Wednesday 13 July 2016

Review: The Last One by Alexandra Oliva

The Last One by Alexandra Oliva
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Release date: 14 July 2016
Rating: ***
Back cover blurb: A dazzling and unsettling novel of psychological suspense. Survival is the name of the game as one woman's mind and body are pushed to the limit. TWELVE CONTESTANTS When Zoo agrees to take part in a new reality TV show, In the Dark, she knows that she will be tested to the limits of her endurance. Beating eleven competitors in a series of survival tasks deep in the forest, living on camera at the extremes of her comfort zone, will be the ultimate challenge before she returns home to start a family. A GAME WITH NO END As the contestants are overcome by hunger, injury and psychological breakdown, the mind games, tricks and hazards to which Zoo is subjected grow dark beyond belief. This isn't what she signed up for: the deserted towns and gruesome props, the empty loneliness. Is this a game with no end? And what is happening away from the cameras' gaze? Discovering the truth will be just the beginning...
 
 
Sometimes as a reader it's necessary for you to challenge yourself with something you wouldn't normally read. 

For me, the Last One is a very different novel to anything I would usually read. And whilst I'm not entirely sure I'd read something like this again, I am glad I gave it a go.

Twelve contestants on a reality TV show are sent 'into the words' (which is also the show's title that has been sold to them as contestants, in reality the producers are going to go with something more sinister..) without a great deal of knowledge about what might happen to them.

Each contestant is briefed only with the basics, and a password to release them from the show should they find themselves unable to handle the pressure. The show they have each signed up for, is set to be the ultimate survival show, with a hefty cash prize for the winner.  If they can survive...

But as the novel progresses it becomes clear that it is not only the show they are trying to survive. Unbeknownst to them, an unspecified pandemic has broken out, and the bodies and carnage that they encounter believing to be show props, are anything but...

The Last One is the ultimate survival story, but a highly original one, and although not for me personally, I'm pretty sure that this novel will have lots of fans.

The Last One is available from 14 July 2016.
You can pre-order it now via Amazon online.
 
post signature 
Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

No comments:

Post a Comment