The concept of The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak is one that, on the surface, is nothing new. However, this wedding murder mystery ends up being so much more! The book is a suspenseful tale of a father trying to save his daughter from a life-altering decision.
Maggie is marrying into a wealthy family, and she wants to reconnect with her father Frank after being estranged for several years. Frank is ecstatic, and determined to finally make things right. Frank arrives to find that the wedding is at a private estate―very secluded, very luxurious, very much out of his league. Maggie is 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 But it’s difficult: Aidan is withdrawn and evasive; Maggie doesn’t seem to have time for him; and he finds that the locals are disturbingly hostile to the Gardners.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.
While we have read a number of books over the past few years that feature a wedding where a murder takes place, Jason Rekulak has been able to bring a fresh perspective to the table with the protagonist being the brides father and the stuff that happens at the secluded estate is just the beginning of the mystery behind what is really going on.
The characters are well developed. We can connect with characters such as Frank as the working-class delivery driver just looking out for his daughter to Frank’s sister and her foster daughter Abigail. While Maggie has more going on that meets the eye, we weirdly can see where she is coming from in the long run. The twists, turns and mystery take us by surprise as we did not see what was coming or where we would end up.
Frank wants to reconnect with his daughter, making sure she knows what she is getting in to, but sometimes oversteps his boundaries. We can relate to this in such a ground level that allows us to feel for both father and daughter. Frank’s sister and her foster daughter add depth to the tale and proved a great insight into what motivates our decision making.
From start to finish we were hooked on The Last One at the Wedding. The plot, twists, turns and family dynamics had us guessing what would happen with each page turn. We extremely enjoy Rekulak’s writing style as it is engaging and immersive, allowing us to enter the world of Frank and his relationship with his daughter and purpose as a father.
The Last One at the Wedding is a brilliant work of suspense and mystery, but is also so much more. The intriguing plot, outstanding character development, and immersive writing had us gripped to the novel wanting to read it all moments of the day. We are along for the ride as Frank tries to do what he thinks is best for his daughter and when everything unravels to what we can only say is an outstanding conclusion.
After reading Hidden Pictures, we had The Last One at the Wedding as one of our most anticipated reads of the year and we were not wrong. This book is in the running for one of the our best novels of 2024.
The Last One at the Wedding hits bookstores everywhere on October 8, 2024 from Flatiron Books. If you are into audiobooks, you can also pre-order the book narrated by John Pirhalla on Libro.fm and support local bookstores at the same time.
Jason Rekulak discussed his latest novel and more on the Capes and Tights Podcast episode 193.
