The Last One by Will Dean – Mystery Book Review

Note to Readers: This book is titled The Last One in the US and The Last Passenger in the UK. We will be reviewing The Last One (U.S. Edition) in this review.

Plot Overview

Caroline (aka Caz) is crossing to New York with her boyfriend, Pete, on the RMS Atlantica, a massive cruise liner particularly intended for crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Upon awakening, she finds herself alone on the Atlantica. This novel has been described as a locked-room mystery or thriller as well as a “white-knuckle mystery”; however, I would personally categorize it as a psychological mystery with some thriller components, as there are several psychological aspects to this novel. To get a feel for the size of the RMS Atlantica, a diagram is included in the book, but this quote sums it up:

…the Atlantica is an ocean liner, roughly double the size of the Titanic and half the size of modern cruise ships.

Based on this description, I would compare the RMS Atlantic from Will Dean’s novel to the Symphony depicted in Fig. 1 which has twice as many decks as the Titanic. 

Now, imagine being stranded on a ship this size somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, with no clue as to how everyone who embarked with you disappeared. Imagine the sheer emptiness and the aloneness permeating your being as you search a ship this size for any clues as to what may have occurred. You are now in Caz’s shoes, and the main setting of this story.

Pacing and Initial Thoughts

The first 30% of the novel is spent building the setting and characters. While I would not say the story is unengaging or slow, I did find myself slightly frustrated by the repetitive format of chapter-ending cliffhangers followed by anti-climactic resolutions to the questions immediately posed by said cliffhangers. I got over this annoyance relatively quickly due to the short length of the chapters and the intriguing nature of the mystery. It wasn’t long before the formula of cliffhanger followed by anti-climactic resolution faded away entirely, and the novel became much more interesting.

I’d venture to say that right around the 40-45% mark is where this story got exciting and more fast-paced for me. For those readers who struggle to get hooked on a story and struggle to follow through with reading if not hooked immediately, I would not say that I felt bored at any point in this story. In fact, I was honestly hooked most of the way through, although I did feel parts of the story could have been more horrifying or exciting.

Before getting into spoilers, I want to say that this novel was a quick and fun read. I recommend it to anybody looking for a good mystery that brings forth some thought-provoking questions about the world we live in today, without actually answering those questions. As my image review suggests, I did not feel this novel was very plausible, but it was fun and I give it 4 stars for my enjoyment in reading it. Let me know your thoughts if you read it, and for those who have read it or don’t mind spoilers, read more of my thoughts below.

Summary and Final Review

Review Breakdown

• Plot – 5.0 This was a fun read with an interesting premise that had me considering many possibilities for what could be occurring behind the scenes.
  • Intrigue – 5.0 The plot was extremely intriguing when the deeper layers of the story were finally revealed. The end result was definitely not what I expected out of this novel.
  • Setting – 5.0 The setting of the plot was different in that it’s not often I’ve read a book where someone is in a situation they literally cannot escape. The vastness of the Atlantic Ocean doesn’t detract from the similar vastness of the ocean liner Caz is stranded on. Without a means of escape from the ship let alone the massive ocean, Caz seems set up to fail.
• Thrills – 4.0 While the plot and setting were interesting, as was the reveal, the execution was not as thrilling as I hoped it would become.
• Characters and Plausibility discussed below, with minor spoilers
• Fun Factor – 4.25 While the plot was fun and had an interesting premise, some of the execution in terms of character development, plausibility of the story, and the thrill I felt in reading the novel brought down my level of enjoyment just a notch.

Extremely Minor Spoilers

Caz discovers quickly that she is not the only person remaining on the Atlantica. Without getting into details, I felt that the characters introduced with Caz were not greatly fleshed out, including Caz herself. The characters made more than a few stupid decisions and did not ascertain some blatantly obvious conclusions about information they stumbled on. In other words, if I put myself in their shoes, I feel that I could have made some much more logical decisions than they did, and I am not saying this in hindsight, for we know hindsight is 20/20. When actively reading this novel, I found myself saying, “That was stupid of him/her” without any acknowledgement from later potential (if any) consequences.

Major Spoilers – Final Thoughts

Without trying to spoil the plot or the actual ending for those who may have missed the spoiler warning or who decide to read on despite the spoiler warning, I have heard that the ending of this novel is fairly polarizing. While I did enjoy the overall plot and reasoning behind the situation the characters find themselves in, I thought the ending was a bit anti-climactic. Although, I think the ending being anti-climactic is in-line with the message this novel is trying to make in terms of the “shock-factor” people search for in the news, media, movies, and streaming which excites them in some way or another. Yes, I am excited by shocking novels of horror and thrillers. Do I want them to occur to me or anybody in real life? No! That’s what makes this novel nerve-wracking, but I feel that the ending undoes a lot of that and leaves me feeling the story was a bit ruined by the final reveal. Especially because of the last page of the story, which [MAJOR SPOILER] sets things up like there is going to be a sequel even though there in no way could really be a sequel once everything is explained. It just felt like a basic horror movie ending similar to that of Escape Room.

Your Thoughts

The great part about building a community of readers is we can discuss our opinions on what we read and enjoy talking about what we love. I would love to hear your thoughts not only on this review, but on this novel, this blog, and anything else you would like to discuss. Please drop a comment or answer some of the questions below, and let’s talk.

1. If you have not yet read the book, are you interested in picking it up to give it a read?
2. If you have already read the book, tell me your own thoughts. Do you agree with this review or disagree and why?
3. Have you read any other books by the author, Will Dean, or do you plan to?