In her entertaining and bold debut, Alexandra Oliva capitalizes on our current fascination with both doomsday scenarios and reality television. THE LAST ONE is the story of a woman left alone in a devastated world but unaware of that reality. Stranded without support during a pandemic while filming a survival competition show, Zoo must find ways to survive, even if it means ignoring the crisis around her.

Zoo signs on to “In the Dark” as one last adventure before she and her husband start trying to get pregnant. Charming, clever, assertive and confident, Zoo is expected to do well on the show and even become a fan favorite. Early on, she forms an unspoken alliance with the contestant nicknamed Tracker. Both skilled and compelling to the audience, one of them seems sure to win, especially as other contestants begin to find the challenges too difficult and dangerous. After several grueling days of eating little, sleeping outdoors and emotional strain, the contestants set out on solo challenges with very little instruction. At some point, the mysterious pandemic hits the area in which they are filming, and the cast and crew begin to fall sick.

"Zoo is a well-drawn protagonist. It is refreshing that, in a book about various types of strength and skill, the lead is a competent woman."

Even as she finds herself without a cameraman, without contact from other players, and without guidance or instruction from producers, Zoo keeps playing the game. She finds a house that she believes holds her next clue, but what she discovers inside forces her to ignore her own unease and the horrors she encounters from that point on. Could the show’s producers be so committed to creating a realistic game? Could their budget be so large as to encompass entire towns?

Zoo tricks herself into believing that every terrible thing and every abandoned place is part of the game, even as she convinces herself that the game will only end with her return to her own house. She begins to make her way home, walking deserted streets, scavenging for food and supplies, pining for her husband, looking for clues, and ever aware of the non-existent cameras. She is hungry and afraid, injured after an attack by a wild animal, but stubbornly refuses to bow out or admit defeat.

It is, in many ways, this stubborness that helps Zoo survive, though the narrative occasionally gets bogged down with it. Another factor aiding her survival is the young companion, Brennan, she meets along the way. At first, Zoo mistakes Brennan for a member of the show’s crew. She is dismissive of the story he tells her of the death of his mother and the loss of his brother. She is cruel to him and lies to him, but he comes with her anyway on her journey toward home. More immediate and violent dangers inevitably catch up with the pair, and it is then that Zoo starts coming to terms with the world she is walking through and the companion she has found.

THE LAST ONE is an interesting exploration of survival and temerity. Alexandra Oliva contrasts the contrived and composed version of survival readily found on television today with the realities of threats and suffering caused by real-life disease and disaster. Due to her frustrating inability to accept reality, Zoo is not always a sympathetic character. But that inability (or refusal) is what the narrative hinges on. There is little explanation on the nature or mechanism of the pandemic itself, and Zoo and Brennan encounter less real danger than one would expect while together and while apart. In other words, Oliva could’ve brought up the tension slightly and improved the novel.

Still, the story is emotionally compelling and sometimes even thrilling. Despite, or perhaps more honestly because of, her flaws, Zoo is a well-drawn protagonist. It is refreshing that, in a book about various types of strength and skill, the lead is a competent woman.