This was such a fantastic page-turner, and a favourite end-of-the-world book of mine, I can just see myself being stuck in that hotel. What would you do? Very realistically written, and the characters were either likeable or very dislikable. Exactly how it should be.

A satisfying locked room mystery that starts with a great premise and is carried out effectively. Not likely to remain long in the mind, but enjoyable nonetheless.

An interesting dystopian novel, reminded me a lot of Emily St John Mandel's Station Eleven. I enjoyed the narrative style, and the way this allowed the reader to puzzle things out as the novel progressed. However, I was a nit disappointed by the ending, I found it abrupt and it let the novel down.

Slightly suprised at the low average rating on this one - I enjoyed it and if you like distopian post disaster reads, particularly focusing on the immediate aftermath, it's good.

I tried reading this book twice. Once on kindle and the other when I found the paperback for 25p in a charity shop. I put it down both times, bizarrely as it turns out, at exactly the same point.

I can't put my finger on what made me stop reading but I do know that the characters never felt real to me and I couldn't empathise with their plight. 

Not for me.

Set in the aftermath of a series of nuclear explosions in various locations around the world, this story concentrates on a group of survivors holed up in a hotel in Switzerland. Both a tale of survival and a murder mystery, the book was a bit different from the usual thrillers I read and although the pace was quite slow, it never got boring.

I've just finished this book. I have to say I really enjoyed it. I do love a good 'end of the world' storyline and with it you get a 'whodunnit' too! 

It is hard to say a lot about this book without giving too much away but it centres around several very interesting characters that find themselves stranded in a Swiss hotel at the end of the world. I have to say that it actually did make me think about how life would be if this dreadful scenario played out for real! 

I really enjoyed learning about the different characters and what made them tick. It was also great to read about how they each felt and acted during this awful time. 

I would definitely recommend this book. Very enjoyable.

*I requested a copy from Netgalley in exchange for a review*

The contents of ‘The Last’ weren’t what I was expecting. The book is fantastic, but its synopsis is a bit misleading. The book is set in a post-apocalyptic world, where major cities experienced nuclear bombing and the world was thrown to chaos. The story, written by a historian, is an attempt to chronicle life’s events after that crisis - and he does not hold back. From a hotel filled with guests and staff, it eventually dwindled to a group of twenty, all varying ages and nationalities. On a day when they found their water tasted off, a few of them (including the historian) set to see what was wrong, and finds a body of a dead girl. The historian, then tries to get to the bottom of things, as he searches for clues and interviews the residents of the hotel in hopes of finding the murderer. However, the book isn’t really about that. Under the guise of finding a possible killer, it dives in the topic of survival and human nature. A lot happens in this book. Add the fall-to-winter setting, and the hotel being in the middle of nowhere, you’ve got an atmospheric apocalyptic novel. 

The book was an intense read. It doesn’t give the reader time to breathe, unless the narrator himself is taking a break. It was hard to put down the book at the most intense times, but at the same time I wanted to take a break because my heart was pumping fast from what was happening. I honestly thought it was going to lean in the murder mystery kind of fiction (because of the blurb), but I still got a good story out of it. 

Emily St John Mandel blurbed this too. If you liked Station Eleven, you might like this too.

I like this - I mean, in what version of the world am I not going to be entirely here for a dystopian thriller? Basically what's happening here is there's a nuclear war and everything is Very Bad. The story follows a group of people who're stuck at the Swiss hotel they were stopping in when the nukes were launched. They're kind of trying to make the best of things. Then, somebody finds a body.

The premise is clever, and interesting and full of potential and I really liked how the story unfolded actually; the fallout from nuclear war is always something Other - the hotel is so isolated that you have no idea what's occurring beyond it and can only imagine the chaos and that makes for an eerie kind of a read. 
The main character, Jon, is the best kind of unreliable narrator and one I never particularly warmed to, which again, kind of works. Actually, that said, I don't think I liked anybody. this was a hotel full of unlikeable people and I find myself wondering if that was intentional? 
There's a lot going on here, and yet at the same time not much at all which is an odd thing yet still, it's a book that had me turning the pages pretty quickly so fascinated by the whole idea was I. 
The ending bugged me though (give me a better resolution than that, please, give me more) and whilst I did like the isolation of the story for the most part, by the end I was invested to a level that I wanted to know more about what had happened and why and those answers never came. 
Overall though, this a good read - a unique read. I liked it.

The Last is described as a dystopian psychological thriller, exploring what happens in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. I think, given current events, this is a fairly plausible scenario and, for that reason, it’s a compelling read.
Our narrator is a professor, Jon, who has travelled to Switzerland for a conference. During his stay, a series of nuclear attacks are initiated and the world as we know it ends.
Along with a number of others, Jon remains in the hotel trying to maintain life as they know it. There are leaders developing and factions emerge, but there remains a desperate attempt to hold things together and retain their sense of humanity.
When the body of a young girl is discovered, Jon is determined to investigate. Thus begins a rather unusual mystery, and I have to say the truth - when it emerges - is stranger than anything you could cook up. 
The Last was an interesting read, but there was a lack of detail that frustrated me. Some of the details were beyond far-fetched and I’m not entirely convinced that such a disparate group of people would have maintained their everyday lives for as long as they did.
Thank to NetGalley for allowing me access to this in exchange for my thoughts.

Thrilling story with a plot that kept me turning the pages, really well written with great characters.  Highly recommend to everyone who is a fan of this genre.

I really enjoyed this book although to be honest, the murder held no interest for me.  I preferred to focus on the hotel inhabitants interactions and assumptions and personally found the murders solution (& ending) to be ridiculous and unnecessary.

Not at all what I was expecting. I was looking more for an Agatha Christie style, x number of people trapped in a house, which one is the murderer? If you’re expecting the same, it is most definitely NOT! It is a dystopian, psychological meandering through the minds of a group of people thrust together following a nuclear world war. In our timeline. It’s disturbing. I’ve probably marked it rather hard because it is not at all my ‘cup of tea’, but I did want to finish it so that must say something.

A fabulous post apocalyptic whodunnit. Was dark, raw and compelling. 
A literary rollercoaster that had me hooked from the start.
Very Agatha Christy esque

This was a very plausible dystopia/apocalypse and therefore that is quite unsettling especially as the book employs a set of motifs to sort of repetitively point out the ways in which the world has ended. The mystery element really is what drives the plot though it is not the most important thing in the book which is a very interesting kind of narrative construction which unfortunately sometimes sort of kind of muddled what the book was. Was it an apocalypse or was it a mystery story? And because everything is so uncertain that really does make the book drag a bit in various places but in the end it really kind of came together quite nicely

A real page turner and a perfect read for anyone who got caught up in the amazing production of Chernobyl. It’s a book that all will explore with a fevered pace.

This story follows a small group of survivors of a nuclear apocalypse holed up in an Alpine hotel. A child's body is found and Jon, an American academic lads the investigation into who killed her. Whilst elements of the story were tense, nervous and well constructed, the problem was that this story did not really stick with anything. Is it a murder mystery, post apocalyptic survival story or even a tale of childhood abandonment? I half expected a sub plot of cannibals or zombies!
All in all an entertaining read but easy to forget.

Really enjoyed it, not a normal book I’d pick but glad I read it. 

Loved the story that unfolded between all the remaining characters. The friendship and fights. It showed how people start to go against each other when the hope is lost. 

Would definitely recommend this book to friends especially ones who like an end of days storyline.

A page turner

The Last has a strong premise around the potential end of the world, survival, the hierarchy of concerns when structures have fallen; it's an easy read, one you will blitz through. Overall, it felt quite surface level and that little of note happened; I just expected more, given the abundance of apocalyptic, disaster-stricken fiction out there . However, very much like the author's style and would be keen to read future titles from her.

Dystopian thriller? Yes please! Sadly, around half way into this book it started to stutter and collapse. There just wasn't enough to keep it afloat any longer. I did enjoy the writing style however so I will look out for more from Jameson in the future.