The Last One At the Wedding – Book Review

From the bestselling author of Hidden Pictures comes a breathtaking work of suspense about a father trying to save his daughter from a life-altering decision that will put everything he loves on the line.

Frank Szatowski is shocked when his daughter, Maggie, calls him for the first time in three years. He was convinced that their estrangement would become permanent. He’s even more surprised when she invites him to her upcoming wedding in New Hampshire. Frank is ecstatic, and determined to finally make things right.

He arrives to find that the wedding is at a private estate—very secluded, very luxurious, very much out of his league. It seems that Maggie failed to mention that she’s marrying Aidan Gardner, the son of a famous tech billionaire. Feeling desperately out of place, Frank focuses on reconnecting with Maggie and getting to know her new family. But it’s difficult: Aidan is withdrawn and evasive; Maggie doesn’t seem to have time for him; and he finds that the locals are disturbingly hostile to the Gardners. Frank needs to know more about this family his daughter is marrying into, but if he pushes too hard, he could lose Maggie forever.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller that delves deep into the heart of one family, The Last One at the Wedding is a work of brilliant suspense from a true modern master.

If you have not read Jason Rekulak’s debut book, The Hidden Pictures, you must grab your hand on the book before reading this one. Well, this book has nothing to do with the first book but then this book wasn’t great as the first book. With that being said, I am not saying this wasn’t great–it was in my opinion somewhat a good thriller. But a bit unreliastic.

Frank Szatowski is a dedicated and hardworking employee at the UPS having worked at UPS for over twenty years. He was also a former US army officer. Frank gets a surprise when his daughter, Maggie calls him unexpectedly. Maggie and Frank had been estranged for three years and so it was a bit of surprise and a shock to Frank when Maggie tells Frank that she is getting married to Aiden Gardner, who is the son of the wealthy tycoon and is inviting him and Frank’s sister Tammie for her wedding. The wedding will be held at none other than the Gardener’s own estate in New Hampshire, known as Osprey Cove.

As Frank is happy for his daughter, he couldn’t help but notice how distant his future-son-law Aiden is–not to mention how Aiden looks as if he keeps dark secrets to himself. Frank then receives an anonymous letter with a picture of a girl and Aiden together. The girl is Dawn Toggart who mysteriously went missing and was supposedly last seen with Aiden, although Aiden denied his involvement. As Frank goes to celebrate his daughter’s wedding, he couldn’t help but notice that the Gardener family is hiding secrets…

This was well written but then I feel the thrill wasn’t that great in the book. The story is told in Frank’s POV completely. There are some twists and turns in the story and the pacing of the story was moderate. However, the story gets more interesting towards the end of the book and the most unexpected ending is found at the end. However, it wasn’t as great as the Hidden Pictures, which kept me up all night and that it wasn’t that fast paced or page turning like the previous book. Nevertheless, it was a good thriller though–the plot was OK.

I do like the mention of estranged relationship with Frank and his daughter Maggie and the fact about Maggie which is revealed at the end. Frank is obviously a caring father while Maggie could be manipulative. Then we have sweet Abigail who is a sweetest child and Tammie who is oblivious about Maggie’s character.

Overall this book is worth four stars.