I was quite excited for this title, and came in with high hopes after loving The 71/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.
I knew I’d be getting into a “thinker” of a read, but ended up being disappointed due to some pacing issues, and an excessively over complicated plot.
There seemed to be a lot that could have been edited out, and I found myself not feeling connected to the characters, themselves.

One note, specifically for audio listeners - it was confusing to listen to a male narrator be the voice of (what sounded like) Abby/Abbi, and not learn the origin of ABI until late in the story.

107 hours until humanity is destroyed…

The world has been covered by this fog that kills everyone. With the exception of this small island. So there are a little over 100 survivors living on this island when one of their elders is murdered and the fog starts to move in towards the island. Now they must solve this murder in order to stop the fog from killing everyone.

This sounded very promising but this fell a little flat for me at times. I listened to the audiobook so I’m chalking it up to the narrator not keeping me engaged. I liked some of the characters with their and determination to solve the murder and help the rest of the survivors. I did feel like the lead up to the murder took quite a bit of time. Overall this was a decent book. I may have liked it more had I read it verses listening to it.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to listen to this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

"The Last Murder at the End of the World" by Stuart Turton is a sci-fi murder mystery. The audiobook is effectively narrated by James Cameron Stewart.

In this story, most of the people on Earth have been killed by a deadly fog. Only 122 people and 3 elders remain on a small island. They have some kind of forcefield that keeps the fog away. Murder isn't allowed, though, and after someone is murdered, the forcefield shuts down, and there is a limited amount of time until the fog takes over. If the murderer is discovered in time, there may be a way to stop it.

Emory has the mind of a detective, and she works to solve this mystery. She is a likable character.

The beginning is pretty slow, and then it's a moderate pace until the last 20%, which is extremely speedy and twisty and confusing.

Characters - 4/5
Writing - 4/5
Plot - 3/5
Pacing - 3/5
Unputdownability - 3/5
Enjoyment - 3/5
Narration - 4/5
Cover - 4/5
Overall - 28/8= 3 4/8 rounded down to 3 stars because the end was so confusing!

Thank you to Netgalley, Tantor Audio, and Stuart Turton for providing me with this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC. Further review to come, but four stars. Excited that this is a probable Aardvark pick!

This is a good preview of what cyborg can and cannot do during emergency. They don't seem to override any order even if they develop what we could consider consciousness and understand consequences of their behavior. Also, it was funny to see how they can dig their own graves while explaining why they cannot be the culprit: "we are so precise, you wouldn't find any clue"

On this island, there was some sort of military order. There were nightly curfews. Everyone listened to scientist "commanders". In a socialist set up, these folks lived happily ever after until there was a murder that they couldn't remember anything about. They knew that there was a fog killing everyone within island's vicinity. They needed to solve the mystery behind the murder to save themselves from the wreath of the fog.

In a very similar tone to "The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle", this book was hard to put down and had a lot of red herrings. It actually surprised me with its outcome. If you liked his debut, I'm sure you will like this one too.

Murder mystery mash-up with science fiction dystopian world. If this is your vibe you will enjoy this book. Imagine an island with only 122 villagers, a deadly fog, and a devastating murder that if left unsolved will destroy the remaining villagers. Throw in an AI voice that serves as the conscience of the characters and some end-of-the-world energy amongst the characters and you are well into the heart of this story. It took a little unexpected twist at the end that I was not anticipating. Overall an enjoyable read if you are looking for a murder mystery meets science fiction tale!

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I absolutely loved this book! A sci-fi murder mystery?! SIGN ME UP! I had so much fun with this read as I was constantly trying to figure out who the killer was, what was happening, and what the end game was going to be. The buildup, the storyline, the ending--all perfection! There were quite a bit of characters which at first had me scrambling to remember who was who, but once I was able to establish who was who, I had no issues. I really love the relationship between the daughter, mother, and grandfather. The dynamic between them and real life family issues (IYKYK).

As for the narrator, I really liked his voice, tone, and speed. He did a great job at changing his voice for each character to help with listening to the audiobook. I believe I would have enjoyed the book either way, but did enjoy the audiobook a lot.

Thank you NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing, and Stuart Turton for the audiobook.

This was a first. I nearly gave up reading The Last Murder at the End of the World as, after the first 10 chapters, very little beyond world-building was happening. Despite the interesting setup--a man-made fog of flesh-eating insects has swarmed over the world, leaving only a small Greek island full of Earth's last survivors, and a promise in the prologue that someone has to die in order to save humanity--the characters all feel rather bland and the descriptions of their daily routines, while filled with vivid imagery, are rather boring. Add to that the confusing narration by Abi, the civilization's intrusive AI program, with its own interjections at times, made it tough to follow. I had issues with the narration by James Cameron Stewart also in the audiobook version I heard; overall, I liked his gravelly voice with a Highlands accent, but his female voices sounded like Monty Python skits where the men play women. It was distracting and made all the women sound the same (except for Emery, who sounds like the narrator). And oddly enough, when Abi is speaking directly to a character she uses a "female" voice but not when narrating or interjecting its own thoughts. (Note: I just learned that the final audiobook is narrated by the wonderful Adjoin Andean, so I suspect it sounds much better). But instead of abandoning it, I chose to soldier on and keep listening.

And I'm glad I did. The story really starts around Chapter 10 or so, when an Elder is found dead, and no one in the village, including Abi the AI, remembers anything from the last 24 hours. Worse, the defense shields are now down and, with the fog slowly creeping toward them, they only have days to solve the Elder's murder and save humanity. As a sort of "locked room" mystery set on an island, there are lots of twists and turns, and the characters take on more form as the story progresses, especially Emery, who fanciers herself a modern Sherlock Holmes. I'm grateful that my suspicions on "Whodunnit" were wrong, and I found myself eager to find out who the story played out, even feeling tension as the island creeps closer and closer to extinction. Although the initial wer.orld-building is necessary, I wish the story had started in media res, right when the village wakes up with no memory, and then those relationships and details could have been worked in later. But, since I'm not the author, I can't make that happen, so I can only encourage readers to trudge through the initial chapters because it is worth the read.

Thank you to the author, Sourcebooks, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair review.

“False hope can always be depended on for control.”

This, like all of Turton’s work, was such a unique and complex story! It was the story of humanity’s last hope living on an island surrounded by a deadly fog.

I wondered the whole time how he kept everything straight while writing and masterfully wove it all together.

I will say, it wasn’t as surprising as I hoped it would be, but the ending did wrap everything up very nicely.

James Cameron Stewart, as always, was a great narrator for the audiobook.

This this speculative scifi murder mystery sounded super interesting and like a cross between Lost and Stephen King's The dome, however I found the narrator's voice REALLY annoying and it put me off the story right from the start. I may try to read this in print some other time but I had to stop listening fairly early on. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest thoughts! (The cover was fantastic though! Top marks for it!)

Set in the future, a fog with insects that have wiped out most of humanity, surrounds a tiny Greek island. On that island the 121 villagers are hard working and hearty of spirit. They listen to the 3 elders and heed what they and Abi (the artificial intelligence they are all born being able to hear) tell them to do.
Everything changes one night with one death, one murder, which drops the barriers and has the fog coming for them. If they can’t solve the murder which is the only way to bring the barriers back, they’ll all die.
Unfortunately no one remembers anything that happened that night. How do you solve a murder when no one even knows where they were or what they were doing?
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel by Stuart Turton. There were a lot of twists and turns. I loved the character Emory, who’s never been good at anything but finally she has found what she was meant to do. There’s a deeper story here about humanity and its many failings and what one should or should not be able to control.
I was given this in audio format by McMillan Audio in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed narrator James Cameron Stuart’s rendition of this. If I had one critique it would be that with so many female points of view in this, far more than male, I don’t understand why they didn’t use a female narrator.

Man I wanted to like this book more than I did. For one thing I think I just don’t really like post apocalyptic/sci-fi for mysteries since it took a huge amount of the book to just show what happened to the world and explain how all the science works. The murder didn’t start until I think chapter 36/37. I also guessed the ending pretty early on so it all just lined up with what I expected. I also just didn’t really care about the characters that much. Overall it was just a fine read. Maybe if you like post-apocalyptic stories you’ll enjoy this more than I did.

Thank you to the publisher for providing this audioARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a cool premise but it didn't work for me. I wished this didn't lean into so much of the sci- fi of things. The narrator was fine but I found the different characters hard to distinguish between each other. The character we so basic in their disciption I could tell who was who. I got bored about 40% into the story. I didn't feel the urgency to solved this mystery as I've had in the past with this author.

Thank you for send this audibook for review.

"Some storms follow you. Some storms make sure you are always in their path."
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"The truly terrifying thing about the fog was how quickly it became a license for every vile thing in the human heart."
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▪️Stuart Turton, The Last Murder at the End of the World, 5⭐

You can depend on Stuart Turton to give you dark and weird, and I'm so here for it 👻

7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was my *first ever* audiobook all those years ago, and I'm so happy to review his newest audiobook received from NetGalley and Tantor Audio, published May 21.

This is touted as Agatha Christie meets LOST, and I think that totally nails it. I can see how this isn't going to be for everyone, but Last Murder ticks all the boxes for me! I love the disorienting, cult-y vibes and cli-fi themes. The characters are strange and wonderful! I love the names and types he chose!

By the time you get to the end, there's a handful of themes that could be thoroughly discussed and debated in a group, but I loved just taking it in and enjoying it as is without overthinking it.

I do have mixed feelings about James Cameron Stewart as the narrator. I love that he's done all three of Turton's books and I do love his narration, but I don't think he was the best fit for this one specifically. Most of the character POVs are women, and it took me out of the story that Stewart, while otherwise being an exceptional narrator, didn't do a great female voice let alone a variety of them.

This book claims to be a dystopian Sherlock Holmes. It is a speculative “locked room” mystery with amnesia components, poisonous fog, the last of the world’s inhabitants, an omniscient AI overlord, a race to save what’s left of humanity, arguments about late-stage capitalism, and an idyllic fishing village. That either sounds very exciting or like taking every condiment out of your kitchen, mixing them together, and taking a big bite.

All of the world is covered in a poisonous fog except for one remaining island. Its inhabitants are simple fishing folk content to discuss farming, be in by curfew, and not rock the boat. Then one day, a scientist is found murdered, removing the island’s fog-prevention system and wiping everyone’s memories. The clock is then ticking to solve the murder and repair the barrier before they all die.

It’s the cast our Our Town or of a movie set in pastoral Newfoundland meets sci-fi Armageddon—now with bonus amnesia. For me, that was too much of stretch. Then once the “twists” started coming, it felt even more absurd.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this copy to review.

There is an island at the end of the world, as the title would suggest. It contains very few people, but if they were to try to leave the island they probably would not make it past the thick fog. With 122 people and 3 scientists, everyone seems to be living well together. Even if they do have some strange rules.

Until one day, when one of their own is found murdered on the island (again as the title would suggest). This obviously, flips the islands world upside down. Because one of their own would have to be the murder, right?

I think that the plot was very interesting and the setting was very well executed. However, I found myself slightly bored. Which was not what I was hoping for when going into this book.

3.5 Rounded Up.

This was a unique and fun murder mystery. This is my first Stuart Turton novel, and found the story absorbing even with a wide variety of characters. I did think there were a lot of red herrings that might not have been necessary but overall had a fun time.

Thank you NetGalley and Tantor Audio for an ARC.

It’s taken me a little to get my thoughts together on this book. I love Stuart Turton and will definitely read anything he writes. This book did it for me but also didn’t at the same time. Let me quickly run down the why it did and didn’t work for me.
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For starters, this is a dystopian novel - which I am a huge fan of. I loved the murders and trying to piece together what happened. This has such a unique and interesting premise that I was super intrigued right from the start. The main twist was out of this world and I absolutely loved it. I love exactly how this story played out from start to finish.
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Now, with that being said, The Last Murder at the End of the World is a slow burn (which usually doesn’t matter to me) but there was some repetitiveness that became a bit redundant. There is a huge amount of characters which had me a bit confused at times but also found it difficult to connect to some.
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Now in Turton’s defense I only listened to this one on audiobook and I didn’t have a physical copy which I actually truly believe would have made me enjoy this story more. Turton has a way of creating such deep and dense stories thy are filled with so much information that you almost have to have to have both the audio and a physical copy. Also, this story is told from the POV of Abi, who is able to be in the minds of the people living at the end of the world; however, Abi is narrated by James Cameron Stewart - who is phenomenal - but don’t like for this role since “Abi” was identified with feminine pronouns. It just kept throwing me off.
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Overall, I enjoyed this one and I think people will really love it. My rating is more of a me problem than anything. This was just released on 5/21 - check it out! Huge thank you to NetGalley, Stuart Turton and Tantor Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

122 people live on an island and they are all that's left of the world covered in a deadly fog. It's great life until a scientist is murdered and if they don't solve the mystery of who did it in 107 hours the fog will kill so of them. Memories are wiped clear due to security. The narrator has a great voice to listen to, but I found the story hard to follow.

At some point in the future, a fog, probably man-made, covers the whole globe. The fog is filled with tiny insects that devour any living thing they come in contact with, including humans. The only safe place is an island protected by a some kind of shield where 122 villagers and three scientists/elders live. It’s a peaceful place where everyone has their jobs and knows their place. Until one of the scientists is murdered causing the shield to go down. If the murder isn’t solved and the killer executed within 92 hours, the fog will engulf the island.

The narrator is Abi, the artificial intelligence who knows everything that goes on on the island and controls most of it. She is also the one who wiped everyone’s memory. The thing about Abi is that she has a job, she has commands she must follow. So even though she knows all and sees all, she doesn’t share everything with the reader or the villagers.

Our amateur detective is Emory, a villager who has never quite found the job that fits her. She’s never been typical – too curious, too questioning, prone to step out of line. It’s those traits that make her the only choice for investigator. She does as good a job as can be expected and does discover a lot of the island’s secrets in the process.

It’s an interesting concept and it worked well. I liked Emory and her family but wasn’t overly invested in the solution to the murder. I did however want to know what the mysteries were surrounding the island and villagers,