This book has no business being 130 chapters. I was bored by chapter 15. I DNF this book.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

Okay, there is a lot to unpack with this book!
I thought that this book was very well written, and did a great job keeping you engaged and wondering what in the world would happen next. It kind of had a slow start for me, but at about 150 pages in, I couldn’t put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC!

Such a unique storyline! So different than anything I’ve read before. It got a little slow in the middle and I found that I kept waiting for some kind of explanation on what was happening. I pushed through though and was glad I did!

Read if you like:
☝🏻 Single POV thrillers
📖 Short Chapters
🔐 Locked Room Thriller
🛳️ Cruises
🔦 Survival Shows

What would you do if you woke up and were the only one left on a cruise? Freak the eff out!? Meeeee too!!!

This book gave ALL the vibes and was such a great read! The short chapters made the pacing excellent and made the book feel shorter than it was.

I don’t want to say too much but if you like a good ending that might make you want to throw the book a little that you can’t stop thinking about then I highly recommend this one!

Also, never going on a cruise after reading this one 😂

Thank you so much Atria for my ARC of this one!

Honestly, this one is being added to the did not finish pile. I wasn't completely sure what to anticipate but tried to stick it out. I wasn't drawn into the story but the main character was relatable. I would try other work by this author,

Holy crap, what did I just read?? I don’t know what to say about this. I don't want to give a synopsis, because I feel it is important to go into this knowing as little as possible. There are twists upon twists in this one. It’s bonkers. And terrifying.

This one was a bit of a miss for me. While the premise is incredibly intriguing, I couldn’t get invested in the main character or the writing style enough to keep reading. Not for me, oh well.

Will Dean never feels too deliver …. they are almost all home runs but this one most definately is….It’s def one of my top 3 they’ve written and that is saying a ton!! I’ll be recommending this specific book to everyone so know.. instead of just this author in general … seriously such a talented author , they seriously never miss !!! 5 star read in my opinion and I give them sparingly!

I am again in the minority with a Will Dean book. I did not enjoy this book. Yes it had some very intense things going on but it was so unrealistic. I didn't for a second believe one bit of this story. Not that any of it was true but still. Usually you get a realistic sense with a book.

A couple, Pete and Caz, board a ship for a much needed cruise. They have a great first night. But what comes next is nothing but horrific. No matter how you read it, it's horrible. Caz wakes up and no one is on this ship. Not one single person. All the cabin doors are open and the rooms empty. The thousands of people are all gone. Including her love Pete. What the heck? What is everyone?

Then of course there are three others who were left behind. Frannie, Daniel and Walter Smith who goes by Smith. They are informed that they are now the participants of a reality tv show and have to complete tasks. Whoever does the best will win a significant sum of money. But they are first starved, left thirsty, cold, and so alone. On a huge cruise liner they are abandoned. Each is giving a task to complete. Some may not even survive.

You meet each of these people and as a group how they work together to make it through. After a devastating loss it's finally down to two. Walter and Caz.

Caz spends a lot of time on the water before she is finally rescued. Now the part I really did not like. I can't tell you all or I give away many secrets. I did figure this out even the very ending which was another unbelievable storyline.

I read this hoping it would grab me and make me enjoy it but that never happened. It is very well written and would probably make a great movie but as a book I just didn't enjoy it. If this happened I would NEVER leave my significant other. It just would not happen. Yet Pete left. Of course it was not what he wanted to do. He was swept up in a mob but still.. I would have fought.

Thank you #NetGalley, #WillDean, #Atria/EmilyBestlerBooks for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

3 stars from me. Read it and decide for yourself. You may love it. I didn't.

SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD:

Well, this was a complicated book. I can't express my feelings without commenting on the ending, and without giving it completely away I will say it felt rather unbelievable and undermined everything the characters had been going through up till the last chapters.
The writing was fine. However, this book was exceptionally long, which felt even worse once I reached the ending.
Although the concept was sound it was not built up to in a way that made sense. I was left a little confused by the last line of the book.
Mostly it's a good idea but not a great execution.

Star Rating: 2/5

A cruise with a new, romantic interest that sounds wonderful! This is the vacation of a lifetime and definitely not something they can pass up. Things are going great until the day after the first night when our main character wakes up, and her love interest is missing. She walks out of the room to explore to figure out where her boyfriend went and finds that there’s nobody on this cruise ship except for her, she’s mid ocean and doesn’t know what to do.

I was really excited for this book after I heard some of my favorite Youtubers give it really high praise. I think that it’s good to go into this book knowing pretty much nothing and it definitely is a long book and it takes you on this slow burn ride, but it’s completely worth it. This is so much fun and I highly recommend it for any mystery, thriller readers, and people who enjoy survival stories.

Overall, I had a really fun time with this book, and I will definitely be reading from the author again. Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for the e-arc.

Perfect palette cleanser. Wasn’t my favorite but wasn’t bad! Little too cheesy for my taste. It would be a perfect vacation read.

This book was more addicting than any reality TV show! I was intrigued by the premise of the book and wondered how the author was going to keep the story going for an entire novel BUT he did. Just like reality TV, once I was hooked, I binge read the entire thing. I couldn’t put it down. I HAD to know how it ended - knowing full well the ending would most likely tick me off just like the final episode of every reality show I’ve ever watched. The author had a very unique idea and told the story well. I highly recommend it!

Thank you NetGallery with providing me with an advanced copy. I was enticed to start this book with the description, but unfortunately DNF. I quickly lost interest with the story line as well as the switching points of view.

What a rollercoaster! This is unlike any thriller I've read before. This was a fast paced read full of twists and turns. I'm not completely sure if I liked it or not but it kept my attention. The main character wakes up to find herself alone on a ship in the Atlantic and that's just the beginning of the crazy.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atria books for the opportunity to read this ARC.

What a wild ride! A woman wakes up in an abandoned cruise ship and craziness ensues.

Super unique and gripping, and some parts had me on the edge of my seat. Loved the characters of Caz and Smith. I did find some of Caz’s stories and memories and life experiences a bit boring, and would skim some of them to get to the action. I don’t find gambling issues to be that interesting, so I just found it very repetitive and a little unnecessary, but I did think the character development was great.

That ending made me extremely annoyed and left me wondering what the heck happened. We’ve gone through so much that I would’ve liked to know with certainty what was real or not. Otherwise, I enjoyed it!

Thanks to Net Galley for letting me read this one! I’ll be thinking about The Atlantica for a long time.

I’m a huge believer in always reading the synopsis. Movies, TV, books, it doesn’t matter. The more detailed the better. I like to know what I’m about to spend hours reading or watching.

Which is why I’m surprised I loved The Last One as much as I did. All you know is that the main character Caz boards a ship with her boyfriend and hundreds of other passengers and the next morning wakes to find herself alone on the vessel. So much happens after that (including some MAJOR twists) but this book is best experienced when you don’t know what’s coming.

Parts of this story terrified me, but I still had a hard time putting it down. The action, mixed with short chapters make it a true pageturner that I think fans of Squid Game and Black Mirror will enjoy. And that ending!?! It’s a shock that only Will Dean could deliver. The Last One is a must read for thriller fans looking for a

The Last One is out August 8th. Thanks to Atria and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Last One, the latest release from Will Dean, is the epitome of a book you want to go into blind. Trust me on this, the less you know about the story, the better. I first heard of this book via my friend, Holly's, review. Within her first two paragraphs, I learned this was set on a cruise ship and frankly, that was all I needed. I was sold. Cruise Ship + Thriller = Something I'm Gonna Read.

I requested this one from the publisher and was so excited when they approved me for a copy. I started it pretty quickly after that, because it seemed like a perfect Summer Thriller. Spoiler alert: I was right.

I was immediately intrigued and by the 8%-mark, my jaw was on the floor. What the heck had I gotten myself into? Dean wastes no time getting the ball rolling. It went in a direction that I never in a million years would have expected. It was giving me eerie, Twilight Zone vibes and I was over the moon about it.

I read this so quickly. I couldn't put it down once the suspense sets in. I had to know what was at the heart of this story and even after I found out, it didn't answer everything. In fact, it got even more perplexing. I just had a complete blast reading it. Fun, fast-paced, original and entertaining as heck. I also liked how, without giving too much away, it shined a light a bit on modern life; the way we function day-to-day as humans.

Finally, that ending. Oh my word! That was great. I love a story that can leave me with a little sinister smile on my face at the end and this one absolutely did. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for an out of the box Thriller, especially if you think a Cruise Ship setting sounds enticing.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Atria Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This one was ever more fun than I expected. I'm looking forward to picking up more from this author!

What a wild ride!! I read this entire book in one day, it was such a page turner. I really enjoyed the twist on a locked room mystery. The main character was well done, I felt like she reacted realistically to her situation. I went into this one totally blind and definitely didn’t see the twists coming. I do think it perhaps went one twist too far and the ending took me out of the story a bit. But overall I was very entertained and was kept guessing the whole time!

This was a wild ride. I feel like it could have been shorter (we get it, everything is miserable), and there were a few gaping plot holes, but it was a unique idea and had some fun twists. 3.5 rounded up for the ARC.