I really enjoyed this. It was nice to read something unique and different, instead of your usual thriller book, this had a different setting and the plot was interesting. I have also been on a few cruises so it was fun picturing it.
It was a fun read, yes some things were a bit silly or unrealistic but that didn't bother me.
I hope there is another book, as I will definitely be reading it!

This was really unique and really hard to talk about without spoilers. I liked the concept both of all the other passengers disappearing and also what it turned out to be. It was totally addictive and impossible to stop reading without knowing how it ended. But on the other hand, it's crazy mad and a bit monologuey at times as Caz reflects. I also didn't really get the ending and was left with unanswered questions - most significantly why Caz was deemed 'the last passenger'? Overall I really enjoyed it though.

The Last Passenger by Will Dean had such an intriguing premise that I could not wait to pick it up. A transatlantic cruise aboard the RMS Atlantica with her boyfriend Pete seems like a dream come true for Caz . It's a chance to escape her day to day life as a small town cafe owner and enjoy some luxurious rest and relaxation, but after their first night on board Caz wakes up to find Pete has vanished, and it seems so have all the other passengers and crew. I was really hopeful when I started this book, there were so many ways it could go, but unfortunately as I read on my hopes faded and the plot stretched credulity in a way that I simply did not enjoy. I kept reading , hoping that I would find that early magic again but it simply wasn't to be , and the ending left me angry.
I reads and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

This wasn't for me, I enjoyed the dark feeling this book gave me and thought the story was going in a different direction but it became annoying. To much back story of main character it was just so over done that I got bored. I wanted to like this but really ended up being a flat read sadly.

Not ever read Will Dean's work but having heard the rave reviews of his previous work, I was excited to pick his new book up. The premise reads like a Thriller, however but the end result is far from it. Caz the main protagonist - her constant backstory became annoying. I kept reading as I wanted to know what happened but the twist at the end fell completely flat. It started out interesting albeit slow and ended up a bit like a cheap holiday read. The last twist paragraph I was waiting for it (you know when you read it) and boom there is disappointingly was. I will read other works but this one was not a good read.

I am quite conflicted in my opinion of this book. Some parts I found exciting, and different, and couldn't predict. Other parts I found dull and slow, too much backstory, adding nothing for me, and I would have preferred it to be shorter and punchier. I found it a bit indulgent in places doing nothing to move the story on. Overall not a bad book, and I will give it 4 stars for originality alone, but it could have been 5 stars if it wasn't so rambling..

Personally I loved it. I found the story engrossing and enjoyed reading it as fast as I could. Yes there are parts of the plot that drag a little and some quite silly ideas, but on the whole I found it a very good read and look forward to more by Will Dean.
I will post this review with Waterstones

High concept thriller which I’ll do nothing to spoil beyond what the blurb covers. Very much a change of direction from The Last Thing to Burn, this is at times quite ridiculous in its twists, turns and rugpulls. I did find Caz’s occasional monologue on her family a little irritating as to be honest I didn’t really care about the back story - i wanted the plot to keep driving forward, and I find narrated books that dripfeed relevant information a bit annoying at times, which I realise is a personal reaction.

I could do the “I knew that’s what was happening” as I had got a decent handle on what the likely twists were, but I’d be lying I didn’t admit that it was just one of half a dozen theories about the what was happening. Anyway, overall much fun, although I felt Chris Brookmyre could have done a much funnier, more violent and probably more involving version of this back in the 2000s…

I am a big fan of Will Dean, I have loved all of his books to date. I hate to say that this was his worst book to date. It's a ridiculous concept and the ending is ughhh. Some people may enjoy but it wasn't for me, sorry Will.

"I am not a natural traveller" says our main narrator Catherine 'Caz' Ripley as she steps aboard a huge cruise ship Atlantica with her boyfriend Pete Davenport.
Everything - a bit like cruises I expect anyway- is big, brash and beautiful. Caz is anticipating a romantic announcement and time away from caring duties with her Mum and the work in her cafe (which her sister Gemma has taken over for the week).
When she wakes the first morning as they are sailing towards the open Atlantic Ocean on the way to America everyone has disappeared......this is now s ghost ship/the Marie Celeste of all your nightmares.
Will Dean is a master of the scary, couched in good characters but with threats. Soon a quartet is formed of old Mr Smith, Daniel and Frannie and it's the survival of the fittest especially when matters take a dark and very watery turn.
This will be an incredible best seller on boats and planes and every holiday book list for the summer! It is a deep psychological triumph too as all human fears and past family feuds rise like flotsam to the surface rippling out against a very frightening tide of terror.It's too much of a spoiler to say how the plot evolves to reveal why and how Caz is there-but just to add alongside my dislike of cruises is a dislike for Ant and Dec.....say now more.

I always love will deans work and this was no exception! Another excellent book to recommend. I’ve never read a book with a concept like this and it was fab! His writing really builds the tension.

The Last Thing To Burn by this author is a favourite of mine, but this wasn’t it. The creepy atmospheric writing was incredible, but I got bored of hearing Caz’s life story (that really had zero relevance to the rest of the plot) and was disappointed by the twist. I wanted more about the other characters and sadly found that the ending was just quite cheesy. A real shame!

The characters in this book, that I couldn't read fast enough because it is so utterly gripping, are very well drawn-out. We start with Catherine (Caz), almost fifty and the owner of a small teashop. Coming from a difficult childhood with a gambling father, she's happy where she is now. Her boyfriend Pete is a nice man, who really seems to care about her, and that's why he treats her to this luxurious cruise. After discovering almost all passengers have disappeared overnight, Caz is left in the company of Daniel, a young man who's living off the grind mainly, Smith, a much older man with a drinking problem and the idea he's better than others because he's very rich, and Franny, barely out of her teens and pretending to study. Only she isn't.

These four people, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, soon discover that they have to work together to survive the ordeal. But why are they here? Why were they chosen?

It is a rollercoaster of a story, in which we learn not only about the four main characters, but also about certain things in our society that have horribly gone wrong. I cannot tell you more because of spoilers, but I think this book would lean itself for a great movie.

I guessed the end by the start of the last chapter but still it took my breath away. I was left with a few questions of my own, questions that, again, I cannot write down here because of spoilers, but maybe that's good. Sometimes a story is better when there's a little left out.

A difficult book to review without spoilers, but if you're nervous about sea travel and the thought of a cruise fills you with dread, then this story is your basic nightmare. It's so twisty, turny it will make the hardiest of sea-dogs sick.

I have read a few different takes on the ending, but I enjoyed it and the style of it put me in mind of C J Tudor.

Recommend

An enjoyable book despite an unbelievable plot. This is a book just to enjoy and not think too deeply. I did happen to read it on a transatlantic cruise. Slightly unsettling. This had a great ending - must read the last page.

I have read the author’s previous novels and enjoyed them. I am afraid this book did not live up to the other books. Unlikeable characters and some unbelievable plot lines .. Just not for me. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it

The Last Passenger by Will Dean
I give this book 4.75 stars

Caz Ripley, boards the RMS Atlantica with her boyfriend Pete,destined for New York.
The next morning, she wakes to discover that everyone else on board has disappeared.
And that's just the beginning. Caz must prepare for a crossing that will be anything but plain sailing ...

WOW…… YOU NEED TO READ THIS!!
This book definitely needs to be enjoyed WITHOUT reading reviews……. No spoilers here I promise.
This addictive story is narrated through Cat’s eyes and grabs you from the start with its unique and atmospheric plotline (kudos to the authors storytelling)
Short snappy chapters each more intense than the last,keep you frantically turning the pages (totally unputdownable) Unforeseen twists and drama that unravels in heart stopping succession.
A last line that made my chin drop.
I love it when a book shocks me like this one and Netflix NEEDS to make it a film …. Now!!!!
Definitely a top read of 2023 that everyone will be talking about,so don’t miss out.
With thanks to Netgalley,Will Dean and Hodder and Stoughton for my chance to read and review this book

Caz Ripley has been talked into taking her 1st holiday in what feels like forever by her boyfriend, Pete. They board a luxurious liner to cruise across to New York only for Caz to wake the next morning to find Pete missing along with the rest of the passengers and the crew.
What follows is an edge of the seat tale with some real moments where I felt like I was holding my breath. I loved the twists and really didn't see them coming. Although there were parts that were a little repetitive about Caz's background, I think they were needed in order to build the tension again for the reader.
Once again, a really enjoyable Will Dean novel.

Thanks NetGalley & Hodder & Stoughton for ARC.

Will Dean is very very good at his job of creating believable humans and ratcheting the suspense up to 11. HIs series character, Tuva Moodyson, is an amazing creation. Standalone thriller The Last Thing to Burn was my favourite book of 2021 (and possibly 2022). So I was really looking forward to this new standalone.

Caz, a cafe owner with a complicated family life and a fledgling relationship, is on her first ever cruise holiday. She's been anxious about whether to go, how the cafe will run without her, how she and Pete will get on on their first break together. What she hadn't thought to worry about is that when she wakes after her first night on board, Pete is gone, along with his luggage. When she goes to look for him she discovers that she seems to be the only person aboard the ocean going liner, full steam ahead across the Atlantic.

So much you'll glean from the blurb. From there the plot gets twistier and Caz has to adapt to increasingly difficult circumstances very quickly. Who is behind this? Why? How will she manage to keep her own keel even?

For me, the central premise was a little silly, and despite some very skilled work by Dean it never quite convinced me and I felt a little detached from some of the action.
However, my goodness, the ending was a sucker punch that almost made up for that lack of engagement in the middle.

Normally, when I start a review, I like to include a little preamble. An analogy, perhaps, intended to put the review into some sort of context in a way that I hope readers find a little bit entertaining.

This time, though, I can't do that. Because I can think of nothing suitable for comparison to The Last Passenger. It is, quite simply, like no book I have ever read before.

On the one hand: wow, it's addictive. I can't actually remember putting it down once after I had started reading but if I did, it can only have been with tremendous reluctance and an almost feverish desire to pick it up again just as soon as I had dealt with whatever distraction had got in the way. I do remember finishing it in the small hours because it would have been just impossible to stop reading and go to bed without knowing how the book finished.

The story begins with Caz Ripley, an unremarkable shop owner from an unremarkable English town, as she boards a luxury cruise liner with her partner for the trip of a lifetime to New York. The idea that she can fall asleep one night, and wake the next morning to find the entire ship empty apart from herself: well, that's one hell of a hook. Where on earth can the book go from there?

Well, Will Dean finds a direction. The shocks just keep on coming. Each one sees the storyline ramp up that bit more in terms of pace and tension as Caz responds to everything that's thrown at her, because … well, she has to. The plot really is superbly structured, and it was easily enough to have me reading into the small hours of the morning. I knew I had work the following day, but it made no difference. I had to keep reading because it was impossible - just impossible - for me to stop reading and go to bed without knowing how the book ended.

But on the other hand … it's really a bit odd. The trouble is that whilst each plot twist is progressively more tense, and more exciting, it's also more bonkers. Which means that, whilst it makes for great entertainment, it's impossible to imagine anything like that happening to anyone you know, or have even heard of, in real life.

This is a problem if, like me, you've read The Last Thing to Burn by the same author. Because as that book progressed and became more tense and more disturbing in a wonderful and yet horrible way, it was easy for me to remember, and to recognise that there really are people in Jane's situation. My heart went out to each and every one of them. But it's impossible for me to believe, or even imagine that anyone in real life might experience Caz's situation in The Last Passenger. Even television isn't that mad. Yet.

And then we get to the ending, and it's here that I have to disagree with B A Paris, who apparently called it "brilliantly heart-stopping". Sorry, but no it isn't. It's ridiculous. Dare I say it felt as though the author himself hadn't been able to decide how the book should end and got that idea from a ten-year-old. It made absolutely no sense and had me shaking my head.

This review, then, may have been hard for me to start. But it's easy to conclude. If you're already a fan of Will Dean, go ahead and read this book and be prepared to be engrossed. But if you're looking for your first book by this author, I suggest you read The Last Thing to Burn instead. It's just as addictive, but otherwise, much better.

My thanks to the author, Hodder and Stoughton and Netgalley for the digital ARC of this book, which is due to be published in the UK on 11th May 2023. I will post my review to Goodreads and Instagram now, and on Amazon on publication day.