The Last Murder at the End of the World is my second book I've read by this author, the first being The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Although the window dressing is different (sci-fi/apocalyptic on an island at the end of the world for the former, more traditional murder mystery vibes from a mansion), the ultimate premise is similar -- closed-door mystery where the characters need to come together to identify the murderer before time runs out.

I really enjoyed The Last Murder on a similar level to The 7 1/2 Deaths. The cast of characters were interesting, and most of the twists I did not see coming. These are the kinds of books so incredibly dense with detail that if you don't read them for days, you're liable to forget important events. My only qualm with this book (which is more a personal issue) is that I was a little disappointed in the ending; to be fair, I had some pretty outlandish predictions, but ultimately, the ending was quieter than that -- still a shock, sure, but nothing as crazy as I had imagined. There was also a lot of commentary on society and violence, etc., which I enjoyed.

All-in-all, excellent book. I will definitely keep an eye on this author's future works.

The Last Murder at the End of the World- Stuart Turton
Rating: 3/5
Form: Audio
Duration: 11 hours and 28 minutes

This book has been one of those I've been waiting to get my hands on! Special thank you to Netgalley and Tantor Audio for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion. This book was very...interesting to say the least. The premise is a unique one centered around a post apocalyptic world on a tiny Greek island with "endlers" and "villagers". The "elders" are members of society who are very old, yet seem to freeze in time at the age of 50, and the "villagers" all live to the age of 60. This story is told through Abi, an AI entity who is always in the minds of the villagers, guiding them throughout their daily lives. One day, one of the "elders" is found dead and it is up to a villager named Emory to find out who the killer is to save all of humanity before the fog gets to them.

While I loved the idea and was slightly terrified at this type of lifestyle being 100% possible with the evolution of AI, this book had a ton of sci-fi in it and less...murder mystery. It was also very long and took me a while to get through. The characters were well developed, storyline was well thought out, but just lacked excitement for me. There weren't specific cliffhangers making me want to know more throughout the chapters...which would have made it better. Also, I felt like at the end, I was disappointed by the outcome. There is no big reveal or shock that the reader gets.

Overall, great premise, but would have loved more hooks in the storyline.

A deadly fog has swept over the planet and killed most of its inhabitants, save for a few scientists and some simple villagers on a protected island. When one of the scientists is murdered, a dead man's switch is triggered and villager Emory must solve the murder in order to prevent the fog from destroying her home.

The Last Murder at the End of the World is a suspenseful blend of a murder mystery and post-apocalyptic science fiction wrapped up into a single book. From the description, I expected the story to be focused more on the murder mystery than the science fiction, but it turns out that there's a pretty equal amount of both. Novels heavy on science fiction – especially of the dystopian variety – aren't usually my jam, but somehow this book mostly worked for me?

Okay I really enjoyed this! I didn't love his first book, but this was a wonderfully twisty dystopian sci-fi take on a procedural murder mystery.

The choice of narrator was brilliant because they are a character who at once sees everything that happens, and strategically withholds information for its own reasons. There were multiple points in the book where my assumptions about what was happening and what world we were in got turned on their head and cast everything in a new light. This would be a fun book to re-read knowing what you know at the end to see if you can put more of the pieces together.

One of the things I didn't like about Turton's first book was that there is a sci-fi twist at the very end that comes out of nowhere. This book seeds that information very early and then slowly drops bits of information that continue to flesh out the world and characters. I thought it was masterfully done and it held my attention throughout the book. The audio narration is also perfect, though at the beginning I didn't like it. Once I understood who the narrator of the story was though, I loved it. I won't spoil what happens because I think it's best to go in knowing very little, but I do recommend it! I received an audio copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Thanks to Tantor Audio & NetGalley for providing an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I listened to (and enjoyed) The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (although I hated the ending SO MUCH), so I kind of knew I was in for a weird ride with this one. The scifi aspects of this story are pretty out there, and the reader doesn't know the full extent of them until maybe halfway through the book. Then there is the "murder mystery," which is not much of one. I don't love it when scifi and mys come together in a terrible PB&J and this time is no different: pick a genre, Stuart Turton!

We are in a post-apocalyptic world, on a little Greek island on which over 100 people live in the aftermath of the poison fog that killed humans on contact over the period of about a year. On this island there are "elders" and "villagers." The elders are very very old but don't look a day over 50 (this was never explained), and the villagers die promptly at 60. The villagers are constantly "assisted" in their minds by some type of AI entity guiding their daily choices, known as Abi. The mystery enters in when one of the elders, who is the most beloved by the villagers, dies in suspicious circumstances, and the remaining elders ask Emory, a villager who has tried her hand at a number of ways to be "useful" in the community, and failed, to investigate the crime. She is thwarted by many obstacles, including, at times, Abi, who it seems is engineering events to their own means.

This story has good bones; Turton is not untalented by any means, but man, is this convoluted. Many questions left unanswered, which was a bit frustrating. We find out "whodunnit" but it's rather a letdown and not particularly believable. Turton has done better.

2.5 stars rounded up

This was just ok for me unfortunately. I was excited to dive into this one since The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is one of my favorite books. This had a very interesting concept but the execution was a bit all over the place for me. The beautiful cover and narration itself was a 10/10! I do seem to be an outlier so maybe try and see if it works for you!

Thank you to NetGalley, Stuart Turton, & Tantor Audio for the ALC!

I liked the book for the most part. I think the idea was very interesting, but the story did fall a little flat for me. Maybe I missed something and it was make more sense and be better in a second listen but I’ll give it some time to marinate first.

Enjoyed until the very end that felt like a talking head explaining the mystery. Bummer. Reminded me of Clara and the Sun, Wolves of the Calla.

This was on my most anticipated 5-star read and did not disappoint. It's hard to give a review without telling spoilers. This book needs to be experienced going in cold. I was fortunate to be blessed to experience BOTH the book and the audio. Let me say the audio enhanced my overall enjoyment!! Right now the author is 2 out of 3 for enjoyed books written. I'm definitely looking forward to his next book!!

#NETGALLEY
#STUARTTURTON
#THELASTMURDRRATTHEENDOFTHEWORLD

Last Murder is a strange post-apocalyptic novel centered on various classes of beings that have taken refuge on an island after all of Earth has been consumed by a strange fog. There are various classes of people -- from a few humans running the show to several constructed humans serving as a workforce, to regular people in hibernation waiting for opportune conditions. The narrator is in the odd position of being somewhat godlike in influence over and ability to control the lesser beings, able to read thoughts of higher ones, but subservient to the person overseeing things. For this reason, there are continual questions of its limitations and powers that appear contrived; as do the responsibilities of most of the beings, since every morning they awake with strange injuries and no memories of the night -- similar to the great move Dark City.
The unclear definition of who fits into what class and how limited their responsibilities for situations makes it hard to root for any of them as they try to piece together clues around their leader's death and what it triggers.

Read this book if you:
- like dystopian sci-fi books
- don’t mind untangling a complex puzzle
- might find yourself playing a game of Clue during the end of the world

I have found I really enjoy a lot of dystopian reads, but this one was fairly complex and hard to follow at times. This felt a little too literary fiction for my taste. The premise is interesting, and the cover is BEAUTIFUL, but I had higher expectations for this book.

The narration was stellar. It was one I could easily listen to and I enjoyed the narrator’s voice.

If you like dystopian plots, literally fiction, and a complicated puzzle to try to solve - this is for you! I did enjoy the reveal of this one, but it dragged too much for my taste personally. But the concept was interesting and I am glad I read it.

3 and a half stars

I really wanted to love this because I loved "The Seven but of Evelyn Hugo" but this was a three star book for me. I listened to the audio thanks to Netgally and I really enjoyed the narrator but I felt that the book was a little slow. I guess I would describe this as a closed circle mystery. All of humanity is stuck on this island because a deadly virus in the form of fog has taken over the world and the only safe place is the island and even then the fog is closing in. When someone is murder the survivors must figure out who did it.

I tried to listen to this audiobook several times but didn't get very far. I don't know if it was just the story line or the narrator but I just couldn't get into the story enough to continue.

Thank you for the ALC for my honest review.

Always down for a murder mystery with a premise that feels a bit different and unique to the genre. The concept behind the story made the book overall feel all the more fun. This one goes into more of a dystopian, sci-fi direction. Overall, I had a really good time with the majority of the book.

The mystery plot itself was super solid. I grew to like a couple of the characters quite a bit and seeing them evolve with each new revelation was great. The ending was very neat and satisfying. Personally, I loved a mystery with a nice closed ending.

The only red mark I have against the book is that the pacing was bit off for me. It was a slower moving story overall, so be prepared for that going in and it could make all the difference. Getting into the story for those first 30-40% was more difficult than I would have liked, but once the mystery solving really kicked into gear I was hooked! Loved it from that point on.

(2.75 rounded up to 3)

Given the title, I don’t know why I was surprised by the fact that this book is just as much a dystopian novel as it is a mystery. I don’t know if my opinion of the story would have been different had I gone into it knowingly, but it definitely did take me by surprise.

I struggle to give a synopsis of this because I found it tricky to follow on audiobook. The delivery may be better suited for paper. The gist of the story is that a small island community is cut off from other parts of the world due to a dense fog that surrounds them. They live in relative peace, that is until one of their important scientists is found murdered, jeopardizing their security system.

A common problem I find in several of the dystopian books I’ve read is that the universes are presented as though the reader already knows every intricacy. I felt lost from start to finish, feeling only slightly enlightened as the book went on. Again, this might have been less of a problem if I’d been reading it with my eyes. Even still, it felt like as a whole there were a number of gaps in regards to both plot and character. By the end, I felt nothing had resonated.

Trouble following aside, I enjoyed the narrator, James Cameron Stewart’s performance on the audiobook.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tantor Audio for providing me with a free audio ARC of the book!

I loved loved loved the narrator of this audiobook! The characters are quirky and the storyline is original. I did find myself drifting in places as the twists and turns and AI became a bit overwhelming, which made it a little long, but I really liked that this novel crossed so many genres.

In a post-apocalyptic world a dangerous fog collapsed society 90 years ago. Life as we know it now no longer exists. If the fog didn’t kill you murderers, cannibals or diseases would.
On a distant island scientists - Niema, Hephaestus and Thea - have created a society with strict rules that allow them to survive the fog. A village of only 122 where everyone knows not to question the rules and the secret bruises that appear on them at night. Emory is the only one who dares to question the inconsistency and rules set by Niema.
Niema knows she needs to commit a murder to help humanity survive but will she be able to complete her task before it is too late? But when the villagers find Niema brutally murdered they only have 92 hours to solve more than one crime.
Overall rating 2/5
I was intrigued by the description of this book but I struggled to stay with it until the end. I am not sure if it was the narrator who seemed to have a flat tone, or if it was the never ending plot. I felt it was too similar to The Island of Doctor Moreau mixed with West World but not in a compelling way. I do feel that this could have been a great plot if it had more outside influence, or an unpredictable twist. I also would have loved to see more of their “night time duties” incorporated throughout the 1st half of the book.
*Thank you to the Stuart Turton, Netgalley, and Tantor audio for the audio copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

I really wanted to like this book. It had a plot that seemed so interesting. I just simply could not. I don't know if it was the writing style or just the book all together but I struggled to follow what was going on and who was who. I felt like it bounced and didn't explain much. It could be that it was an audiobook and since I wasn't struggling to get into it I may have zoned out and missed things but over all it was just not my thing. I thought maybe something interesting would happen or the end would give a big bang but to me it was meh. It was good enough that I did not give up and DNF the book so I will give it that!

I'll say one thing about Stuart Turton's books, they are always very unique and creative!

This one is no exception and if you enjoy his mystery puzzles, you'll like The Last Murder at the End of the World, despite the long title ha.

First off, our narrator is an all-knowing AI that refuses to say more than she's meant to. There's a ticking time bomb in the form of a mysterious, murderous (albeit seemingly passive) fog, and a murderer who doesn't remember they're a murderer. It's a complex new world, and the author excels at his world building. I was intrigued and captivated by the world and society, especially our main protagonist Emory.

The mystery too was really engaging, though I did suspect a few parts of the ending. It was a very satisfying "I was right" because I didn't really see another way for it to end!

The audio was okay, but the way the narrator voiced female characters really grated on me, especially the longer I listened. And most of the characters are female. So I do wish I'd gone the physical route.

If you prefer straight-up murder mysteries, you probably won't like this, but if you like some sci-fi and fantastical situations to go with your murder mysteries, this will be right up your alley.

3.5 stars
I did enjoy this one and think most will love it. It has such a unique and interesting premise with a twist that is to die for. I did find it a bit slow at times and found myself skimming, I’m sorry to say. Overall, it was an entertaining read.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.