While I found this book fairly entertaining, it lost points with me for trying to be too many things - apoc-fic, murder mystery, psych thriller, romance, ghost story...boy, was this book having an identity crisis! Perhaps inevitably, it wasn't great at being any of these things. Which is a great shame as the premise held great potential but, unfortunately, it didn't deliver a cohesive plot. The ending took a weird and truly unexpected turn that I didn't really enjoy. However, there were some really tense and atmospheric scenes that I found genuinely chilling.

The Last is a story that had great potential, one that left me curious to see how the story would come together. Although I was intrigued throughout, it didn’t quite wow me in the way I had hoped.

I think my main problem with this one – the reason I never crossed from enjoyment of the story into obsession with the story – was how little action there was. There were certainly interesting moments, times when things grew intense, but I expected more action from the storyline. As it was, things fell into the background a lot and we were plodding along. I wanted intensity and action, I wanted to be on the edge of my seat, yet it was simple curiosity to see how everything came together instead of something bigger.

Don’t get me wrong, things came together well. There were plenty of interesting elements to make you think, but it wasn’t quite enough for me. I prefer more intensity with my dystopian and my murder mysteries, and this didn’t quite reach the high with either element.

All in all, a decent read but not quite all I had hoped it would be.

This post-apocalyptic, dystopian thriller/murder mystery was as fast paced as the description implies. The protagonist, Jon provides our window to this new world as he struggles to piece together the events that led up to the discovery of a young girl’s body.

Jameson has written a riveting mystery with richly drawn characters who are made all the more interesting by their flaws.

I look forward to reading more books by her in the future.

*** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher ***

THE LAST BY HANNA JAMESON


The Last by Hanna Jameson has become a Sunday Times bestseller since it’s publication and it’s Netflix adaptation is currently under way.



SYNOPSIS
While at a remote Swedish hotel, historian Jon Keller begins to enjoy the break from his wife and children, something he’d regret forever. His peace is shattered when a woman screams “They’ve bombed Washington” during the hotel’s breakfast service. Most of the room turn to their phones to check the latest news and soon it becomes clear that Washington wasn’t the only target and the world’s worst fears are confirmed, nuclear war has broken out.

Fifty days later and Jon is still living at the hotel. Many people left hours or days after the news of the explosions began, running for family homes, to docks or the airport, but no one ever returned. Then the suicides started and almost two months later there are only twenty people left. When the water starts to taste strange and people start to sicken it’s no great shock but Jon and a couple of the other men head to the roof to investigate the water tanks. There they the body of a young girl.

There’s no way the girl’s death could be an accident, moving the lid off one of the water tanks hand taken three grown men. They take the girl’s body to Tania, the only doctor amongst the survivors. She confirms the girl died almost two months earlier but it was impossible to give an exact date due to her being in the water for so long.

Searching for some kind of justice, Jon sets his heart on finding out who the girl was and who killed her. Could the killer still be living at the hotel?







REVIEW
The Last by Hanna Jameson is a genre-bending mix of science fiction, thriller and murder mystery. Written from the perspective of the protagonist, Jon, the writing style is short, sharp and to the point, making it a fast read that pulls you in incredibly quickly. As Jon investigates the murder, he slowly unravels some of the stories behind the characters that have chosen to make their hotel their final home. Even without the storyline of the young girl, there is so much going on in this story.

Although I’ve not seen it mentioned, I’m presuming Hannah Jameson has taken inspiration from the real-life Cecil Hotel that was plagued by tragedy for years. Knowing about this genuine hotel only added an extra level of unease while reading this fiction.

Fast, tense, thought-provoking and unique The Last by Hanna Jameson is a book that I devoured in just a couple of evenings, becoming one of my first ‘must read’ books of the year.

Future dystopia, apocalypse is happening and there’s a murder mystery... present day anyone?

Great read that I sped through with engaging characters and a decent thriller mystery plot. Good choice whether your a fan of this kind of genre or not.

Was thrown by this as I was expecting a thriller and it's more of speculative fiction about the end of the world. it was interesting but my interest began to wear extremely thin after a while.

The Last by Hanna Jameson, paperback, 400 pages, Waterstones, £8.99

Hanna Jameson’s The Last is an immersive read from beginning to end. This novel is unlike anything I have read before as it begins in a situation that no one else has ever experienced. The Last is about the last remaining guests at a hotel in Switzerland During their stay the work ends. The Last tries to exhibit what this situation would be like. Furthermore, with reason to believe a murderer is staying at the hotel – as a body is discovered – the novel begins to question whether morals have ended too.
Background

Throughout this novel it is clearly evident that Jameson has given ‘the end of the world’ many thought when creating this novel. Small luxuries we take for granted are stripped away from them in an instant, making us question what we could possible live with – or without. Furthermore with a hotel providing accommodation for a variety of cultures, The Last begins to showcase humanities beliefs to the bare bone.

Format

Interestingly the format of this novel isn’t your standard ‘chapter 1.’ The novel has been written by John, a professor from San Fransisco, who is currently attending a conference. Instead of chapters the novel follows a diary-like structure to recollect the days that have went by. This may not be everyone’s favourite structure style, however it is very suiting and adds a personal touch to the experience.

Themes

There are two main themes underlying in this novel. One is anthropology and the other is mystery. Throughout The Last, all of the characters are significantly different and thus show very different reactions to the end of the world and to each other. Although I found this very interesting, my main reason for reading this novel was due to a murder investigation in a very unusual circumstance.

As the novel progressed I was unsure how the novel was going to end as there was little progress made about the murder. Overall I felt let down as the murderer was only identified after their was a solution to morals and leadership. For this reason, I felt like the mystery element was an afterthought and made the suspense I had, flop like a pancake.

I am still pleased that I read The Last as I did enjoy the characters’ journey. However I would describe this novel as speculative fiction, as I felt misled with this novel being associated as a crime or thriller. If you like alternative fiction, think Lord of the Flies survival in the time of Brave New World, then you’re in for a treat.

Please give it a read and keep an open mind. It may not have been the type of book I wanted to read but I really enjoyed the change.

You can pick this book up here.

This book was received via NetGalley.

I have always been drawn to “end of the world” stories and this one had an interesting spin on the genre (a murder mystery stuck right in the middle of the apocalypse). Plot kept moving along, and it had an interesting point of view, told in the voice of a historian observing and living the events he chronicles. But I’m still thinking over whether the ending worked or not. Just know you will close the book after the last page and think, “....and where in the heck did that ending come from?”. A book doesn’t need a happy ending to work, but it does need one that makes some kind of logical sense. Unfortunately I’m not sure this one had that. But maybe a lack of logic in a post apocalyptic world is needed. Worth a read.

Unsettling, thought-provoking & brilliantly original - this is a fabulous social dystopia with a mystery element.

I loved it and I can't wait to see what Jameson does next!

Thanks to Penguin Books UK and Netgalley for sending me this in exchange for an open and honest review.

This was a strange one. Kind of end of the world Walking Dead vibes mixed with an Agatha Christie whodunnit.
Really enjoyable, but quite unexpected.

DNF at 25%.

This book is sooooo boring. I got a quarter of the way through and nothing was happening. I expected it to be tense and paced well and interesting, but the plot is barely there (there's a dead girl but nobody cares except the main character? In the midst of a nuclear attack?) and the characters themselves are dull and dry. Most of them are so one dimensional that I could have cried reading it. Also, the supernatural ghost thing that is going on makes absolutely no sense. Maybe it's explained later on, but with how slow this book is, I think it would need over a thousand pages to actually explain anything.

A passable apocalypse story and a passable crime story but not enough of either I’m afraid. Best of luck to the author on their next book.

Clever, original, unputdownable. Really enjoyed this, found it to be dark, chilling and exciting. Would highly recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Books for the ARC of this book.

I absolutely loved the premise of this book, essentially a closed-house murder mystery set during a nuclear apocalypse. It’s a really exciting combination of genres. It is absolutely compelling right from the start and I didn’t want to put it down. It is written as first person past tense chronological diary entries which I find the most readable form of fiction and means the style does not get in the way of the story.

It follows Jon Keller, an American professor, who is staying at a Swiss hotel when nuclear war breaks out across the world. He and about 20 survivors remain at the hotel and he begins to investigate the death of a young girl who is found murdered at the hotel. His diary entries describe his investigations and the struggles of the survivors to continue their lives at the hotel.

The first three quarters of this book are utterly brilliant. I was enjoying it so much I knew the ending could never live up to the rest of the book. It’s rare that a mystery book this interesting has a satisfying ending and that was true of this book too; the resolution just didn’t pack the same punch as the rest of the book. In spite of that, it’s easily the most exciting and compelling book I have read in a long time.

I thought I would be looking for comforting feel-good books at this time of global pandemic but I have really enjoyed this and ‘The Girl with All the Gifts’ in the past week. Maybe apocalyptic fiction makes our current situation seem less scary and strange.

As a catastrophic fantasist who always ponders what I’d do in apocalyptic situations, I really enjoyed this! Set in a remote hotel in Switzerland, in the middle of a forest, during the end of the world, historian Jon Keller writes a daily journal about what’s happening - including when the survivors at the hotel find a body.

I actually delayed reading this book for a year or so because so many reviews (and the synopsis) made it sound like more of a murder thriller than a post-apocalyptic survival story; I was pleased to find it was probably more of the latter.

A fast, pacy read, being adapted by Netflix.

Unfortunately I read this book a while ago and seem to have missed it when writing reviews. - sadly I cant remember enough detail to give a full review.
However, thanks to NetGalley for the ARC :-)

I was expecting to really enjoy this book and I'm so glad I did. It's the perfect mix of dystopian and thriller; we have the dystopian side where the world seems to be ending as cities drop nuclear bombs on each other, and then we have the thriller side where Jon and the others at the hotel have to consider having a murderer among them and worrying if they'll be next.

The whole dystopian side of a nuclear world war was atually pretty chilling, and with the current climate of the world, it genuinely would not surprise me if it happens - our world is literally becoming a dystopian book and it's scary. The thought of being cut off completely from the world, while you're in the middle of nowhere with a group of strangers, not knowing if your friends and family are alive or dead, quite simply the thought is terrifying. I thought the way the characters were written was brilliant, and how they had to work together to survive. Friendships, and more, were formed but there were also conflicts, which you would expect in a situation like that, and it only seems to get worse once they find the girl's body. When they had to leave the hotel to look for supplies that they were runing low on, it really put me on edge, seeing how desperate some people get, and what they'll do to get it was, wow, is all I can say.

I did think the ending was a little rushed, and I can't really go into any more detail without giving away any spoilers. I like how even though it is a standalone, the ending gives the possibility for there to be a sequel, and if there is a sequel then I will definately be reading it.

A brilliant premise that "lost it on the corner" as we say in my family.
Neither a full exploration of descent into madness post apocalyptic disaster, nor a good murder mystery, nor even a look at how society would go about building itself after an apocalyptic disaster, it was a bit of a mess really.

A good atmospheric thriller. Lagged a bit in the middle but the book as a whole makes up for it. Would recommend to fans of Agatha Christie.

A satisfying locked room mystery that starts with a great premise and is carried out effectively. Not likely to remain long in the mind, but enjoyable nonetheless.