This book grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go right up until the end. Did I understand any of the science? NOPE. Did that detract from my giddy enjoyment of this story? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I couldn't put it down and it quickly leaped to one of my favorite reads of the year!

Several novels into a wildly creative career Caitlin Starling remains as elusive to categorise as ever. To many The Luminous Dead (2019) indicated that a major new voice in science fiction has arrived on the scene, only for Starling to neatly sidestep into historical fiction with her follow up, effortlessly blending horror into the mix with The Death of Jane Lawrence (2021). Clearly refusing to be pigeon-holed, her latest Last to Leave the Room again puts a few genres in the mixer and is an intoxicating blend of science fiction, horror, paranoia and doppelgängers.

The rumblings in the background to Last to Leave the Room, which beautifully set the scene, were outstanding and once I (just about) got my head around it was totally sucked into the story. All buildings in the city of San Siroco is slowly sinking a few centimetres every month and nobody can explain why. At the same time the internal dimensions of the main character’s basement is expanding (a fact she keeps to herself) and these distorting dimensions are totally unexplainable and go beyond the laws of physics.

This was a whacky premise for a novel which could lead to mass catastrophes with building collapses, roads buckling or watermains exploding, but Starling deliberately sidesteps these types of distractions which might be more at home in an action based post-apocalyptic thriller. Instead she delivers a slow burner, in which characters overlap and blend together, and although we are given brief glimpses of the ‘big picture’ this claustrophobic read only has a few characters and is mostly set in Dr. Tamsin Rivers’s flat.

Speculative horror novels need a great hook to suck their readers in and Last to Leave the Room has a beauty, part of which reminded me of Gus Moreno’s This Thing Between Us (2021). Tamsin is the head of the research team assigned to find the source of the weird subsidence, working for a shady exploratory tech company, who have their own agenda and are looking to stay ahead of the curve in the impending disaster. Tamsin is a career first type woman and will step on anybody to get ahead but finds herself strangely conflicted when a strange door appears in her expanding basement.

Although the pace might be too slow for some readers I found myself totally absorbed by the internal conflicts of Tamsin Rivers and how she handled her, obviously very dangerous handler Lachlan who monitored her emails and every other movement. To say much more about the dynamics of the plot would go into spoiler territory, except to say that when Tamsin finds an exact duplicate of herself sitting beside the new door in her basement.

From that moment on Last to Leave the Room becomes even more intriguing with us entering the world of doppelgängers and Weird Fiction. After this point I advise reading this novel even more closely as you will be desperate for knowledge of what lies beyond the door, whether the new door is related to the buildings sinking and what the duplicate truly wants. Even though creditability is stretched way beyond breaking point, the manner in which Caitlin Starling spins her story is almost believable and there are plenty of tricks and traps in the story to catch the reader out.

I had my suspicions on the direction in which the plot was going to head (and I was not wrong) but this did not spoil what was a highly enjoyable, but deliberately low key, horror thriller. Like with both versions of Dead Ringers before long you will be questioning who is who, getting lost in the psychological labyrinth of Dr. Tamsin Rivers and if she does not who she is, us the readers have no chance! I do not claim to have cracked Last to Leave the Room 100% but had a hell of a time trying to!

Last to Leave the Room was quite the wild ride. Dr. Tamsin Rivers is an overly ambitious, cold and calculating scientist working on sophisticated communications upgrades for a massive tech conglomerate. Her ambition pushes her to the edge of being human and then some. Dr. River’s work and drive lead to the creation of a door out of nothing and the world around her starts defying the laws of physics.

Then the door opens, and there are two. The second is referred to as Prime and is treated like a lab experiment. As time passes, the original Dr. Rivers loses more and more of herself until she breaks, leading to some interesting twists.

As I continued reading the book, I wasn’t really sure where the plot was going or if things that were brought up in the beginning were relevant to the overall plot and narrative. I think the disorienting nature of the story was intentional, but there were sections I wasn’t certain of what was occurring that mostly tied out in the end.

I can’t say it all made sense to me in the end, but it was an interesting and strange read by an author whose works I have enjoyed in the past. After reading the Death of Jane Lawrence earlier this year, I wasn’t sure what I was in for. I’d look forward to more of Caitlin Starling’s work in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book.

I had a big weekend of reading. This was weird but it flowed well. I was thoroughly creeped out. I absolutely love books with mystery doors.
Great job! Thank you for the ARC.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.

A vast departure from The Death of Jane Lawrence but not quite delivering the same relentless pace and tension of The Luminous Dead, Last to Leave the Room instead focuses on hubris and brilliance and boundless curiosity - particularly when they’re not tempered by empathy. I read the majority of this book in the airport / on a plane where I couldn’t very easily escape Dr. Tamsin Rivers and her slow unraveling. She’s obsessive and clinical and severely mistrustful, constantly calculating how she can remain ahead of everyone else (ally and competition alike - because even allies are competition of a sort).

I will say that the pacing took a hit around the midpoint, which allowed me to kind of disengage and let me walk away from the story and the characters - preceding a big shift. Thankfully, that shift brought up new questions and piqued my slowly flagging interest.

I personally think it should also have ended one chapter earlier. I’m generally not a fan of epilogues and, conversely, love an open (but conclusive!) ending, and I think that would have been a PERFECT fit for this story rather than giving us a postscript.

As a huge fan of The Luminous Dead, I was excitedly awaiting this new novel from Caitlin Starling. I was not disappointed! I love the author's uncanny, creepy, queer horror vibe. There is a sense of dread that builds throughout the early part of this book that is very well done, and she pulls off the difficult feat of transmuting the horror into a different form after the dread builds to its breaking point. I couldn't put it down!

Wow, what to say without spoiling anything… I’m going to call this WFH Horror. Stressful, chilling, tense until the very last page… just a fantastic book! This author’s best yet imo (but frankly I hope she has a lot more to come because at this rate I will read every single one!).

The author also pulls off an incredible magic trick which is that this book is suffused with the feeling of COVID-era isolation - but there is absolutely no reference to any pandemic/disease/virus/flu/illness. All of the horror without any of the… horror?

Oh also… LOVED the ending. Just perfect.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When I saw that the author of The Death of Jane Lawrence had a new book out, I knew that I needed to add it t my TBR list right away! Last to Leave the Room by Caitlin Starling is an innovative blend of sci-fi and horror. The story revolves around Tamsin, a researcher in charge of finding out why her city is sinking. One day, in her basement, she finds a weird door and a doppelganger pops out. The doppelganger is an almost exact copy of her, and Tamsin starts to use her to double her productivity. Her doppelganger can take over menial tasks for her so that she can focus on what really matters. But Tamsin is experiencing some concerning symptoms, including memory loss and general confusion.

Here is an atmospheric excerpt from Chapter 1:

"Dr. Tamsin Rivers stands in the abyss.
The absence of light and sound has a weight all its own, separate from the gravity that, along with the sound of her blood and breath, are the only reminders that she has a body. She is standing on a catwalk, suspended in the center of a geodesic dome far below the city of San Siroco. Its walls are several body lengths thick, and the sensors it houses are silent, giving off no telltale hum of electricity. Even the air is tasteless, scentless. She keeps one hand always on the guideline, the only way back to the door she entered through."

Overall, Last to Leave the Room is a blend of sci-fi and horror that will appeal to fans of Black Mirror. This book would make the perfect Halloween scary read. One highlight of this book is the intriguing premise. Once I read about the imaginary/real door in the basement in the synopsis, I knew that I had to keep reading to find out more about this door. Another highlight of this book is how horrific it was. At times, I had chills going up and down my spine. Some parts were especially difficult to read. This is certainly not a book for the squeamish. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of sci-fi or horror books in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in October!

I'm in the vast minority here but I simply could not get into this book and finally had to give it up because I was utterly confused and not at all engaged.. I enjoyed Starling's "The Death of Jane Lawrence" on the whole, but had similar issues with that book - although it engaged me early on in a way that this one did not, which is what gave me the patience to make it through the entire book. In both instances though, I felt like the story dragged on with page after page of description yet nothing happening despite Concepts that were brilliant and engaging and offered tremendous potential for action and intrigue and unusualness. Perhaps I am just not a good fit for her writing style...

An interesting take on existential horror with a sci-fi twist, but I found the pacing to be tediously slow. I think this would've been more engaging if it had been quite a bit shorter.

This book is incredibly creepy and mind-bending, and the concept is fascinating. What would you do if a mysterious door suddenly appeared in your home? Perhaps it's best if you don't know...?
The first few chapters didn't exactly pull me in, but the science was interesting. I kept on reading, and I'm glad that I did because things got tense in the best way. Plus, I loved the wild swing between despising and pitying the MC.

Another mindfuck from Caitlin Starling, LAST TO LEAVE THE ROOM will keep you turning page after page and wondering what exactly the powers of perception leave on you.

I’ll admit that I’m a massive sucker for doppelgänger stories, so I was practically guaranteed to enjoy this novel before even beginning to read.

Pacing was great, I particularly enjoyed the characters, the story was super fun, and I was hooked from the start. I did find the writing to be a little heavy handed for my taste, like as a reader I wished Starling trusted me a bit more to get what she was going for. This felt like a thriller, which I don’t typically enjoy, but I had a fun time with this one.

Starling’s The Luminous Dead is often recommended in my circles, and it’s officially being bumped up on my TBR because of how much I enjoyed this one.