Book Review: "The Last One at the Wedding" by Jason Rekulak

First things first: if you go into this book expecting another Hidden Pictures, you’ll be disappointed. There’s nothing really scary about this book, unless you hate daddy longlegs. It’s also much more of a family drama mixed with a slow-burn mystery of sorts, rather than a high-octane thriller.

The relative peace of Frank’s breakfast is disturbed when his phone rings. He is shocked to hear the voice of his daughter Maggie, with whom he’s not spoken in three years. He tries to apologize for what happened between them, but she’s not interested in rehashing that issue.

It turns out Maggie is calling to tell him she’s getting married in three months, and she wants him to be there. She’s marrying a man named Aidan, whom she’s known for only six months. Something about it doesn’t quite feel right, but Frank keeps his reservations to himself. When he receives a strange letter in the mail, his trepidations begin to grow.

The wedding will be a colossal three-day event held at Aidan’s family camp, a lakefront estate in the woods of New Hampshire. Frank is excited to spend time with Maggie, and get to know Aidan and his family better. But Maggie mostly avoids him, Aidan is nowhere to be found, and his father, a wealthy business tycoon, seems a bit shady.

The more time Frank spends at the camp, the more questions he has about the relationship between his daughter and Aidan, accusations that Aidan was involved in a tragic event, and Aidan’s family. Everywhere he goes, he encounters another strange thing, but he has no idea what the truth really is.

I think that Jason Rekulak is a really talented storyteller, and throughout so much of this book, I had this creepy feeling as I waited for the next shoe to drop. I’ll admit that some things really caught me by surprise, and I couldn’t put the book down.