The beginning of this book is slow, boring, and a little too clinical for me and I didn't like the MC. When the doppelganger was introduced I became interested again, but only a little. I ended up skimming the middle and reading the last two chapters. This book just wasn't for me.

I was really looking forward to reading this book and I’m so sad that I disliked it as much as I did. I had to fight to stay asleep through almost the entire first third of the book. Then I was a little better until the halfway mark, but not by much. I didn’t become truly invested until the halfway point and that, to me, is a huge problem. I don’t like slow burn novels. I don’t like waiting for halfway through the book for it to become truly interesting. It leaves me feeling cheated out of half a book and of time I could’ve spent reading other books that I would have enjoyed more fully.

On the upside, what comes after the 50% mark is really interesting and worth investing in, if you aren’t like me and like a slow burn. After that halfway point I felt like I needed to see it through to the end because there was just too much at stake and I absolutely needed to know how all the characters in this book were going to solve the boondoggle that is the plot.

It’s actually a really solid plot, too. Let me be clear: All of my problems with this book stem from it being a slow burn. The writing itself is impeccable. Caitlin Starling is a great writer in terms of prose, dialogue, plot, and characterization. Her worldbuilding and research are both excellent. I have a degree in geography and one of my concentrated areas of study is urban planning, so subsidence (the major plot point affecting the fictional city of San Siroco in this book) is a topic I know well, so I was actually very interested in that part of the plot. I’m also a big fan of the folklore surrounding doppelgangers, which was another reason why I was so excited to read this book. I love a good doppelganger book. It’s just too bad that this wasn’t my kind of book.

If you love a good slow burn, I think you’ll love this. If you aren’t the patient type (like me), then this may not be for you. I also think the romance subplot should’ve been cut entirely–not only did it feel like it came out of nowhere, but it didn’t need to be there for the story to work. Cutting it would’ve streamlined the story more and kept that third act a little tighter in terms of flow.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, ideas, and views expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you. Personal policy dictates that since this title received a rating of three stars or lower this review will not appear on social media.

Dr. Tamsin Rivers has been tasked with researching why the city has been sinking during her company's experiments. But no one knows her own home is sinking faster. Against all laws of dimensions and physics, her basement is stretching. And with that stretching, a door appears. Tamsin starts to doubt her own mind... was the door there before and she just doesn't remember? She becomes obsessed with this phenomenon, especially when the door finally opens and an exact doppelganger of herself appears only with a sweet personality. But the more time she starts to spend at home with this replica, the more of herself and her memory she starts to lose... and the more she starts to wonder where that mysterious door leads.
I had some trouble getting into this book at first especially with the unlikable Tamsin. But just like the city I started sinking into the strange and ominous vibe of the book. The stranger it became, the more I wanted to find out what happens next until I was flying through the pages.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is the second book I've read by Caitlin Starling and I have to admit that I'm not sure I fully understood either of them. Both of the books I've read of hers are classified as horror novels, and while I would say the first one definitely is this one falls more along the lines of a thriller to me, albeit a sci-fi thriller. Now there's nothing wrong with that, but you're going to alienate some people from reading a book if you label it horror, and you're going to have some angry horror people when they find out it's not exactly horror. That being said for what this novel is I think it does a pretty good job, and there are certainly horror elements in this story. Now, things I liked about this book; I enjoyed our main character, Tamsin Rivers. I have a feeling there will be a lot of people who won't, but she's a rather cutthroat scientist who takes no shit, and I appreciated seeing that. That also made it interesting to watch as she lost herself. The idea of a double was interesting too, and the circumstances around it made the story all the more unique. If I had to say how much I actually understood in the end, I'd say maybe 80%, but the plot was unique and it made enough sense that I was intrigued and not completely lost, so I can't really find any fault there. I think the two things that missed the mark for me were 1) the romance. It felt a little...creepy...gross? idk. I'm not sure I fully understand the need to include a romance, and there was one scene in particular that made me rather uncomfortable with the romance I suspected was going to blossom, so take that as you will. 2) it was a little slow at times. I think it took a good half the book for the double to show up, which seems like a rather long time considering it's kind of the main plot point. But again, super interesting idea, and I do like the underlying ideas that Starling played with, although I have a question or two about the ending that I would very much like answered. All in all a solid sci-fi thriller that I'll be happy to recommend to people looking for Blake Crouch read-alikes as well as just those who want something a little trippy. I'll also certainly be keeping an eye out for whatever Starling comes out with next, because I'm sure I'll have some interest in it.

Free eARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher for reviewing purposes.

This was good and creepy and weird!
Research scientist Dr. Tamsin Rivers is obsessive about her lab, particularly as she discovers her city, San Siroco, is sinking, as well as that a mysterious, unopenable door has appeared in the basement of her own home. Circumstances escalate and become more dire, and a doppelganger (who Tamsin calls "Prime" appears in her home, coming through the basement door. Though at first the duplicate seems obedient and pliable, she begins to take over Tamsin's life. The tension building is great, there are some pretty creepy scenes and some body horror (much like The Death of Jane Lawrence) but the ending feels a bit rushed, and some loose ends aren't resolved as much as I woud've liked, though it's not really left very open ended as I would've expected either.
Overall, I think if you've enjoyed other books by this author, this will be a (mostly) satisfying sci-fi speculative horror. 3.5 stars, rounded up for the creepy vibes.

One of my favourite books of last year was Caitlin Starling’s gothic dream ‘The Death of Jane Lawrence’, so I was very keen to see what her next book would entail. As can be seen from the synopsis it’s certainly different, but both have one thing in common: I didn’t want them to end.

A City, sometime in the near future. A team of scientists, working for The Corporation who virtually run the place, discover that the entire landmass is sinking day by day.

Head of the project is intense and driven Dr Tamsin Rivers, who finds herself somewhat distracted from the imminent emergency (and its loss of prestige and revenue for The Company) because her basement appears to be stretching impossibly beyond the physical boundary of her house. Also a mysterious door has appeared there, just standing in the middle of the floor on its own. It can’t be permanently marked, and it can’t be opened… until it suddenly does, and an exact duplicate of Tamsin emerges.

This could be an episode of The Twilight Zone, in the best of ways. The action is mostly confined to Tamsin’s house, but in those brief moments when she leaves, it feels like an otherworld. The Company representative (and assassin?) is an enigma; the city seems to be heavily automated, with few regular people going about their lives.

Tamsin starts out practical but also callous, which makes it alarming when she starts to buckle under the bizarre occurrences in her own home. Her control is taken away, her own identity - what’s left, if you can’t be sure who you even are anymore? But she also becomes more human, sympathetic as her weaknesses begin to crack her mind.

Caitlin is an astonishing writer. Her work is beautifully written, engaging and so unique - I genuinely never knew what would happen next. The main characters could all be considered villainous at various points, but their motivations are clear, making them both even more awful or relatable, depending which chapter we’re in. Events change smoothly until the reader is as spellbound as Tamsin. Which Tamsin?

I’ve been so eager to write this review since finishing the advance copy that I was kindly sent. Caitlin Starling is already a must-read author, and every book expands her imaginative world.

I’ve been recommending this for months and will continue to do so. Creepy, addictive and remarkable.

I had a fantastic time with this book! I really liked The Death of Jane Lawrence when I read it last year so I was eager to give this book a try and I liked this book just as much. I was hooked by this story from the beginning and was curious about what might be happening to Dr. Rivers. I love that the story left me questioning everything and I found it to be a very entertaining read.

The city of San Siroco is sinking and Dr. Tamsin Rivers is trying to figure out why. Her basement seems to be sinking even more than the rest of the city and a mysterious door has appeared. When she meets her doppelgänger, she does not know what to think but things start to go horribly wrong as they spend more time together. I had a great time trying to figure out how everything fit together. The story kept me guessing until the very end with plenty of twists and turns along the way, including a few really big surprises.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that Xe Sands did an amazing job with this story. I really felt like I was there with the characters experiencing this story. I thought that she did a fantastic job of bringing these characters to life by adding just the right amount of emotion to her reading. I know that her performance added to my enjoyment of this story.

I would recommend this book to others. I found this to be a rather unique story that blended the genres of horror, science fiction, and thriller quite nicely. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of this author’s work in the future.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Macmillan Audio and St. Martin’s Press.

LAST TO LEAVE THE ROOM has a slow build of uncanny that took a while to really capture my attention. Tasmin Rivers is an ambitious, not quite likeable woman who was a delight to follow. Some of my favorite interactions were between her and Mx. Lockwood—their relationship hinted at something more that kept me wondering when Dr. Rivers really started losing parts of herself.

I would say I like this book now that I'm a few days out from finishing it. The slow build takes some time to percolate, and the more I let myself think about it in passing the more I would say I enjoyed this book. I would recommend this for readers who like an emphasis on psychological horror and unreliable narrators. Be warned of some body horror late in the game though! I'm particularly squeamish for eye-trauma, and a scene caught me by surprise in a nasty way.

Once again blending weird sci-fi and horror perfectly together, Caitlin Starling’s latest novel is not one to miss. With no shortage of complex scientific concepts and theories, Last To Leave the Room is somewhat dense, but always engaging. I cannot honestly say I completely understood everything discussed or the unfolding events in the novel, but reading this caused me to stay up past my bedtime multiple nights as I always needed to know what was going to happen next. The novel also kept me guessing as I made multiple predictions while reading and none of them turned out to be true.

Aside from stimulating my brain through googling scientific terms and having me on the edge of my seat, another aspect that kept me engaged throughout are the characters. Tamsin Rivers is “unlikable,” as she is arrogant, unkind, and places her reputation in the scientific world above all else. However, the novel also serves as a fascinating character study for her and despite her being unsavory much of the time, I couldn’t help myself from rooting for her. Despite her double appearing agreeable and kind, I was constantly wary of her and fearful of what intentions she had for Tamsin. It took a bit longer, but I also came to enjoy Lachlan Woodfield quite a bit, the woman employed to “keep an eye” on Tamsin. I do agree with some readers that romantic subplot felt a little underdeveloped, but overall it didn’t bother me and I liked their chemistry.

Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for review.

TL;DR

Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starling is an exquisitely crafted book with big things to say about science that I just could not get into. If you like slow build horror, this might be the book for you.

Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.

Review: Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starling

For this review, I’ve decided to break one of my cardinal rules as a reviewer. Rule: If I don’t finish a book, I don’t review it. I do this for a few reasons, chiefly, I don’t feel like I can give a good opinion on a book I couldn’t finish. And I know how hard authors work to create a book; so, I don’t want to disparage that. While reading is declining in the U.S., there is a large enough audience that a lot of people will like the thing I don’t. So, I don’t want to judge a book that people like simply because it bounced off of me. When I don’t like a book, I believe the problem is me. Therefore, I don’t write a review if the problem is me. However, this time, I didn’t finish the book and I believe the problem is me, but I’m going to review it anyway because I liked the small amount that I read. Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starling is a book that I will have to try again at a different time. To be up front, I only finished 28% of the novel. In that portion, I found an exquisitely crafted book with timely things to say about corporate science and research. But I just didn’t connect to the story for some reason. It’s a book that I enjoyed but don’t feel a need to pick up again. This makes me feel terrible because I know this is a good book. As such, I plan to return to it at a different time for a new attempt.

Dr. Tamsin Rivers is not a good person. She’s the head of a lab investigating, what seems like a new type of communication. Her experiments take place underground at various points around the city of San Siroco, and it appears that these experiments are causing the city to sink in an unusual way. Rivers set up a lab in her basement to measure the sinking that’s occurring within her own home. The house isn’t sinking, but her basement is stretching. The main floor hasn’t lowered, but the basement floor is much lower. Soon, a door appears, and with its appearance, Dr. River’s behavior becomes increasingly more erratic. She becomes obsessed with the door, and one night, the door opens and someone steps through. It’s her. As far as she can tell, an exact copy.

Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starling is a third person novel that follows Dr. River’s as her life seems to unravel because of her scientific discoveries. It’s a slow book, too slow for me, that is exquisitely crafted.

Dr. Rivers

Tamsin is a character that I should be interested in. She’s a high powered, type A personality scientist who chose the corporate grind over academia. All of that rings my bell. She’s chosen her career over any semblance of a personal life, and she’s ruthless in her ambition. She typifies everything that’s wrong with corporate science. Despite all that, I couldn’t find anything that allowed me to connect with her. She has a cat; that’s about as close as I got, and I’m not sure what I missed.

Starling crafted a fine main character. Rivers balances on a knife edge between confidence and self-doubt. She questions the motives of her superiors and wonders if her job is in jeopardy. Starling keeps the reader close to Rivers point of view, and she constructs a believable yet unlikable person. It’s masterful writing. Yet I still felt distant from Rivers. I was cold toward her.

Themes

Starling deals with some weighty themes in the portion that I read, and, again, these themes are right up my alley. Through Tamsin’s employer, she’s describes a corporation who acts selfishly but uses its public relations to act like it’s acting charitably. Tamsin’s employer renovating the failing subway system of San Siroco and enjoys all the good press and public goodwill from it. However, that’s just a cover so that they can conduct their experiments underground. It’s a perfect example of how corporations work. They spin their acts as charitable, as being good members of the community; yet we all know that corporations only do what benefits them. If a charitable act does not benefit the corporation, it will not perform that act.

In addition, Tamsin’s experiments are causing an ecological and societal disaster. Yet she and the corporation continue to pursue the experiments. Because who cares if we destroy where we live, right? In addition to a commentary on climate change, this also acts as a commentary on science itself. Too often – and especially in light of the science deniers from Covid – people look to the scientific process for the only answers. In truth, science is part of the answer. The pursuit of science simply for itself can lead to horrors. There are examples of this throughout history (see the Tuskegee experiments). Humanity is the end; science is the tool. When we treat humans as a means to a scientific end, horror follows. Rivers and her company are doing this in Last to Leave the Room. They’re placing innocent people at risk to further their own agendas.

Pacing

While this is an exquisitely crafted book, the pacing was too slow for me. Starling takes us through River’s life in detail, and she builds a picture of a character ripe for a decline. It was at about 20% of the way through the book that the doppelganger shows up. Starling takes us through the various experiments that River’s performs on her in more detail than I needed.

For some, this buildup will have been tense and delicious. If you enjoy the sweet torture of delayed gratification, this book might be for you.

Conclusion

Caitlin Starling’s Last to Leave the Room is an exquisitely crafted book that I couldn’t connect with. I plan to revisit this book at a different time to see if it’s just me that’s the problem. I found the writing to be top notch with excellent crafting. Starling’s main character is well drawn. This is a book with a lot of interesting things to say, and if you like slow build up horror, this is the book for you.

3.5 stars
Dr. Tamsyn Rivers is a scientist who lives for her work, especially since she was assigned to work on the top-secret problem of her city sinking with no apparent scientific reason. But she's keeping a secret even from her team - her basement has been growing at the same rate the city is sinking. It keeps stretching and stretching before an impenetrable door appears, and from it comes an exact copy of Tamsyn.

This was an interesting take on doppelgangers that I'm glad I kept with, because I nearly DNFed. The first section of this book dragged with repetitve scenes and fictional science that even this engineer found hard to follow. For the doppelganger being the main point of the synopsis, it seemed to take a long time before she appeared. Anything before then strained my interest thin and could have been slimmed down. It was especially infuriating at that point that she refused to tell anyone else about what was happening. However, everything after was much more fascinating. The most engaging part of this story was by far the interactions between the two Tamsyns and how their scientific minds interact with this impossibility. While the nature of their relationship is predictable, it is no less horrifying. I liked that this addressed the cliches of the traditional doppelganger plot and decided to go against many of them. The last volume in particular I found to be stellar and evened out how I felt about the beginning.

Overall, I'm glad to have another scifi horror to recommend to others. The beginning was a drag, but the ending made it worth the read.

Did you like House of Leaves? Did you like The Echo Wife? What if they had a baby?

Seriously, though, creepy door–loved it. I think it's hard to take such a good premise and actually play it out all the way through with the same level of tension and scariness. This book mostly succeeds, but is compulsively readable the whole way through so whatever little hiccup I felt could have been the result of me speed reading this to find out what happens next.

What a wild reading experience! This book totally a science fiction with a lot of science and tech I did not expect. I had my moments if confusion and head scratching thoughts while reading. The book is very engaging and cinematic in scope. The ending was a real wild twister that I was not expecting. Until next time Happy Reading!

Starling creates a wonderful creeping atmosphere where something is clearly off, although it's hard at first to pinpoint what exactly is wrong, by the time the doppelganger shows up things become clearer but far far more tense. The early parts with the city sinking and the house have impossible geometries brought me back to the things that first attracted me to House of Leaves, and while that ended up being mostly set dressing in both books, I still loved it. Tamsin is a fantastic character, ambitious and morally suspect, she's unlikeable but thoroughly compelling.

Highly recommend for a good spooky season read.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very strange book. I'm not really sure if I feel satisfied with it. I also did not like the main character. I know sometimes it works for a story. But I guess I wasn't sold on it.

Tamsin Rivers, researcher at Myrica Dynamic, knows it’s bad when when she discovers her basement is sinking much faster than the city of San Siroco. It’s even worse when she discovers a door appearing out of no where in her basement.

A door is bad enough, but when an exact copy of herself steps out, that’s when things start getting really strange. Where did the double come from? Does it have anything to do with the experiments in underground data and communication transfer Tamsin and her team have been working on? Why does Tamsin start losing her memory?

Last to Leave the Room is a quiet horror novel. Starting with an underlying feeling of uneasy, the terror builds slowly, focusing mostly on psychological and body horror.

I liked that we stayed in Tamsin’s POV the entire time as it gave it the claustrophobic feeling the novel needed. It was easy to feel her fear and dread and to sympathize with her, despite her being a pretty unlikeable character.

I’ve never read a plot quite like this before, something I appreciate especially in science fiction. It brought up lots of interesting themes such as what makes a person unique, how much of a person is their memories and the danger of a thirst for knowledge.

The last part of the book was the weakest for me. Some of the more interesting plot points were glossed over, and that was disappointing.

I’d recommend Last to Leave the Room if you enjoy psychological horror with sci-fi elements. I’m looking forward to seeing what this author writes next!

*Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital arc. All opinions are my own.

Last to Leave the Room by Catlin Starling is a fun, psychological thriller perfect for the start of spooky season! It starts slowly but soon grabs you and won't let go. The story revolves around Dr. Tamsin Rivers, a tough-as-nails scientist working for a larger corporation. Her team discovers their city is slowly sinking, and Dr. Rivers finds her basement subsiding even faster than the rest. Things get weird when a door suddenly appears in her basement, and a doppelganger of Dr. Rivers walks out of it. Starling has again written a thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

Last to Leave the Room was one of those "exercise in patience" books.

I loved Caitlin Starling's The Death of Jane Lawrence for it's beautiful writing and immersive atmosphere. And while that lovely writing was present here, there isn't much else for me to recommend, unfortunately. It's definitely a subjective miss for me.

I'll say up front--the excitement of this book really doesn't pick up until you're about three quarters of the way through, and it's fairly good. But if I were simply reading for pleasure, I would have quit about 10% of the way in. I was hoping for horror, or at least some dystopian thriller from the premise, but this is a lot of science fiction--and it's dry at that. Not only did I find myself lost half the time (with echoes of Howard Wolowitz yelling "I have a Masters Degree!" in my head), but there's nothing to really care about here. I want an emotional connection to my stories--it's what disaster films like Volcano, The Day After Tomorrow, and Armageddon have in common and did well. But it's entirely missing here. Who cares that San Siroco is sinking? Why is it? What's/who's in danger and how? We're told a couple times that pipes will burst or something, but nothing felt immediate, there was no sense of urgency. Nor is there any sense of answers or closure as to why any of this was happening.

And the characters themselves were nothing to sympathize with either. Tamsin's a horrible person with no connections but a cat, Lachlan is this sort of cyborg-ish super human that we're given no insight into and everyone else is just a flat Mr. this or Mr. that.

I can't say that I would recommend this book to anyone other than those looking for some slow burn speculative fiction. If you can push through most of the book, the last quarter is pretty interesting, but I wouldn't usually wait that long.

Very appreciative to St. Martin's Press for the invitation to read a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review through NetGalley.

This book did not go where I expected it to, and that's what I liked about it. Dr. Tamsin Rivers is working on what she assumes will be the discovery that makes her career, helped along by the not particularly ethical but very well-funded corporation. She can sense her research coming into sight; she can feel it just outside of her reach, like a door she can't quite open. Unfortunately, the city of San Siroco, site of her research, is developing an odd phenomenon. It's sinking, stretching downward, and her apartment building is sinking even faster (there's a wonderfully tactile description of the feeling of walking down the ever-more distant treads of the stairs). Even more unfortunately, that's not the only side effect. This does not of course keep Tamsin away from any mysterious doors.

For a book that centers on the kind of expansion that's hard to pin down (but is slowly causing harm), the story feels surprisingly claustrophobic. In tone, it reminded me of Sarah Waters's The Little Stranger, with a scientist/doctor narrator who's a little too caught in their own experiments and not alarmed by a little human damage as the measurements continue to be made.

I found it tense and engaging, and when I finished, I was very glad to go outside and find the world measuring exactly as I expected.

Thanks to the publisher, the author, and Netgalley for my e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

As I said in my initial Goodreads review, this book was an absolute mindf*ck and I loved it. Dr. Tamsin Rivers is investigating the distortions taking place in the city when a mysterious door suddenly appears in her basement. Then a double of her appears through the door. Then a double of her cat appears through the door. Then she wakes up one morning and thinks that SHE’S the double and her dimensional double has assumed her life as Tamsin continues to lose her mermories. Her “handler” comes and gets her, her mind starts getting right, and then a door appears in the handler’s apartment. And a double comes out of it. And then Tamsin kills that double, but then she’s worried that in doing so she has accidentally also killed the handler because she’s been reading a bunch of stories about how doppelgangers are inextricably linked. Eventually she shoves her double back through the door, the door disappears, things go back to sort of normal as they deal with cleaning up the repercussions on the city (including collapsed buildings, etc.) The Last to Leave the Room delves into themes that I absolutely love exploring, like what it means to be human and the ethics of experimentation. Plus, it’s super weird, and who doesn’t love that?