Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I liked this a lot- slowly unraveling the pieces of the story along with the characters. It took a bit of time to become fully immersed in the story but ultimately I found it very compelling. The ubiquitous nature of AI in our lives makes this a relevant tale in spite of its fantastical nature.

Look forward to seeing what the author does next.

Stuart Turton's mind has amazed me once again.

He has created a world where a bug infested fog destroyed the world 90 years ago with the exception of a tiny space saved by scientists who now face ethical dilemmas unfathomable. I devoured this book and you will too.

thank you to the publisher for gifting me a copy. It is my pleasure to write a pleasure to write an honest review.

I had previously read ‘The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle’ (I thought it was fine) and ‘The Devil in the Dark Water’ (I loved it), and was very curious about this book. This book feels like if the 'The Giver' was mixed with 'Lord of the Flies' and 'Westworld' and was topped off with an Agatha Christie Mystery. Overall, I really enjoyed it. While I saw the twist of who actually committed the murder, I didn't see the rest of the third act coming and it was a satisfying conclusion to a very unique story.

The POV with Abi was a little confusing, but I think it worked. I sometimes had to take a second to recall if I was in Abi's 'mind' or one of the main characters, but that also serves the whole idea that Abi is in everyone's head. It also drove me insane that Thea (Athena) and Hephaestus were humans named for Gods, but Neima didn't also have a God name - or at least not one I recognized, I also felt like I had no sympathy for Thea or Hephaestus, and perhaps the story would have benefited from some additional focus on how they ended up so warped (rather than just alluding to bad things happening to them).

I absolutely loved Emory and Clara - they were great and their relationship was deeply satisfying. This is very unique book and what it has to say about humanity, community, nature v nurture, and compassion is deeply timely. This was a super ambitious novel, and I think Turton landed the plane with aplomb.

I did catch one small error - chapter 73 at the start of the third paragraph there is a floating '.' before the start of the sentence, ". He survived the end of the world and saved Thea's sister doing it."

This is my first Stuart Turton book and I really enjoyed it, what a whirlwind of a story set in the near future at, well, the end of the world.
The characters were as fascinating as the story they are in which is well written and full of twists and turns.
A very satisfying and intriguing read with I will be recommending without hesitation.

The Earth is covered with a deadly fog and only one island is safe. A small group of people survive and they live out their (shortened) life controlled by Three super beings. Or so you are led to believe. The Last Murder at the End of the World is a whodunnit, a mystery and a science fiction story that keeps you guessing to the end. Great read, well worth a purchase.

I loved 71/2 deaths of Evelyn Hugo, so I was excited to see this come across for an advanced read. I felt the characters compelling and interesting, and the AI was an interesting concept as well, the way it could exist in the villager's minds. Turton did a good job creating empathy for the villagers in the mind of the reader. The extreme and complex human characters proved a good foil for the behaviors and instincts of the other characters, and I really appreciated the slow reveal of the more science-fiction elements of the story. I am definitely going to get this for my mother, and get this for my library. I did want to know more about where the fog/bugs came from, though I recognize that that isn't integral or necessary for the story as it stands.

I read and loved Stuart Turton's first novel so I was looking forward to reading his latest, but I was not a fan of the writing style.

Not my typical genre and I'm so glad I branched out. The Last Murder at the End of the World is full of mystery and suspense within a fantasy world. The fantasy part was light and good for a beginner like me. The setting was described vividly and it was easy to get lost in this story for hours on a lazy afternoon. This book will take you on quite the adventure.

Thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, Sourcebooks Landmark for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

368Pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Release Date: May 21, 2024

Fiction (Adult), General Fiction (Adult), Mystery, Thrillers, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Dystopian

The island is surrounded by a deadly fog. There are only 91 hours until all humanity is gone. The villagers are living in a post apocalyptic environment. Abi is a voice in everyone’s mind. She also knows what people think and do. She can make the villagers drop into sleep and keep them sleeping until she wakes them. Niema, an elder, was a prominent scientist before the world event that brought the fog. She wants to perform an experiment that count save the remaining population. If she is unsuccessful, everyone will die.

The book has a building pace as the clock counts down the remaining hours. The characters are somewhat developed, and it is written in the third person point of view except for Abi. This is an interesting concept for the end of humanity. If you like science fiction, fantasy, or dystopian stories, you will enjoy this one.

I received a free advanced copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

All that's left of humanity for the last century is on an island, surrounded by a killer fog. The defenses around the island keep it at bay. Generations of people have lived here and learned to cope with the disaster that has befallen humanity, but all of that is about to change. One of the elders is found murdered, and if their murderer isn't found in the next 92 hours, then the fog will encompass everyone and everything that remains. Then humanity will be extinct.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was and is still one of my favorite books ever, with an excellent premise and an execution that blew my expectations out of the water. So I wasn't sure if Turton would be able to measure up to that original thrill. Turton is back to form with The Last Murder at the End of the World, and this sci-fi murder mystery delivers the thrill that I had been looking for. I would buy physical copies of this (and 7 1/2 Deaths) to shove into people's hands and urge them to read because the fun of figuring out what's going on is just something that has to be experienced.

However, this book is not without its faults. I did find character development to be lacking, even with the main character. You'd think that with references to classic literature like Sherlock Holmes you'd get a more iconic personalities. But even our main character, Emory, lacked any real unique qualities other than precociousness and persistence. Great qualities...just not something I'm going to remember or rave about in the future. The book focuses primarily on plot, and I think a lot of any true emotional growth is lost due to the rapid fire nature of the chapters. Lastly, while I loved the twist at the end, perhaps I was a little disappointed that it was not as wild as what I was theorizing throughout.

With all that said, this was still a wild ride that I might be willing to read again in the future, especially as a buddy read if anyone else wants to pick it up.

Really interesting and thorough look at a possible, plausible future that addressed social changes and tends in concert with tech- and biotech- dystopia. The story was engaging and the mystery kept me guessing. Characters were flawed but inspired compassion.

I absolutely LOVED The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and couldn't get through the Devil in the Dark Water so I was excited to try this one while wondering which experience I would have. I was so hooked from just the first 30 pages that in an era of slower reading I blazed through it in two days.
There is a lot happening in this book and reveals are dropped like little bombs throughout the entire novel. It's primarily science fiction folded around a mystery, and it whips along at a breakneck pace. I wasn't entirely satisfied with how things ended as I wanted more details about the world that this takes place, but overall this was an adventure that was extremely compelling. There are some comp titles that come to mind that I think are spoilers by citing them as comps, so I'm going to stay intentionally vague so as to avoid spoilers.

This story is set on an island where 122 villagers and 3 scientists (who are in charge) reside. Though the setting is rustic (the island was a form military base), the islanders are self-sufficient. The world they previously knew, has been destroyed by a deadly fog that is a constant threat to their survival. The only thing that protects them from their demise is a security system or “wall” around the island.

Everyone on the island lives in harmony. Nobody procreates though. Instead, couples are given children at about the age of 8 years old; this is never questioned. However, the scientists have been keeping secrets. From the villagers as well as each other.

Here is where everything starts to collapse. One of the scientists has come to realize that the villagers are smarter and capable of more than anyone knew. She has come to love the villagers and decides share long kept secrets with the villagers, stirring up new emotions! Afterwards, the beloved scientist is found dead – murdered!

The security system protecting the islanders was programmed to turn off upon her death. Where will they go? How much time do they have until the deadly fog reaches them? Although there is a backup plan, it will only sustain half the islanders. Who will live and who will die? Their only salvation is finding out who killed their scientist. That knowledge holds the key to their survival.

You definitely won’t know all the answers until the very end of the book. I was given a complimentary copy of this book for an honest review.

This book had a very interesting premise. The story follows an island at the very end of the world - a fog has taken over the rest of the planet, and the island is populated with some people who have found a way to keep the fog at bay. However, a murder occurs which sets into motion the fog coming for the rest.

The book was interesting and unique, unlike most other books I've read recently. The story was engaging, the twists were unexpected, and it was hard to predict what would occur next. I liked it because it was definitely different, and given many books nowadays, that is generally hard to come by.

I would recommend this as something for anyone who enjoys a good thriller but is tired of formulaic writing, and predictable endings. At no point during this book did I have any idea what would come next. Highly recommend!

This is such an interesting idea for a book that I was immediately interested but wasn’t sure how it would play out on the pages. I think it’s also fairly unique to have the narrator be the AI character and I loved it. The book started out a little slow for me but I was definitely interested from the beginning. Once the story really gets deeper into the plot I couldn’t wait to finish it. Although the book is set in the future it really corresponds to our current state of humanity sadly.

Decades ago a murderous fog swept over the world, and anything that touches it dies brutally. Only a small island survives untouched, populated by 123 villagers and 2 scientists. All is peaceful and idyllic, until the morning everyone wakes to find a scientist dead and all memories of the night before missing. Worse, a fail safe was in place – the death has caused the defense system to come down and the fog is swiftly approaching. To restore it, the survivors need to solve the murder, and time is running out.

My rating: 4.5 stars

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and Netgalley for the digital ARC!

It’s hard to review this; not because I didn’t love it, but because I don’t want to give anything away. I think it’s important to go into this book knowing only the bare bones, because part of the experience is discovering things along with the POV characters. In this book we have the bigger scale problem – the possible extinction of humanity – and the smaller scale problem – solving the murder of a beloved friend, and both are given equal attention. The author does a great job of introducing small bits of info at a pace that keeps the tension high but also keeps the plot moving. So many times something would be casually mentioned and I was like “wait – but – that means..!!” The murder mystery is very well balanced with the deeper emotional impact on the villagers, most of whom deeply loved the victim. We see the far-reaching consequences and how it fractures and changes relationships. I was kept guessing right until the end and while I figured out pieces of it, the whole picture came as a surprise.

I don’t know yet if I loved the ending. This is the kind of book where you need to sit with it a bit and let it settle into you. I can say that, looking back at the way things were framed, it seems inevitable in retrospect. It makes sense and I don’t know that any other ending would have been satisfying, and I think the author did a great job of weaving the personal emotional stakes with the survival, end-of-the-world stakes to deliver a fantastic story.

A great story that is well-paced and keeps you turning the page. Don't read late at night if you have to be up early and need rest, because it will be hard to put this book down.
I loved how the layers kept peeling back to reveal the reality of the island, yet also revealing the vulnerabilities, fears and trauma everyone had experienced and how it led to the possibly "end of humanity".
The storyline kept me guessing and the ending was better than I kept anticipating. Kindness first!

When their perfect society is rocked by a series of events that they can't remember the last people on Earth have to do something they have never done before, solve a mystery. This book is perfect for someone who has read too many mysteries and can always guess what is going to happen next. I honestly didn't know how this would end and loved every minute of tying to figure it out. A few times I felt things lined up a little too conveniently but they were small things that I was easily able to get passed. This book would be best enjoyed by someone who doesn't mind a little sci fi feel but book never gets bogged down so being a huge sci fi fan isn't necessary. Highly recommend.

"The Last Murder at the End of the World" was absolutely going to be 5 star read for me UNTIL around the last 20ish percent mark, when the twists and answers were given in a huge info-dumping fashion that practically gave me vertigo. I actually had to go back and read some parts again to understand what was actually going on. Still, despite my gripes with the ending dropping off, this is still an easy 4 star read for me and 4 stars is nothing to be ashamed about.

The first 75% of the book is really, really REALLY good.. We're basically just dropped into a world in the middle of its existence with very little explanation and we have to figure out what’s going on as we turn each page. Mystery, suspense, and intrigue is present in this novel right away, although the actual murder in the title doesn’t occur until WELL into the story. The buildup IS worth it, though.

I felt like the ending was extremely rushed, and I felt like I got too many questions answered; I know that is something that is a ME problem, but I prefer for endings to not necessarily tie everything up nice and neat/answer everything. Books with more ambiguous endings are the ones that keep me thinking about it well after closing the book/reading the last page.

This is a very, very good book that had the potential to be great. I will still absolutely be recommending this to my friends and family who I know will love it despite the issues I had with it.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this book. It was fun and I love the color! Very eye-catching!

This was quite the different story, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is Science Fiction as it takes place after an apocalyptic event in the future in which most of the human race is destroyed by a mysterious fog. After a murder happens in the village on a sanctuary island, Emory, the village outcast, is asked to help solve it, or they will all die from the collapse of the barrier that protects the island, and its inhabitants. The kicker is, that right after the murder, everyone’s memories were wiped by an omniscient being that is able to control most of the people on the island; so the task is daunting to say the least. As the clues are gathered, and evidence is presented, the reader learns more about their own people, the island, and the secrets that have been kept for decades. But, time is running out.

This is page turner, and the story and characters are well written so that you understand, and are part of the process of solving the murder. Though this is a murder mystery, this is also a book about the people, and the effect our behaviors have on society.

Recommend for both mystery and Science Fiction fans.