Member Reviews

Like all of Stuart Turton's books, this one is a well-crafted sci-fi. A group of one hundred and twenty-two people is the last to survive a fog that has swept the planet and killed everything and everyone in its wake. The island on which they live is surrounded by the fog and is held off by the utopia on the island. When someone is found murdered, it is up to them to solve the murder in order to fend off the fog that threatens to consume the island. However, everyone has had their memory wiped and they only have 107 hours to solve the case.
The beginning of the book was confusing because I did not know who the narrator was. I am glad that I stuck with the book because all the questions were answered and the answers were surprising. I should have known from reading all of Turton's books that the answers would be smart, complex, and unexpected. If you love sci-fi, this is a sci-fi mystery that should not be missed

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I loved The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle but unfortunately I struggled with this one. I thought it was an interesting idea however because I am behind on reviews I decided to listen to the audiobook and I had a hard time staying focused of the story. Unfortunately, I didn't know what was happening most of the time.

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I really wanted to love this book, but I just could not get into it. I gave it to my husband, he enjoyed it! So it was a DNF for me, but a 3 star from him.

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One of my favorite book recommendation is Stuart Turton's The Devil in the Dark Water. My absolute favorite thing about it is that I still didn't know where the book was going to end, even with 20 pages remaining. To this day is remains one of my favorite mysterys. Going into The Last Murder at the End of the World, I was excited and hoped it would be a great read too, at least in its own way. Where I found the twists and turns of the previous book to be riveting and enthralling, captivating to the point of a stranglehold on me, they were rather tedious in this book. I kept feeling like things were reaching. I kept feeling like plot points were left vague without a plan and then suddenly they were brought back in at some point in a way that felt like the author realzed, "oh crap I have tie to this loose end!" In the end, it is still a great story, original and uniquely distopitan. Maybe under different circumstances I would have felt differently, but this time the story just wasn't as mooth and flowing as before.

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A wonderful dystopian novel for fans of Jeff Vandermeer, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, and Margeret Atwood. I loved Turton's book The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and was really excited for this book. It is eerie and strange and I loved it. I'm a huge fan of the Southern Reach series by Jeff Vandermeer and thought this was very reminiscent of that series. Turton does an excellent job of just dropping you into the story and letting you figure it out as you go. You get invested in the characters and driven mad wanting to know what happens. An excellent work of suspense, sci-fi, dystopian fiction!

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Turton’s writing is like magic. This was a thrilling ride start to end. The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is one of my favourite books to date, and discovering the joys of Turton have been the best of times!! I can’t wait for the next thrilling adventure .

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The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton started out as a page turner, but I found it lost some momentum in the last half. I loved the concept of the end of the world and an island’s inhabitants making a community while keeping a deadly fog at bay. The murder mystery in the second half lost my interest a little. I don’t want to give any spoilers out here so won’t say much more. Like The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, this book also has several characters and a well planned out plot. I just wasn’t as invested in this story. It was good but didn’t blow my mind like 7 1/2 Deaths. I’ll continue reading Turton books though as I’m a fan of his concepts and intricate plots. I look forward to his next.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this copy!

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I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley- thank you.

This one just worked for me. It kept me interested and finding extra time to read throughout the day, and I think the ending worked well.

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3.5 - This was an interesting book, because I went into it thinking it would be a typical mystery/thriller, and turns out it had a good mix of sci-fi/dystopian in it. The mix of these genres made this feel like a very different type of mystery/thriller than most I read and I actually really liked the blend of sci-fi and dystopian with it, although it threw me off at times! I thought it was super interesting that the narrator who looms over the entire story is an AI narrator who chimes in occasionally. A catastrophe has struck the planet, with a fog that killed every living thing, but somehow the fog didn't hit this Greek Island. The mystery involves a murder that occurs on the island and the people of the island must uncover who did the killing, or else the fog will consume them too. The premise of the book was super interesting, and I did think that the ongoing mysteries were interesting and immersive, as much information is kept hidden throughout the book, as the narrator and the main characters work to discover why the fog happened and who committed the murder, and how these things overlap.

I was fairly engaged throughout the entire book. The mix of the genres and the setting, along with the mysteries, kept me on my toes. The ending felt very all over the place, with a lot being revealed and a lot having to come together. I definitely didn't guess any of the twists and the pacing and tone of the book felt frantic and made me feel frantic alongside reading it, which I guess accomplished what a mystery/thriller sets out to do. Overall, I thought it was a good thriller, although not my favorite!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the free book in exchange for my honest review!!

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Such a good read that I enjoyed! I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it early and will definitely be recommending it to multiple people who enjoy these types of novels. I enjoyed the characters and especially enjoyed the writing by this author. I'm excited to see what the author comes out with next as I'll definitely be reading it! Thank you to the publisher for my early copy of this book!

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LOVED THIS. it’s much more than just a murder mystery, it’s about humanity and what we’ve become. It’s about learning to be something better. Definitely a fav for the year!!!

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I received this ARC via Netgalley prior to its publication April 2nd 2024! Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the chance to read this one! Definitely an adventurous read. Enjoyed reading and recommended.

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I had such a blast with this book! I am a Stuart Turton superfan--I love everything he's done, and I can't wait to see what's next. He's fascinating!

There was so much to love about this book. The story line initially felt very similar to the premise of Horizon Zero Dawn, my all-time favorite video game, so I was sold from the very beginning. This story follows a group of people, the last humans, after humanity has been wiped out from a deadly fog. The people have relocated to an island, where they are pretty subservient to the scientists who have been around since the fog took out most of humanity. The people only know what they're told, and when one of the scientists is murdered, there's only one person on the island who has read any mystery novels who knows what to do. The book is twisty-turvy, and you'll keep turning pages until you race to the conclusion. And then you'll think about it long after.

There are many layers to this novel, and I loved unpeeling them one by one. There is the surface level story, one of the most fascinating narrators I've ever read, the world as the commoners understand it, the world as the scientists understand it, and the heart beating underneath all of it, the core of the real problem. This book was fascinating, was funny, spoke to family, and love and hope and what it means to be human. I loved every second of it.

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The Last Murder at the End of the World is a trippy SF/dystopian island murder mystery set against a post-apocalyptic extinction event written by Stuart Turton. Released 21st May 2024 by Sourcebooks on their Landmark imprint, it's 368 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out 1st quarter 2025 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

This is an oddly compelling story, about the descendants of a group of survivors from a catastrophic level event which killed the vast majority of humanity. There are a handful of survivors who still remember the original event, and they're elders and govern the few hundred vestiges of humanity who are left on a tiny atoll island bunker after everyone else is gone.

The writing is solid. The plot and science aspects much less so. At the base of the whole is a pretty well plotted isolated murder mystery setting with a limited pool of suspects. The execution is problematic, because the author works against the reader to obfuscate and muddle the story at every step. The plot is a bit scattered, there's a universal telepathic narrator which lives in the thoughts of all the characters in the book called Abi, there are physical and psychological dangers at every turn, and the titular murder sets events in motion which will result in the demise of the last vestiges of humanity if not solved in a very short window of time.

The unabridged audiobook version has a run time of 11 hours 21 minutes and is capably read by James Cameron Stewart. He has a classically trained, very well enunciated light baritone and manages the various characters well, both male and female. The choice of a man to voice a book mostly filled with female characters (Abi is also described as female) was perhaps odd, but he does an exemplary job with the read. Sound and production quality are high throughout.

Three and a half stars. The author is wildly popular, so it would make a good choice for public library acquisition, and possibly for book club discussion.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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I went into this story completely blind and really had a fun time. The characters were written in that cooky british style humor that works so well. This was my first Stuart Turton book and I will absolutely be reading more from him in the future. I felt the story had a bit of a slow start but once it got going I loved the progression of the investigation. Well done!

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An apocalyptic fog has left the world's population dead except for 120 people who exist on an island off the coast of Greece. Then, one day, a murder sets off a chain of events that will bring this group of people to an end unless they can solve the murder. The only problem? They can't remember anything that happened.

This story is quintessential Stuart Turton. It's cerebral, unique, and a lot of fun to read. I really enjoyed it.

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I LOVED this addition to the Stuart Turton metaverse. My bookclub read this one and it was such a well of conversation and moral dilemma all wrapped into a semi-cozy but survivalist scifi/mystery book......if that makes sense

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The Last Murder at the End of the World" intricately weaves together the elements of a gripping murder mystery within a richly imagined sci-fi universe. Set against a backdrop of futuristic technology and interstellar travel, the novel follows the investigation of a puzzling homicide that unfolds against the looming backdrop of the end of civilization itself. The author masterfully combines suspenseful storytelling with thought-provoking explorations of human nature and the consequences of advanced technology, creating a narrative that keeps readers on the edge of their seats while delving into deeper themes. For fans of both murder mysteries and science fiction, this novel offers a captivating blend of genres that promises an exhilarating and thought-provoking reading experience.

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this was such a new twist on what you would think of as the traditional murder mystery. I loved the dystopian feel and how our narrator is unlike anything I've read before.

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The title of this thriller aptly describes the content of the story. On an island surrounded by fog and inhabited by 122 residents, their leader, Niema, is found dead in after a fire. What follows is a dystopian mystery where the characters are trying to identify the murderer. The novel is a locked room mystery where the characters doubt, and suspect each other.. Recommended for fans of who-done-its in a futuristic setting.

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