We chat with author Jason Rekulak about The Last One At The Wedding, which is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that delves deep into the heart of one family.
Hi, Jason! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’ve published three novels. My debut was a coming-of-age novel about computer nerds in the 1980s called THE IMPOSSIBLE FORTRESS (that somehow became a finalist for the Edgar Award). My second book HIDDEN PICTURES won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror Novel. And my latest, THE LAST ONE IN THE WEDDING, is a psychological suspense novel about money, family, and power.
Prior to writing these books, I spent many years working as Publisher of Quirk Books, an independent press based in Philadelphia. I sometimes brag about discovering and publishing authors like Grady Hendrix (HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE), Ransom Riggs (MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN), Ben H. Winters (THE LAST POLICEMAN), Seth Grahame-Smith (PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES) and many others! It was a super-fun job & I miss the collaborative nature of the work.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I’ve been reading and writing for as long as I can remember. I started getting really industrious in fifth grade, when I started my own comic book company. But I didn’t have access to a Xerox machine, and I had to copy all of my comics by hand, so the business was probably doomed from the start.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: It might have been CAPS FOR SALE by Esphyr Slobodkina. Or maybe Random House’s illustrated Children’s Bible, which had some phenomenal illustrations of Noah’s Ark. As I kid, I remember being mesmerized by all those pairs of animals marching up the gangplanks.
- The one that made you want to become an author: I don’t know if this book made me want to be an author, but I do remember that the ending of BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA (by Katherine Paterson) blew my mind. I was maybe ten years old and it was (up until that moment) the most powerful piece of fiction I’d ever read. (Keep in mind that the jacket copy original edition did not spoil the book’s big surprise. These days, I think the book comes plastered with trigger warnings that foreshadow its secrets.)
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: I recommend A KISS BEFORE DYING by Ira Levin all the time. The author (more famous for ROSEMARY’S BABY and THE STEPFORD WIVES) finished writing it on his 23rd birthday, and you could make the case that it’s his very best book. A KISS BEFORE DYING has one of my all-time favorite twists in crime fiction — it’s right on par with the big reveal in GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn. Now I should add that A KISS BEFORE DYING is now more than 70 years old — it was first published in 1953 — so you have to calibrate your expectations a bit and expect some language and behavior that will feel dated. But its surprises haven’t aged a bit.
Your latest novel, The Last One at the Wedding, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
I can describe it in four words: FATHER. DAUGHTER. WEDDING. MURDER. But if you really want a fifth word, we can add CLASS.
What can readers expect?
You can expect to join my narrator Frank on a three-day weekend in New Hampshire. You’ll travel to a very wealthy summer house on a lake, where you’ll attend his estranged daughter’s wedding and meet all of her coworkers, and you’ll get to know Frank’s new and very mysterious in-laws. There are multiple mysteries along the way — Frank’s future son-in-law just might be a murderer — and I wanted the reader to feel like they were part of the adventure/investigation — so the book has a single point-of-view and a very linear timeline.
Where did the inspiration for The Last One at the Wedding come from?
I like formal challenges, and I like going to weddings, and I’ve always wanted to write a book that used a three-day weekend wedding as its structure. I was excited about using familiar wedding rituals and traditions (invitations, rehearsal dinners, etc) as a kind of narrative spine.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
My narrator Frank Szatowski is a 52-year-old UPS driver from Stroudburg Pennsylvania and he speaks plainly in a kind of all-American Dad voice. It’s a POV you won’t recognize from a lot of other thrillers. I really enjoyed leaning into his voice and his views, for better or worse. He’s not always right about everything — but I hope readers will find him endearing regardless, because his #1 priority is always his soon-to-be-married daughter.
How do you approach maintaining the suspense throughout the novel?
I think the trick is to keep introducing little mysteries. And every so often, you need to resolve one, because readers can only track so many tantalizing questions at a time. I tried to open THE LAST ONE AT THE WEDDING with several: Why hasn’t Frank spoken to his daughter in three years? Who is she marrying? Why is she rushing to the altar after just six months of dating her fiancé? And why is she being so evasive about his family? The first scene of my book introduces these four questions, and then the story is off-and-running.
What’s next for you?
Already working on a new thriller! But too early to say more.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
I really enjoyed MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES by Rufi Thorpe. It’s about a 19-year-old single mom who starts an OnlyFans account to make money and retain custody of her baby. She receives help from her father, a retired professional wrestler with an addiction to painkillers. You might not guess from this description that the book is big-hearted and laugh-out-loud-funny with beautiful exquisitely crafted sentences–but it is! There are still two months to go but MARGO is my frontrunner for favorite new book of 2024.
As for upcoming releases: Richard Price has his first-new-book-in-forever publishing on November 12 — it’s called LAZARUS MAN — and as a longtime fan of CLOCKERS and THE WIRE, I am excited to see what he’s up to! It’s already pre-ordered.
