Feel Every Emotion – The Last Passenger by Will Dean
I don’t always read historical fiction. I do sometimes delve into something modern, and this thriller really took me on a rollercoaster of emotions that I haven’t had from a thriller in a long time.
It really was a fantastic book. It was well written, the characters were rounded and the atmosphere and edge-of-your-seat setting meant I read the whole thing in a day and a half. I could not put it down.
I spent the entire book not wanting to read further because I knew the protagonist was going to suffer but not being able to tear myself away at the same time, so I was in a kind of emotional quandary.
The blending of drama and tension mixed with psychological elements were done to perfection and I loved it.
Dean starts the story in a very straight-forward way. A couple are going on a luxury cruise ship, nothing seems amiss at first. However, things quickly take a turn when she wakes to find she is the only person on board the vessel. Everyone, from the staff to the other guests and even the person she was with has disappeared completely.
And, as this thoroughly terrifying ordeal unfolds, her isolation is all consuming and frighteningly acute. As she desperately tries to find answers, get access to areas and food that are locked away, and stay alive, the narrative doesn’t let go of your sense of dread until the very last word.
The range of characters introduced throughout the story are skilfully crafted and the reader is taken along for the ride. Each character has their own secrets and motivations, which adds a complexity to the story and builds multiple tensions. The depth of authenticity and flawed characters make them even more alive, which contributes on a deeper level to the whole suspense of the narrative.
Interestingly, the confined space of a cruise ship would at first seem to narrow the setting considerably, but it actually has the opposite effect and the ship almost becomes a character itself as it amplifies the tension, claustrophobia and the situations it throws at the characters. Dean’s descriptions are well crafted and give the ship a sense of realness combining opulence with emptiness and an ominous threatening atmosphere.
Secrets, isolation and survival are the key themes running throughout the narrative, which have very clear undertones of psychological upheaval and torment examining the lengths someone might go to when faced with extreme situations.
Will Dean has masterfully crafted this book and it left me feeling like I’d been put through a grinder emotionally. It really was a brilliant novel that worked very hard to achieve a mixture of emotions throughout the whole book. I had to go away and read something calm, happy and simple to right my emotions again as I felt emotionally exhausted afterwards.
Read it if you can handle the emotional rollercoaster, it really is extreme – but worth it.
