Monday, July 18, 2016

The Last One / Alexandra Oliva / 304 pgs

Wow! I devoured this book in less than 48 hours, it was so good. I really enjoyed this debut novel by Alexandra Oliva, just published this past month, and thought she did a tremedous job with a very original concept.

A married lady who has had a lot of adventures in travel before setting down to get married decides to do one last crazy thing before trying to get pregnant with her husband. She is cast on a reality survival  type show with 11 others and put in a wilderness to do all kinds of crazy, strenuous challenges. Two weeks into filming, she and the contestants who are left are sent on a solo challenge, but the fatique and hunger has altered her judgment abilities and what she thinks is fake might be real. All of the contestants have nicknames based on their occupation (sometimes even their race). So, the married lady is named Zoo because she works with animals

I don't want to give too much away, but the book does shift between Zoo's present and when the reality show first began, giving you an idea just why Zoo may think that everything she sees around her isn't real despite the overwhelming evidence. My only complaint is that when the book mentions the 12 contestants, they are always referred to by their nickname, but when Zoo is thinking specifically about them, she refers to them by their first name, which can be really confusing. Otherwise, the book is spectacular, definitely a thriller, slightly dystopian, and all around a fun read.

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