Quite enjoyed most of this dystopian drama, but found some of it a little hard-going and (if I'm brutally honest) a bit tedious at times. However overall, it was worth reading.

I can easily believe that some people would behave extremely badly in that sort of scenario, whilst others would selflessly try to help - so the author's assessment of human behaviour was spot on.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for my honest review.

A murder mystery set in a post apocalyptic world, is a sentence I never imagined I would write!! This is so far from my normal comfort zone,but I have really enjoyed this book!.
It was a really dark and disturbing read,and at times I felt so anxious,my pulse was racing-not always in a good way. At times,it felt so relevant and plausible,it was scary!
Historian Jon Keller,is attending a convention at a hotel in Switzerland. It is fairly isolated and set in the middle of a wood, so when nuclear bombs and weapons wipe out various cities around the world,there is no internet or phone signals to help people contact their loved ones and fears run riot which adds to the tensions experienced by this group. Throw in a few suicides,power shortages, the locked room scenario as people start to distrust each other,and the grim discovery of a body of a young girl in a water tank, turn thoughts towards escaping from the hotel,even though they don't know what has happened in the outside world.
When a few brave souls leave to find food,the tension is again racked up a notch with the implied suggestion that there may be groups of survivors who have become cannibals in order to survive.
Throughout this story runs a high degree of paranoia,anxiety and the struggle to maintain ones sanity. When guns and copious amounts of ammunition is added to this toxic mix, you honestly wonder is this how the end of the world will be?
Told in the form of daily diary entries,which also increases the sense of unease, you can understand all key decisions taken and relate to the fear and disbelief that is shown by people in the hotel. Some have honourable reasons,others will always have secrets to hide. To go investigating a murder whilst in the middle of such a nightmarish situation is an unusual ploy,which works and doesn't distract from the maim emphasis of the book.
There are no really likeable characters,but in such a situation, I would imagine that forceful leaders would readily come to the fore. As I have said,not my normal choice of read,but I have enjoyed it.
I have posted a copy of this review to Goodreads today with a four star rating.

The premise of this book - the end of the world as we know it due to nuclear warfare is very topical and the references to the blame the American voting public must accept are interesting. It works on a level of how humanity will be affected by a catastrophic event such as this. The interactions of the survivors are well devised as are the questions, such as should they really consider themselves as having survived? Is this a life worth living? What does not work as well is the tension of the mystery / thrill and I would hesitate to call this either of those things. For me the ending is just wrong - I felt like the Character involved in it had not really been a big enough part of the main narrative to make it work. It also solved none of the main problems in the story - are we to expect second in the series?

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher.

The Last is set in a dystopian future after nuclear war has begun. Major cities have been destroyed, the internet is only available in a few areas, and major transport links have been shut down. This leaves the residents of a hotel in Switzerland stranded. Many made a run for it on day one, hoping to find their way home, but a select few decided to stay where they knew they would be safe. The book is written as an account from one of those who stayed behind.

Jon was attending a conference when the world collapsed. Like many, he was cut off from his family as the internet went down and his world shrunk to the grounds of the hotel and the nearby forest and town. Regular hunts are arranged to gather food and the hotel rooms provide a safe space for those left behind. The group manage well until a body is discovered. Jon decides to look for the killer whilst documenting the history of each survivor to help uncover the truth of what has happened.

The body is only the start of the trouble within the hotel, the search for the murderer reveals other secrets that have been kept hidden, and other crimes are committed. In such a confined environment with the world ending around them, the gravity of the situation weighs heavily on the residents.

I love how the book feels like it could be set as early as next year. Bad decisions are voted for, and political tensions escalate to nuclear weapons in what seems like no time at all. We don’t learn too much about how it happened, but we could easily imagine it being just around the corner.

I felt the only person we really got to know was Jon, the main character. I knew who stocked chocolate, music, alcohol, or drugs when Jon needed them, but not what made them tick. I learned about their background, but not who they had become as a person as a result. In this way, most characters were unreliable narrators and this kept suspicions high throughout the book.

One question that bubbles away under the surface is was it the right choice to stay? Why not run with the others to try and get home? What would I do in that situation? Flights were cancelled and roads were blocked so what motivated those who left against those who stayed, and which was the right decision?

This book is great for fans of The Feed, Station Eleven, and the Walking Dead.

Review to go live on 24th Jan.

This was right up my street and I loved it - gripping, unsettling and seems worrying plausible! It combines the action and atmosphere of post-apocalyptic novels with the mystery of a thriller in a really effective way. I'd recommend to fans of STATION ELEVEN or THE LEFTOVERS (the last part really reminded me of the third season of the TV show) in particular. Thanks to Penguin Books for the ARC!

I rather liked the idea of this book more than the actual reading of it. The murder mystery added a dimension to the story but it just made me undecided if the author was aiming for the thriller market or post disaster plot. .

I have read about 40% of this book but have decided to not continue. I find the plot fairly dull after the initial disaster and do not wish to continue reading this.

This book feeds our worst fears about what happens without technology and also has a ‘The last policeman’ vibe where behaviours change because there’s no longer anything to lose. That said, I didn’t really find this satisfactory as a dystopia or post apocalyptic novel. It is much more of a locked room mystery with just a veneer of the apocalypse.

8.5/10

I read a couple of really good reviews of this book and decided to request it on NetGalley. I’m sure glad I did as this was a nice surprise. It’s the end of the world but don’t worry about that, we’ve got a mystery to solve!

I loved the way the story was told with enough information being passed on about the end of the world to not feel overbearing (and also reflecting the lack of knowledge the people at the hotel would have had) but also concentrating on the characters left stranded in the hotel and how they would have reacted to events. The main character is writing this all down in a journal/diary to document how everything in the “new” world unfolded but also clinging on to some of his humanity by trying to solve the mystery of who the murdered child is.

The pages shot by and there was barely any dips in the quality. The only issue I had with the story was that the ending felt rushed. I was worried about where things would be going as there wasn’t really much resolution to be had to the end of the world but I felt the ending was abrupt. I also realise this was probably the only way the book could have ended without going on forever.

The ending aside this was good fun. I really enjoyed reading it and the characters and what the mysteries were. Definitely one where this was about the journey and not the destination.

A breakdown in communication between the President of the United States and other representatives of the UN Security Council has led to a situation where the USA is attacked with a nuclear bomb. The President and his staff are among the dead in the nuclear explosion. Further intermittent reports state that London and subsequently the south of England, Glasgow and subsequently Scotland and other major cities around the world have also been wiped out. The end of the world has come.

Jon is a professor, recently arrived in the L'Hotel Sixieme in Switzerland for a conference, a country spared the nuclear explosions, when the end of the world happens. Many, many people flee, in their cars or on foot, towards the coast, to escape or to get back to their families but ultimately now there is sporadic, if any, internet, no way of finding out who was hit, who is alive or dead, definitely no air travel and indeed, in many cases, no city to flee back to. Everyone is in shock and many people, particularly Europeans, blame those that voted for this president who is seen as the cause of it all.

Eventually there are about 20 people remaining in the Hotel where they have to ration food, electricity and heating. There are others also alive, living in the forest and beyond in the town but it is dangerous to venture further than the Hotel and the laws by which we all live seem suspended or irrelevant to this strange, scary and dangerous new world. Jon is recording life in these post-apocalyptic days in the Hotel in his journal for posterity.

Jon and a couple of the other men, fairly early on in the book, find the body of a young girl in one of the water tanks at the Hotel and Jon tries to find out what happened to her. Most people, however, don't care what happened "before" and he finds it difficult to get any answers.

I really enjoyed this book. There was definitely a movie playing in my head as I read it, part "28 days later", part "The Walking Dead" (without the zombies), and part "Station Eleven" (book), The Last tells us about the days following a world nuclear war in which people scramble to survive, to live, to find a new order, to find a meaning for why they survived when so many others didn't. A little bit slow to start, the book revved up at the half way mark and I couldn't put it down. I was thinking about it when I wasn't reading it because, sad to say, it feels like something that could definitely happen in real life, and gives pause for thought as to how we would react, if we were to survive, and how we might live afterward.

Jon as a character is flawed, human, conflicted but brave and considerate. He thinks about his wife and his two daughters and about all the time he thought he had in the world to do or say the things he wanted to. There was one quote in the book that struck me - "if you don't make the decision to love, every day, it's an easy thing to forget." How many of us would that apply to if it were all to end tomorrow?

I loved Tomi, the kick-ass gun-toting woman, afraid of nothing or no-one. Nathan, Aaran and Dylan were also likeable characters and I was rooting for them all the whole way through. I was happy with the way the story wrapped up at the end, including the details of the girl in the water tank, and how Jon ultimately decided where to stay. 4/5

All in all, a very good read, which really made me think and will stay with me for a good while to come.

** spoiler alert ** ***ARC provided by NetGalley***

I was excited to read this, but the reality was disappointing. The idea is good, a group of survivors of a nuclear conflict stuck in a remote hotel, but it's far far too long. 'The Last' would have been brilliant as a 30,000 word novella, but struggles to maintain interest in its current form.

I ended up skim reading the last two thirds and realised I'd missed nothing when I got to the end.

The end wasn't worth it. It feels an awful lot like the author didn't know how to tie all the loose ends up so magicked a solution that made practically no sense.

Two stars because it's not terrible, but I can't give any more

The Last offers up something fresh and original in the end of the world. In it, nuclear war devastates much of the world but the current guests in a Swiss hotel seemed to have survived. Cut off from civilization and isolated in a remote forested area, we think nuclear war is possibly the worst our 20 survivors will face until a body of a child is found. In this story we follow Jon, an American who is at the hotel for a conference. Are his family safe? Can he find a way home to them? Is investigating the death of a child something he should look into given the state of the world?

I was absorbed by this novel. I had no notion where it was headed and what would happen to Jon and the people he gets to know during the extended stay at the hotel, which is now their home. It did go down a number of rabbit holes and held my interest throughout. But, the end seemed ever so slightly off to me. It was good, most unexpected, but not a knock 'em out of the ballpark kind of ending. Well worth the read and well developed, the tension and characters make this novel worth your time.

Hanna Jameson's THE LAST is quite possibly one of the most unsettling books I've read for a long time. In fact, I can't actually remember the last time I was rendered sleepless after putting down my Kindle at bedtime, my pulse pounding slightly too fast as I lay there blinking in the darkness, feeling too alert to sleep. This is what happened as I read this unnerving story of a post-apocalyptic world that - quite terrifyingly - seems as though it could pop into existence any day now.

The narrator of this story is Jon, an American academic who finds himself stranded in a hotel in Switzerland as nuclear bombs drop without warning on the US, reducing the entire world to panic and devastation. The first part of the book explores events at the hotel as the staff and residents react to the news - some fleeing in a vain attempt to get home - before banding together as best they can to survive.

The days wear on, and we follow the action as Jon keeps a diary of events around the hotel. In his words we track characters with suspect motivations, deaths that occur as the fallout of world events make their mark, strange noises on upper floors, a dwindling food supply - and the disturbing discovery of a dead child, clearly murdered. Jon, together with the other residents with whom he's bonded the most, tries in vain to discover not just the identity of the child, but how she died, who killed her - and whether the killer is still in the hotel.

For me, the investigation of the murder comes second to the actual events and plot lines of the characters at the hotel. THE LAST is an incredibly sharp and disturbing look at how people react in times of crisis - do they descend into an us vs. them mentality, a kill-or-be-killed way of life? Or do they try to do whatever they can to help their fellow humankind? And how far will people really go to try to survive?

This aspect of the book was, for me, the most unsettling and addictive thing about it. I raced through the second half, resulting twice in those sleepless nights as I had to stop at certain chapters in order to get enough sleep for the working week! To feel such emotion and physical reaction to a book is, in my mind, a mark of an incredibly accomplished author with an exciting plot and a very well-executed book - and that's exactly what this is.

Step into Post Apocalyptic Nightmare that our small group of survivors face after nuclear weapons detonate all over the world. Jon was on a business trip to Switzerland when the world he knew ended. On the day he should be checking out the bombs fall, effectively cutting him and the rest of the guests cut off from the world.
As the guests struggle to accept what they are seeing across social media many decide to leave and risk what's out there. Soon there is just a smaller group with Jon in its midst. Jon is struggling to not only come to terms with what's happening but with his final chat with his wife, its that conversation that will haunt all his decisions from here on in. So the group hunkers down and try to adapt to their new restricted way of life.
The author deals very well with group dynamics and how the human race would react under those circumstances. Who takes charge, who is happy to follow and the odd one who just wants to float through life in neither camp they are all here in this book . Follow them all, live the story through their eyes the author has the talent to let you the reader do that. So while Jon is our main character the others are given their time in the spotlight within the story.
Throw in a cursed hotel, suicide, murder and suspected cannibalism and you get a great take on the post-apocalyptic genre. If you like books of that genre you will enjoy this, if you want a good thrilling read you will enjoy it too. Go out and buy it and see for yourselves.

I'm really starting to get into books of this genre and I found another winner in this one which was scarily credible given the shenanigans going on in the world today.
Historian Jon Keller is on a trip away when nuclear war breaks out. Cut off from friends and family - that is if they are even still alive - he is isolated with the remaining staff and guests in a Swiss hotel. But they rally to stay alive, pooling resources and working together to ensure they have the basics for survival. Until, that is, they discover the body of a child whose death does not appear to be natural. It seems that there could be a murderer in their ranks, or at the very least, someone who must know something. Jon then becomes a bit obsessed with the girl's death and decides to investigate which has repercussions on the group as a whole. With only 20 people left at the hotel, it is more than likely that the killer left with the rest of the people there when the news of the bombs hit, but Jon is determined to find the truth, at the same time trying to survive the conflict that his investigations kick up; the majority just wanting to survive the fallout from the bombs. But some of them are also harbouring secrets which leads to an interesting and dangerous time of things for all.
This was a bit of a strange book for me. Most of the cast had their own secrets and lies that they were trying to keep but, at the same time, there was a strong feeling of camaraderie throughout the story as most of the focus was on the group's efforts to stay alive as they waited for help to come. Hoped that help would come, unsure of what is going on in the rest of the world as lines of communication fell. I found their resourcefulness and planning very interesting and hope that if I am ever in a similar situation, heaven forbid, I can think back on some of what I read here!
Pacing was a bit hit and miss as the book did tend to meander around with not much actual action or story progression but I guess this fitted the narrative as whatever they were doing to stay alive did take time and for the most part, they didn't have much else to actually do. Rather there were parts where characters were developed along the way as more of their individual stories came to light which was interesting in the main. It probably also didn't help that the story was told by way of Jon's journal entries as, being a writer, he felt it necessary to document their ordeal, and it was all a bit one-dimensional with the single narrative. It was also quite political in nature but then I guess that side of things can't really be helped given the fact that it all came about due to nuclear war breaking out and you can't get much more political than that! But there were times when I did roll my eyes at the "well you voted for him" spiel that kept rearing its ugly head through the book.
Characters were a bit hit and miss for me - most of them a bit unlikable but I guess true colours out when people get in sticky situations so it's to be expected that things got ugly occasionally.
The ending was not all I would have wanted given my penchant for murder mysteries as that side of things went a bit off for me. That said, it was a fitting ending to the apocalyptic dystopian side of things which it fitted very well.
All in all a good solid read that although not quite lighting all my fires, it did hold my attention nicely throughout and left me mostly satisfied at its conclusion. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

If you have ever wondered what life might be like after a nuclear holocaust, then this is definitely a book for you!

Through the lead character, John Keller, Hanna Jameson explores all the possible trials and tribulations a surviving party might encounter - no Internet; not external communications; rebuilding the group morale, ethics, and morality; its roles and responsibilities; the rationing of fuel, food and water; establishing the rule of law following an attempted rape and then compounding the whole scenario by a murder at the hotel, which is the setting for the novel. That names but a few of the many issues addressed as the pages unfold, alongside others like leadership, the exertion of influence and even potential cannibalism.

The novel is at times dark, grim and foreboding! At other times, as people's stories unfold, lighter-hearted and funny. The author weaves a brilliant web of intrigue, suspicion and concern, and the denouement, when it arrives, does so with a whisper!

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it.

The problem with The Last isn't so much that it can't decide what it wants to be—thoughtful end-of-the-world novel a la Station Eleven, or classic murder-mystery-in-an-inescapable-environment a la A Christmas Murder—but more that it hasn't realised it needs to decide at all. It wants to be both, and it can't be. Set in a hotel in a remote Swiss forest, it focuses on the academic historian Jon Keller, who's attending a conference when the lights of the world go out. Wisely, Jameson doesn't spend much time trying to explain the sociopolitical situation that led to global nuclear war; at one point Jon recalls hearing a woman cry, "They've bombed Washington" and not even being sure who "they" are, which, in the current political climate of semi-permanent confusion and proliferating news sources, seems much more likely than anyone having a firm grasp of whys and wherefores as the world burns. Keller's anxiety about his wife (with whom he argued before leaving for Switzerland) and children is nicely judged, and Jameson is good on the way people coalesce around a leader in times of uncertainty. She's also, refreshingly, hopeful: the community that Keller and his fellow hotel guests find at the end of the novel doesn't seem to be a trap or a cult, but a genuine attempt to live well in the ruins, even to build a new world. It's just that there's a lot going on in The Last, and the murder mystery - despite its interesting philosophical question of whether it's worth investigating injustice in the midst of a meta-disaster - takes a back seat too often. (And the solution is...let's not talk about it.)

I found this book to be quite scary. Being born in 1954, I lived through the cold war. This story is about nuclear war but it's set now. Trump is president, and the only reason these people have survived the war is because they're in an out of the way place in Switzerland. So many questions without answers, many still unanswered by the end.

A good, interesting read.

This is a book of survivalist proportions. From the very first page, you're thrown into a chaotic world of newness, unsure of which way is up. You find yourself tagging along with this new bunch of characters who don't know each other, lost in the same confusion as you. But that's kind of where the excitement ends. The writing is sparse, and though this works in the favour of some parts of the action, it fails to cultivate the kind of tension you want in a book that's being compared to 'And Then There Were None'. I could only wish that there was just a bit more substance to this book, a bit more padding. The central character, Jon, is quite elusive at times, and I wish I had known a little more about him before we suddenly told to root for him. He's very nonchalant with his tonality, and it makes the character feel disjointed from the world around them.
If this had been a debut, I think I would have cut it a little more slack. It was okay, but not the best thing I've read in this sub-genre before.

Not another dystopian thriller you might say. There is more to this book than that. A gripping fast paced account of events comes from the point of view of historian Jon Keller. The gentleman in question finds himself in an isolated hotel in the back of beyond in a forest in Switzerland. Along with several others at a conference he is shocked to suddenly hear news filtering through about nuclear attacks on major cities around the world. As you would expect panic sets in and people are wanting to leave but travel is a problem. Isolated as they are. How can they know if railways and airports are still operating?
Everything is in disarray, Keller has no way of finding out about the fate of his family.. ,All any of them can do right now is survive.. Then there appears to be a murder of a young girl near the hotel.. Can there be a killer among the remaining quests ? In the circumstances what can or should they do and should justice be served. A quite plausible unsettling telling of events.