which Caz hopes Pete will propose, they head back to their cabin to go to bed.

The next morning, Caz wakes up alone. Pete is nowhere to be found and neither are any of the 1000 passengers and crew. wtf? Her phone and wi-fi aren’t working. That part also happened on the one and only cruise I ever took. I do NOT like cruises.

So you might be wondering, as I am, about the possibilities for this.

Is Can dreaming? Did someone slip hallucinogenic drugs in her dinner? Is she in some weird parallel universe, Black Mirror style? Is it her birthday and everyone is hiding below deck to surprise her?

The Last One is very LONG for a thriller, almost 450 pages, so you will get plenty of time to think about it. Like, as much time as it takes to sail from England to America. (One week. I checked!)

Will you like The Last One?

This is all I can say without spoilers: If you are a thriller reader who values logic and a resolved ending, then maybe not. If you are a reader who loves a shocking twist above all else and are willing to suspend some disbelief, then I say yes.

If you don’t want ANY spoilers, STOP READING NOW. There is one slight spoiler and then I’ll get into the big ones.

Slight spoiler: Early on in the book, Caz does find a few more people on the ship and together they decide how they might be able to navigate this very strange situation.

There’s Daniel Cho, a Korean-American sports instructor who is living the van life. Twenty-one year old Frannie was onboard with her parents and has been reading about the Mary Celeste, a smaller ship that was found mysteriously deserted by its 11 passengers back in 1872. There’s also Smith, whom the others find looting the ship’s gift shop.

BIG SPOILERS FOR THE LAST ONE BELOW:

Caz, Daniel, Frannie, and Smith search the ship for food and supplies and find a bunch of dogs in crates that the four of them take care of. Much of the book feels a lot like an episode of Survivor.

Then things start happening. A lot of things, because the book is long. The electrical systems go haywire. They run out of water. There’s a fire. The lifeboats drop into the sea.

TWIST ONE:

The power comes back on and a woman called “The Admiral” shows up on the ship’s TV screens. The group is told that they are contestants on a reality TV show called “Atlantica” that is being broadcast for pay. The ship is covered with CCTV cameras and microphones.

None of them are pleased about this, especially Smith. “This is all BS,” he says. “BS, the lot of it. I’ve never been tricked like this in my entire effing life.”

Same, Smith!

Actually I have read several books back in the 2010s YA Dystopian years about kids on dystopian reality shows, from the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins to Vault of Dreamers by Caragh O’Brien, to Nerve by Jeanne Ryan. The Last One also felt a bit Maze Runner to me.

In any case, the four are told that they will each be given a challenge and that anyone who fails will be eliminated. The winner will receive … five million dollars.

Smith does the first challenge, which has to do with books. He succeeds and the group wins prizes of food, clothing and some photos of the ship. Yes, a challenge and a reward feels a lot like Survivor!

The group learns that everyone on the ship disembarked in Ireland while the four were sleeping. Okay. I think the book suggests the four of them were drugged?

Caz does an ocean swimming challenge and almost drowns.

The group asks the Admiral how they can legally be forced to do this, and she says there was a clause in a contract they signed that says they agree to participate in group activities. Always read the contract!

There’s a dinner party and a VERY creepy scene with rats.

Daniel does his challenge, which includes a climbing wall, a zipline, and swimming. He gets trapped inside the cover of the swimming pool and the others decide he must be dead.

The Admiral shows up and introduces herself. Her name is Michelle and she was hired to be a presenter. She’s just as horrified by what happened to Daniel as the rest. She says that the show is being streamed on the dark web and she thinks the game will go on until all but one of them are dead.

She also says that there were supposed to be six contestants.

It’s Frannie’s turn for the challenge but she nominates Caz. (Ha, reverse Hunger Games!)

If Caz refuses, then Smith wins. Caz has to climb up to the ship’s crow’s nest. She gets up and back down but after she returns, Frannie jumps off the ship.

The ship starts taking on water, and Michelle, Caz and Smith try to send out a mayday. A ship answers, but the reality TV crew says jk, everything is fine.

A helicopter comes and takes Michelle away. Smith and Caz wait their turn but the helicopter leaves them on the ship.

Smith and Caz break into the ballroom and find piles of bodies that are presumably all the missing passengers.

After that, Smith and Caz are done. They decide to put on life jackets and jump off the ship.

After they jump, Smith vanishes. A phone on Caz’s life vest rings and she is told she’s the winner.

She’s pulled onto a boat and given binoculars to look at the Atlantica, where she sees Michelle, Frannie, Daniel and Smith.

TWIST TWO:

Caz learns that Frannie and Daniel were actors. She and Smith were the only real players.

She’s taken to a hotel, where Pete comes to see her. He apologizes, saying that, in the confusion, he thought she evacuated in Ireland with everyone else. He tells her he’s booked a flight home for them. Also, he explains the ship had a hidden deck for producers, divers, medics and editors. The ballroom had been filled with dummies.

FINAL TWIST:

Pete and Caz are flying home in first class. Caz goes to the restroom to brush her teeth.

When she comes out, the plane is empty.

SERIOUSLY?

Spoiler Discussion for The Last One

If you read this, what are your thoughts??

Yes, The Last One really reminded me of Survivor, but did it remind anyone else of Jury Duty? I just finished watching that.

Did Pete really dupe this poor woman twice? What is his excuse the second time? He’s the worst!!

Did Caz sign a new contract, because the first one had only to do with the ship. Since when do you sign a contract to get on a plane? Was it when she signed for her room service??

Did they ever explain why Caz didn’t hear the “pulsing alarm” and stampede of passengers that Pete talks about? I would say it was the seasickness pills that she talks about right when they boarded but I think too much time passed after that.

Was she drugged at dinner? There was a scene at the later “dinner party” where they get drugged. (Mary, in comments, says yes, they were drugged. Smith does admit to taking sleeping pills.)

Where Did All the Plane Passengers Go in The Last One?

I don’t feel like there will be a sequel to The Last One because the element of surprise is gone. I think The Last One is one of those annoying thrillers with unresolved endings. So we will have to figure it out.

1. The plane seems to have taken off because Caz says they were flying over Greenland
2. Everyone disappeared in the time she was in the airplane bathroom. How long could that possibly be? Ten minutes? Fifteen?

My take: there wasn’t time to get everyone off the plane. She just decided to go to the bathroom spontaneously. As they are flying, Caz says there was “no significant turbulence.”

I think she’s in a flight simulator and never left the ground. “Greenland” is just a video outside her window.