A review by esterie
The Last One by Will Dean

mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

Sometimes you have to pocket your moral compass and find a novel way to navigate.


what a wild roller coaster of a ride! so many twists and reveals, coupled with short chapters often ending on cliffhangers with lots of high action scenes, this was a very fast read. it's kind of a no-thoughts-just-vibe kinda mystery thriller, you have to suspend disbelief somewhat but it was a fun time. also actually had a decent convo/crit on
the exploitative nature & harm of the contestants/cast of reality tv & tv competitions
.

i can see the ending being contentious, but this is how i choose to see it:
everything did indeed happen, and the empty plane was merely a dream. though i DO find the "it was all a dream" compelling, as SO MANY of the characters have similarities to our MC: daddy issues, estranged relationships with children, worrying about parents, etc.



liked:
-mention of hitchhiker's guide, one of my favorite books of all time ❤️
-the parallel of
caz's dad's gambling vs her gambling on winning the competition, as well as her making amends with her father's memory through the story & reflecting on how his actions impacted the family & how they now relate to her current situation

-completely shocking to me, but
smith
ended up being my favorite character by the end.
he was a right ass (verbally) for like 95% of the book but did what was right and i kinda loved him tbh



didn't like:
-a lot of the characters tended to speak in a very long form monologue, expository manner. almost stream-of-consciousness, but like all. the time. it just didn't feel natural. this is an example, one long dialogue from one character (MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!):

"Some faceless man with an ego as swollen as his bank account. I imagine him with two screens; I was thinking about it last night. One screen has a live link to the Atlantica. He has a safe button. When a challenge goes wrong or the fire starts burning out of control, maybe his manicured fingertip hovers over that button. If he presses it, a rescue team will swoop in from the helicopter we saw and save us. But, of course, he never quite presses it. Because of the second screen. He watches the escalating drama, the fresh danger, and part of him thinks, Press the button, they’ve been through enough. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Just as he reaches that point, he notices that viewership figures have hit a new record. So he hesitates. Something even more dire takes place on board. Maybe Daniel starts his descent and the viewers know what we don’t: they’ve been told the pool cover is on a timer. The interaction numbers spike. The countdown runs. Comments and likes start to jump higher. The algorithmic data is more mesmerizing than the format driving it. The humane part of him may consider pressing the button. But the other part, the base part, knows the show must go on. Because those numbers have to go up a little more each day. The good and evil we all have within ourselves. Now we know what we’re dealing with but we’re afraid to call it by its name."



questions:
-who
opened the box & who pulled the watch beacon? ultimately not important, and i feel it was just the secret crew on the ship, but i just wanna know explicitly.

-what was up with
the first rescue ship that caught fire? was it all for show? an actual ship the production crew burned down? survivors? feel like the characters quickly forgot that one lol
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