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A review by mmdoordan
The Last One by Will Dean
3.0
Caz is finally on an international holiday with her boyfriend. What should be an exciting and well-deserved break from her life back home turns sinister when Caz awakes to find the ship deserted except for her. Or is it?
***
*2.5 stars rounded up*
This was a 5 star book for me until the last few chapters. Despite Caz constantly reminding us about her father being a gambler, I generally found this book to be well written and fun to read. It escalated quite nicely, and you were definitely left guessing up until the very end.
However, is it too late for the author to change the ending? Are we getting a sequel so we can torture this sad, unfortunate victim?
Spoilers and some thoughts and questions that are driving me nuts:
*Look, I know that these actors didn't know that Caz's father committed suicide by walking off a bridge...but c'mon. Having Frannie mirror that just a coincidence? Which leads me to...
*So Caz's boyfriend is like the mastermind right? He def knew about Caz's father and was like let's have Frannie walk right off the boat the same way her dad died? HAHAHA. Psychopath. Seriously.
*While I'm sure the show's creators knew how traumatizing this was, can none of the actors (Michelle, Frannie/Jen, etc.) understand just how freaking AWFUL this would be to do to someone? And Smith/Walter was only going to get $25K??
*Also, why did they leave Caz in the water so long after Smith "drowned"? Why was Smith the one who randomly drowned when they both jumped off the boat? He picked the wrong life safety device, so Caz just automatically wins? (Even though she totally deserved to, because everything she went through was way worse than everyone else.)
*There's a lot we have to suspend belief about here, but the actors who they had in the ballroom? That takes the cake. Look, I get that we had to start questioning if this was all really a game, or the work of one really powerful psychopath, but it would have been easier to assume dummies, then having that many actors moving about the boat like that without the others noticing. B+ for the helpful wrench it put into the reader's perspective though.
*Speaking of suspending belief, the boat thing, fine whatever, they were passed out. Got everyone off. Blah. Blah. But the plane thing? C'mon. There's no way that in the time she was in the bathroom they were able to just abandon her there. That's nuts. And what would they have done if she never fell asleep or went to the bathroom? And what is the end game when she completes this challenge? This chick will never eat, sleep, or go to the bathroom again. I'm going to have to just believe that she is having a bad dream on the plane and is just totally ruined by the PTSD.
*THE BOX. No one opened the box, right? Or the viewers decided to open it? IDK! Stupid box.
All in all, this one is going to leave me banging my head against the wall for a longtime, but I couldn't help but love what it did to me just a little bit.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.
***
*2.5 stars rounded up*
This was a 5 star book for me until the last few chapters. Despite Caz constantly reminding us about her father being a gambler, I generally found this book to be well written and fun to read. It escalated quite nicely, and you were definitely left guessing up until the very end.
However, is it too late for the author to change the ending? Are we getting a sequel so we can torture this sad, unfortunate victim?
Spoilers and some thoughts and questions that are driving me nuts:
Spoiler
*Look, I know that these actors didn't know that Caz's father committed suicide by walking off a bridge...but c'mon. Having Frannie mirror that just a coincidence? Which leads me to...
*So Caz's boyfriend is like the mastermind right? He def knew about Caz's father and was like let's have Frannie walk right off the boat the same way her dad died? HAHAHA. Psychopath. Seriously.
*While I'm sure the show's creators knew how traumatizing this was, can none of the actors (Michelle, Frannie/Jen, etc.) understand just how freaking AWFUL this would be to do to someone? And Smith/Walter was only going to get $25K??
*Also, why did they leave Caz in the water so long after Smith "drowned"? Why was Smith the one who randomly drowned when they both jumped off the boat? He picked the wrong life safety device, so Caz just automatically wins? (Even though she totally deserved to, because everything she went through was way worse than everyone else.)
*There's a lot we have to suspend belief about here, but the actors who they had in the ballroom? That takes the cake. Look, I get that we had to start questioning if this was all really a game, or the work of one really powerful psychopath, but it would have been easier to assume dummies, then having that many actors moving about the boat like that without the others noticing. B+ for the helpful wrench it put into the reader's perspective though.
*Speaking of suspending belief, the boat thing, fine whatever, they were passed out. Got everyone off. Blah. Blah. But the plane thing? C'mon. There's no way that in the time she was in the bathroom they were able to just abandon her there. That's nuts. And what would they have done if she never fell asleep or went to the bathroom? And what is the end game when she completes this challenge? This chick will never eat, sleep, or go to the bathroom again. I'm going to have to just believe that she is having a bad dream on the plane and is just totally ruined by the PTSD.
*THE BOX. No one opened the box, right? Or the viewers decided to open it? IDK! Stupid box.
All in all, this one is going to leave me banging my head against the wall for a longtime, but I couldn't help but love what it did to me just a little bit.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.