Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

This book is basically a murder mystery in post apocalyptic setting of which I was invested at first, especially because there was a time limit in solving this. I’m not a huge fan of using amnesia as a plot device and didn’t feel like it was done well here, unfortunately. This was my first time reading Stuart Turton so I was hyped up after having heard rave reviews for his book The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. The premise was intriguing, and initially I was invested but as I kept reading my interest waned and when the reveal and twists finally happened I was ambivalent to it as opposed to emotional. Very anti-climactic. I’m thinking it was the story itself since I’m not the biggest fan of science fiction so maybe that’s why I didn’t vibe with it as much as I thought I would. Or perhaps it was the author’s writing style (which can sometimes be a bit wordy, imho). It was enjoyable but nothing I loved or was crazy about.

Pros: short chapters
Cons: too many characters, long winded story, cerebral

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Mr. Turton is hereby awarded my "you make my brain hurt in a good way" award. Wow!! I love how intricate his worlds are and the characters he brings in to them and this book is no exception. An island full of people who have lived the same way for generations after a fog descended and killed the rest of the planet. Most everyone is happy and there is a great sense of community. The island and scientists protect them from the fog until something goes wrong. I loved how Emory's questioning mind that was constantly seen as a liability is now an asset as they try to solve the murder to save themselves. Abi, this virtual voice in everyone's head, was an unique and wonderful character that added another level of interest and mystery. I did feel like the story started a bit slowly, but when creating a world this expansive (funny since it is all on this little island), it takes time. Give the book the time! It is a book that you might want to block out time to read in big chunks as you won't want to put it down once you get immersed in the world and you won't be able to stop thinking about it between reading sessions!

This is a sci-fi mystery novel. The sci-fi dystopian elements are great, but the mystery elements fall flat. I think a big reason for that is the perspective. Our narrator is an omniscient AI security system. This, practically, means that our narrator knows everything but annoyingly will not reveal anything the whole book.
In practice, we are often in an effective limited-3rd person point of view of other characters. I did enjoy following our detective, Emory. However, her perspective was also poorly utilized. She's always finding clues, but those clues are never connected to anything else. It feels more like a book that it made out of a list of suspicious blood stains instead of a real investigation. There's a lot of clues and moving parts to the story, and I wasn't able to feel grounded in the tale or follow where the clues were leading.

I was going to give this book 3 stars, but as I think about it more, it has dropped to 2 stars. Mostly this is because of the large amount of plot holes, and people's motives not matching their actions. Once I finished the book and got through all of the reveals, I was only disappointed. I had my theories of who the murderer was, and I was wrong. Honestly, my theories feel like they fit better to the clues and characters, and the actual answer is full of plot holes and ridiculous contortions of logic.

A video including a review of this book will be on my Youtube channel in the coming weeks, @ChloeFrizzle

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.

The Last Murder at the End of the World tells the story of the last bits of a humanity, forced to live on a island protected from a massive fog that killed the rest of the planet. Villagers and scientists live together in a seaside utopia. When their leader is killed, the villagers must put the pieces of the murder together before the fog bypasses the security systems and swarms the island.

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It is a well established fact that Stuart Turton writes books that have absolutely bonkers twists. This one is no different. These are incredibly vivid characters who are grappling with their very existence. The bounds of humanity are put to the test. The surprise is the strong ode to the classic whodunit in this strange and dystopian setting. It read like a movie, it was gripping and funny, terrifying and dry. This was the first Turton book where I had a loose idea of who the killer was, but the journey to getting there was so twisty and turny.

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Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC; all opinions are my own.

I had a little trouble getting into this story. It took a few chapters to find myself invested in the story. I think that was more of a me thing than the story or the writing. I found myself trying to figure out what was truly going on in this story and knew that I wouldn't rest until I had a clear of idea of what was going on.

I enjoyed the idea of the elders and how they imparted knowledge onto the villagers. I enjoyed that Emory seemed to challenge them and asked way too many questions. Most of which if she didn't figure out on her own, were never really answered. This of course make sense when we learn of the mystery of the island and the villagers.

While I enjoyed this book, I preferred Stuart Turton's first novel better. I do believe I will read other books by this author as they become available. I enjoyed the way he tells a story and the ideas that those stories invoke.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

“In four days we’re either going to change the world or die trying. ”
Here are reasons to read the thriller book:

Island fog - in a far off island, a fog surrounding it is held back from causing damage
Countdown - but series of events set of a countdown starting with an island elder dead
Mystery - and one woman is set to solve a mystery to see if they can stop the fog from taking over and eliminating them all.

Having been a huge fan of the 7 ½ deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, I was very excited to read this book. The synopsis was very vague but also, I’m not sure it really gave me the right expectation. I spent most of this book feeling like I was going around in circles and the ending, really left me feeling like maybe I was missing something. Other reviews said that this author was a genius and that he was painting this very vivid picture of a complex society. I don’t know that I felt that way. The twist was interesting but not as great as I expected. I think if you haven’t read Evelyn Hardcastle, you may like this one. But if you have, you might be let down.

"The Last Murder" is the first book that I've read from this author. And I don't understand all of the hype about the book nor the author. Like Alex Michaelides, I think Thurton is overrated.

The novel reads like a wannabe Wayward Pines meets The Thunderhead. But it fell short of the suspense and world building. It starts off boring and continues on that path with dull characters and a generic, flat landscape.

Not much more to say except that I didn't appreciate the novel as much as others. A one star DNF.

I received a DRC from Sourcebooks Landmark through NetGalley. This review is completely my own and reflects my honest thoughts and opinions.

This was my first Stuart Turton book. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. He's got an interesting writing style, and I can't wait to check out his other books!

The Last Murder at the End of the World is a post-apocalyptic story which I normally love. There was a lot going on with this story. You have a mystery fog. Someone is murdered. You have people stuck on an island and as the story goes on you learn what the heck is going on. Overall, the book was interesting, but parts of it fell flat for me. I realized that I didn't care about what happened to many of the characters and that's a problem.

But I did like it! I would recommend reading it.

Thanks, NetGalley for the ARC!

A clever and well plotted dystopian murder mystery. Through all the twists and turns, the narrative remained tightly controlled, and the characters developed as the plot unfolded. Though the mystery was cleanly solved, the reader is left pondering the puzzle of humanity.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A very worthy follow-up to one of the best thrillers of the last decade.

The stakes in this one literally cannot get higher. This would make for an EXCELLENT film!

I enjoy dystopian science fiction and I didn't have any trouble finishing it, but I did have trouble really becoming vested in the story. I think it may be because the narrator is one dimension even though there is an interesting premise behind it. There were a lot of characters to keep straight and not enough character building to keep track of them all. If you are a voracious reader looking for a sci-fi book, this may be worth reading.
Thank you to Net Galley for providing this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Last Murder at the end of the World by Stuart Turton takes us to an idyllic island. Except it’s the only island left in the world since all was destroyed by a fog. There are 3 scientists and 122 villagers on the island. All is well until 1 of the scientists is found murdered. This triggers the system to stop functioning which keeps the island safe. The villagers must solve the murder to restore the system.

Very creative writing combining mystery, sci-fi and dystopian elements. The characters and scenes are vividly described. The author’s writing style kept me turning the page.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Trying to describe it, I’d say, The Giver meets LOST meets Agatha Christie - and yes, I realize how strange that sounds. The book may be strange, but I also found it fascinating. I read this book in less than a day. I've never read anything like this before, and it’s hard to describe because it’s so unique and also because I don’t want to give anything away. It’s a dystopian sci-fi locked room mystery with themes on what it means to be human and how our morals can be stripped away under the right circumstances.

Fog has been encroaching around the Earth and killing every living being it touches. Scientists were able to create a barrier for the fog on a Greek island and offered refuge to anyone who could make the journey. Now there is a small village living on the island, and while they are always aware that the fog is right past the barrier, they also manage to create a life for themselves. When the leader of the village is murdered and everyone’s memories have been wiped, the fog starts encroaching on the island.

Did I mention there’s also an all-knowing robot living in everyone’s consciousness who can reactivate the barriers but only agrees to do so if the murderer confesses and is executed? And the whole story is told from this weird omniscient robot’s POV? Yeah, so there’s that. The fog is getting closer and closer, and the only villager who seemingly possesses the ability to think critically is desperately trying to find the killer before the fog kills everyone. This character, Emory, is filled with rage and mistrust at the system that controls everything in her world, so naturally I absolutely adored her.

I am totally okay admitting that I didn’t understand everything about this book, but I still really enjoyed it. However, I felt somewhat detached from the characters and the doomsday countdown - almost like watching a science experiment from afar, which maybe is what the author wanted? I can’t imagine how much work went into writing a novel like this - everything has a deeper meaning and an underlying truth. This book won’t be for everybody, but if you’re looking for a unique mystery that will really make you think, I would absolutely recommend this one!

Stuart Turton has a way of making you feel like you know exactly what’s happening until you realize there is a lot more going on than you think. The Last Murder at the End of the World dives into the deeply interconnected relationships of people stranded together and brings the reader along for the ride. The author’s unique character development approach bonds reader and characters while building the mystery everyone is trying to solve until coming together for an epic ending. Stuart does it again!

This book was strange as well as a bit creepy, because the inter time I was reading it ,I kept going back and forth on wither the characters was talking to themselves or was there something more going on in the shadows that the author didn't want you to notice until it was to late .

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was a gripping thriller that kept me guessing until the very last page. Stuart Turton has returned to form with this third book, an inventive, closed-room mystery that finds us on an island, the only place on Earth safe from the fog that killed the rest of the planet.

A murder on the island is about to breech the security that kept the fog out, and thus, kill everyone still alive. Turton excels at psychological thrillers, making you question the sanity of the perspective you're reading from. This is what he did well in The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and this is what he does again here. He uses an amnesia plot that makes plausible some of the more hard to swallow elements of a story of this type.

This is an urgent, exciting book, sure to have you flipping pages until you get to the very end.

Oh boy was this a wild ride! I found myself wanting to understand so much that it was hard to put down. I loved the way that the context and world was built out as the mystery unfolded. I can see this one becoming on of the more popular releases this year, it does a good job of combining that wild mystery with an interesting dystopian sci-fi setting.

The more that I read by Turton, the more I fear that nothing will live up to his stellar debut. I found his sophomore effort disappointing, and while this book has several intriguing elements, overall it fell short of my expectations. In the beginning, I was digging the unique dystopian atmosphere and the threat of impending doom from the encroaching fog made everyone's actions feel incredibly urgent and important. The short chapters are both a blessing and a curse; their brief length helped me move through the book quickly, but I didn't feel like there was enough development with the characters to fully understand them or become invested in their fates, and at times I had to double-check whose perspective I was reading from. The book is much more science fiction than mystery, and after the titular murder occurs, its investigation is more concerned with why than who, resulting in many underwhelming reveals and an examination of multiple red herrings. Maybe this needed another pass to be a bit more cohesive, but it's frustrating to see so much promise fail to come together satisfyingly.

I thought this was really well written and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I think it will find readers at our library, so we will definitely be purchasing for the collection.