“I wish you fair winds and calm seas.”

Will Dean’s nautical thriller The Last One delivers everything except fairness and calmness upon the ill-fated few aboard the RMS Atlantica as the anticipation and expectations of a luxury ocean crossing transform from exclusive club access and upscale multi-room suites into an unsettling voyage.

Peter and Caroline (“Caz”) are making a one-way crossing from Southhampton, England to New York, New York on the luxury RMS Atlantica. While Peter tries to encourage Caz to relax and enjoy the trip, she can’t help but feel uneasy about the open waters. The next morning, Caz wakes to find herself on a deserted ship sailing full steam ahead into the barren sea. No cell phone service, no crew, no access to emergency notification systems - she’s stranded. Searching the ship for supplies and any sign of life, Caz discovers few survivors on the otherwise eerily empty ship. This band of four remaining passengers (each with quirks and vices that grate on the desperate group members and the reader) forms. Banding together through unexpected twists and endless thwarts to their survival, they are fighting not just to return to land but for their lives.

If you’re looking for a thriller that breaks from the normal tropes and storylines as it speeds full steam ahead to its conclusion, The Last One is your next read.

As a frequent thriller reader, I noted that this book featured some bizarre elements that were unbelievable or fit for a type of reader willing to suspend reality. Some of the personality traits or flaws made it difficult to connect to key characters, making portions of the story more of a slow burn. However, the last third of the book really picked up and featured gripping ascents and descents until the conclusion.

** Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. **

Will Dean’s The Last One was an emotional roller coaster ride that I thoroughly loved. Every time I thought I had the plot pinned down he threw new curves at me. Bravo! What would you do if you woke up and you found yourself alone on an ocean liner? That’s only the beginning of the ride for Caz and things are never quite what they seem. While the book takes place in November it certainly makes for a wonderful summer read.

Let me tell you a little story about this book...

It was nearly impossible to get my hands on a copy and I was beginning to debate some illegal tactics..

Well, luckily it didn't have to go that far (but I would have!)

I was introduced to this sensational author through Bookstagram and I have been hooked on his every word ever since. First Born and The Last Thing to Burn are amongst my most favored books and two books I always suggest to fellow thriller lovers.

I had high expectations for The Last One, but I was confident Dean would deliver.

Well, all of my expectations were exceeded!!!

I loved every minute of this wild ride. There was never a time I was bored or wanted to close the book, instead it was just the opposite. I could not move, I was completely consumed and I white knuckled my kindle after I was thrown from one twist to the next.

This is a riveting suspenseful thriller that will get even the biggest critic going.

After reading all three of Dean’s' books and loving them, I have to say The Last One, is definitely my favorite.

Teaser :

An unputdownable locked-room thriller about family, trust, and survival from the acclaimed author of the “utterly thrilling” (Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author) First Born.

When Caz steps onboard the exclusive cruise liner RMS Atlantica, it’s the start of a vacation of a lifetime with her new love, Pete. On their first night they explore the ship, eat, dance, make friends, but when Caz wakes the next morning, Pete is missing.

And when she walks out into the corridor, all the cabin doors are open. To her horror, she soon realizes that the ship is completely empty. No passengers, no crew, nobody but her. The Atlantica is steaming into the mid-Atlantic and Caz is the only person on board. But that’s just the beginning of the terrifying journey she finds herself trapped on in this white-knuckled mystery.

Wow! That ending though 😳 what am I supposed to do with that ending lol. I really liked this. There were parts I wasn’t sure about and explanations that were a bit far fetched but all in all this was a fun ride! I feel like I can’t say anything because it would all be a spoiler. If you enjoy psychological thrillers, suspense, survival and just feelings of helplessness I think you will enjoy this. I really enjoyed the writing and will be checking out more title from Will. Add this to your TBR pile and enjoy the ride.

I honestly don’t know how to review this book without giving too much away. I think the synopsis is intentionally misleading to surprise the reader, but it backfired some in my case because I went into it expecting a spooky locked-room mystery and wound up with something far more outlandish. The premise is that Caz, a passenger on an ocean liner, wakes up to find herself alone on the ship with no crew and only a handful of other passengers (the synopsis doesn’t mention the others, but that’s the only spoiler I’m giving).

If you are interested in a book that will most likely be buzzy and polarizing, I’d recommend giving it a shot just to see where you fall. I personally had a love/hate experience reading it. I couldn’t stop reading, but also wanted to throw the book across the room several times.

I went into this book thinking it would be a locked room mystery, but it was more like a slow burn thriller-ish. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but not the story I thought I was getting in to.

This is the first of two mystery type books I’ve read recently that are set on a cruise ship. I don’t know if this a new trend emerging, but as a person that’s not super into open water it’s definitely a setting that increases the tension for me.

Overall, this book was only okay for me. It felt both incomplete and too long at the same time. Questions about the characters past are brought up but never resolved, and other parts of their lives are rehashed over and over and over again. The characters are never really fleshed out enough that you care too much about anyone, which is a struggle for me I think his type of book when I want to root for the protagonist.

I’ve never read a Will Dean book before, and while this book doesn’t make me write him off completely, I also won’t likely run out to read another of his books either.

Not the best or worst book I have read this year...more like a bland misleading at times "thriller". Synopsis doesn't 100%match up with what the story is trying to do.
Thank you for the ARC.

It's hard to review this without giving anything away but I will try my best. The cruise ship sets the scene for an unravelling story that you might have read in other books. The chapters are short, and the writing is quick. There is a large amount of exposition that you have to wade through; sometimes over and over again. Some of the points in the book leave you hanging or resolve into nothing. The ending has been raved about in other reviews, but I found it to be exhausting and unnecessary. 2 Stars

Thank you to Net Gallery and Atria Books for this ARC

Holy smokes, it has been a LOOOOOOOOONG time since a thriller grabbed me like this. This one never let go for a minute. I started it at 6PM last night, intending to just get started and I couldn't put it down until I was finished.

The characterizations were amazing, the plotting perfect, and the ending was brilliant.

I can't get too into the plot without spoilers but things start making a lot of sense around 33% and before that it's okay to feel like you don't understand what's happening. It all comes together....promise!

I can't recommend enough!

Great characters, moving yet a bit bizarre story, not a lot to say without spoilers on this one. Easy to breeze through and the unexplored sea is always an anxious topic for me to explore! Great summer read!

AHHH The Last One by Will Dean had me captivated until the very last page. And WOW that last sentence... Imagine waking up on the second day of a cruise and everyone is gone... That's all you need to know going into this book!!

Exciting adventure/thriller. A cross between Survivor and Hunger Games.

Caz and Pete are enjoying their first cruise together on the luxury Liner RMS Atlantica. After enjoying a fun evening on their first night aboard Caz awakes the next morning to find that Peter is gone. When she leaves her cabin to look for him she finds that everyone, including the crew, are missing. Is she entirely alone? Where did they all go? And, who is running the ship?

A dystopian novel that I read in one day. I just needed to see this story to the end. Not my usual kind of novel. There were times I needed to suspend disbelief. The story is intriguing and the suspense was worth the sleepless hours.

Thanks to NetGalley, Will Dean, and Atrtia/Emily Bestler books for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for my honest review.

It’s so hard to believe that this is the same author that wrote The Last Thing to Burn. That book was so nuanced and this is an in-your-face thriller that will have me very hesitant to ever step foot on a cruise ship again. The concept (stranded on a luxury ocean liner by yourself) was unique and fun. It’s hard to review without giving away any spoilers, but I think it’s best to go in blind. There are spots where the tension builds perfectly and some spots drag a bit, but overall it’s evenly paced and thought provoking. I will say, the last line didn’t do any favors and felt like a cop out. If you like Taylor Adams and Adrian McKinty, this would be a great book to read next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy and a chance to read this early. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

3.5 stars

I liked this book well enough but I did have a couple of problems with it. First, I think the synopsis is misleading. The whole premise of the book is thrown off in the beginning. I was expecting a sort of locked room mystery and what I got was not that at all. Despite that, I kept reading because I was interested in how things would end up. That leads me to my second problem, it is very repetitive. I was tired of hearing about Caz's dad and that was all her backstory comprised of. The third problem was the characters. I honestly didn't connect to any of them. They were one dimensional and they went on long monologues about things regular people would have no knowledge of. The fourth thing is that this ended up being not a mystery or even a thriller in my opinion. It was more like survival or something.

This book also dragged. It felt too long but I was compelled to see it through to the end. I think that was in part because I was hoping things would turn out differently or I was wanting more from it.

All in all I did like this book. I think it was orginal (at least I've never read anything like it). I think the ending will be polarizing but I didn't mind it because I think I was just ready to be done at that point. I do think it will get people talking, but that isn't always a good thing.

This was my first Will Dean book and I would be interested in reading more from him in the future.

I found this book boring with bland character and I couldn’t finish. Way too drawn out. Thank you for letting me try it, but it’s not for me.

I won’t leave a bad review anywhere, but doubt I’ll try another of his books.

Will Dean never ceases to amaze me with his talent at writing suspense. I went into this book blind, because he’s now an auto read author for me, but had I read the synopsis first I may not have wanted to read this book. It isn’t something that would have caught my interest. However, I’m so glad that I did read it because I could not put it down. This was an easy five star read for me. I really don’t have anything bad to say about it.

While the premise of the story is a tad far-fetched, Dean did a fantastic job reeling it back in and giving substance to make it more possible. That possibility made it scary at some points. At the heart of this book, there is some serious thought-provoking content about our culture and its obsession with celebrity, entertainment, social media, and a need for fast changing newness. We are a culture that is never satisfied, that is never at rest, that is never content. This book took it to new levels by literally sacrificing two peoples lives for the sake of a new spin on reality TV.

As far as thriller books, go, this one is at the top! The chapters are short and nearly every chapter ends in a cliffhanger. Literally, something was always happening and there was never a dull moment. Something else that I feel Dean did a good job with was give enough backstory to each character to give them some substance and add a little more meaning to the book without going overboard with it. I don’t like when a thriller with a very exciting premise turns into long drawn out chapters of backstory. That was not the case here: little paragraphs here and there help give more explanation to the characters, but it never took over.

Like I said, I don’t have a bad thing to say about this book. It’s fun, fast, and thought-provoking! Loved it!

Y’allllll…this book is coukoo for Coco Pops in the best way. Caz and Pete go on a fancy cruise together and after dinner they go to bed. The next morning, Caz wakes up and finds that Pete isn’t in bed with her. She goes out in the hallway and realizes that the entire ship is empty. Not a single person on this ship. I am not going to say anything else about this plot because SPOILERS, but this is going to be my favorite book of the year. (BTW, I’ve noticed that folks either hate or love this book, no in between)

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Will Dean for this ARC! Oh my - this was FANTASTIC! I have obtained a new irrational fear and the thought of being stranded on a cruise ship gave me nightmares. I can not imagine when Caz went through! I was so attached to Caz and true worry for a fictional character. I really hope there could possible be a sequel. I wasn’t sure really what this book was about at first - I saw Will Dean and said absolutely and so glad I was able to review this. This is a summer must read!

This book was a fantastic read. Such a fun ride. Loved the short chapters and how I was never once bored. Well done Dean!!!

Four people find themselves the only passengers left on a large luxury ocean liner. What happened to the other passengers? As the truth is revealed, things only become more confusing - and dire.