Jason Rekulak | THE LAST ONE AT THE WEDDING Spoilers

Book spoilers ahead–if you haven’t yet read The Last One at the Wedding, I suggest you turn back now.

The Reveal:

As Frank and his sister Tammy arrive in town, they are told by locals that a woman named Dawn had gone missing and Aiden was assumed to be at fault.

Aiden’s friend Gwendolyn is found dead on the property. It is never really explained why.

Frank finally was able to speak to Catherine, Aiden’s mother. She was clearly unwell, and freely told him what happened to Dawn. Dawn had been having an affair with Errol, not Aiden. She got pregnant and tried to blackmail Catherine and Aiden while Errol was out of town. Catherine got angry and hit her with something, and then when Dawn tried to run away she fell down the stairs. At this point in Catherine’s story, Aiden and the security guard came in and shut her up. Aiden said something that implied that Maggie was willingly involved in the cover up.

Frank went to find Maggie and walked in on her hooking up with Errol. Before anything could happen, Hugo the security guard knocked him out.

In the past, Frank and Maggie had stopped talking to each other because Maggie asked him for an alibi that he refused to provide. Maggie allegedly has committed arson at her former workplace, and wanted Frank to say she was home when the fire started. When Frank refused she stopped talking to him.

The next morning, Maggie gives Frank an explanation. She had been dating Errol, and they showed up at the camp in New Hampshire just after Catherine killed Dawn. Hugo was already working to cover up the murder, and they decided that Aiden needed an alibi. Maggie volunteered to say that Aiden had been with her in Boston.

Their marriage was a business arrangement that would leave Maggie incredibly rich once they dissolved the marriage in a year. In the meantime, Maggie and Aiden had no emotional connection to each other and were able to have relationships with other people.

When the wedding was meant to begin, Aiden was missing. People begin searching for him, and Frank finds him in the basement below his studio. Aiden had a gun and was inconsolable, and ended up killing himself. Before he died, he told Frank that he had left him something that might help.

The title “The Last One At The Wedding” refers to Abigail, because Frank found her sitting at the ceremony location, sad that she wouldn’t get to complete her flower girl duties. She was the only one who was sad about Aiden’s death.

Frank, Tammy, and Abigail go home with almost no contact from Maggie or the Gardner family. Frank only found $1000 in his suitcase, and he was confused as to why Aiden thought that would help him. Frank begins helping with the childcare for Abigail (who was Tammy’s foster child).

Some time passes, and one day Frank is speaking to Abigail in her room. He notices a map of the Gardners’ camp on her wall, and she tells him that Aiden had left it for her with a note. She thought it was just because she had told him that she was interested in geography. Frank realizes that the map was for him, marking the location of Dawn’s body, and that the money had been for Abigail. They had switched rooms at the camp due to a spider infestation.

In a show of faith, Frank contacts Maggie to tell her about the map, so she could use it against the Gardners if she ever needed to. Maggie asked him to come to Boston to give her the map that day. When Frank got there, he was ambushed by Errol, his lawyer, and his bodyguard. They convinced him to hand over the map, but also threatened Abigail. Frank was able to steal recordings Maggie had taken of all her conversations with the Gardners and escape.

The Ending:

Frank’s friend’s son was a journalist and helped break the case against the Gardners. Maggie went to prison, but Frank was able to stay out on millions of dollars of bail. Catherine was in rehab, and Hugo was deported to his home country. Dawn’s body was found and properly buried.

Frank and Tammy adopted Abigail, and Frank was dating Vic. The last scene showed Frank attempting to visit Maggie in prison, but she refused his visit.

My Questions:

Gwendolyn’s death was never explained or even really acknowledged. Presumably, Hugo killed her because she started asking too many questions, but I would have liked more closure. Aiden did mention that he tried to explain that his relationship was open, so maybe that spurred her to question the marriage in the first place?

I figured Abigail would have more to do with the ending because the title was referring to her.

Did the last scene mean anything other than that Frank was still willing to support Maggie? His “can I have 5 more minutes” felt meaningful but I don’t know what I think was being implied. This ending felt somewhat abrupt, although we did find out where all the characters ended up.

I hope these The Last One at the Wedding spoilers were helpful.