It always makes me sad to be reminded that even the best writers are not immune to the pitfalls of a bad plot.

Unfortunately that’s the case here with Murder at the End of the World. I really loved Turton’s first two books, so though the premise for this one sounded a bit rough and also not to my taste, I assumed I would enjoy it anyway. I’ll put a caveat on all this to say that if you like dystopias (I don’t) you’ll probably enjoy this more than I did, but the real problems with it are more about structure and trite themes.

Though I don’t love dystopia, I’m not totally opposed to trying one if the premise feels fresh and unique. I was hoping that would be the case here since Turton is so creative in his work, but this is actually very tropey and leans heavily on the same themes that show up over and over in dystopian fiction.

I probably could have lived with this had the mystery itself not also fallen victim to tropey, formula-driven stuff. To an extent you sign up for a certain amount of that with anything labeled a puzzle mystery, but some are better than others at both cutting down on the subgenre issue of convolutedness and avoiding the tendency to do something cutesy and contrived in an attempt to surprise with the solve. This book unfortunately fell victim to both of these pitfalls.

I also didn’t love the world building, though again I would place a caveat on this that if you like dystopias, this issue probably won’t affect your reader experience.

Turton’s writing is still very good, and it almost rescues the book with clever turns of phrase and solidly done tone and pacing. Almost. I’ll continue to read whatever Turton publishes in the future, but this one felt like a miss.

Not only is this book strange and hard to understand, but the narrator of this sounds like he is announcing every sentence. I made it thru and few hours of this audiobook, but it is truly terrible and even if I liked the book more (which I don't), this narrating is very off-putting.

Unfortunately The Last Murder at the End of the World wasn't for me. I think I got over excited by the title and maybe didn't read the synopsis close enough as it just wasn't what I was expecting. Nothing wrong with it and would definitely recommend if you were seeking out this type of book.

This was such an interesting concept: a murder mystery/dystopia. 3 Elders, a whole host of villagers and an omniscient voice that communicates with them all.

There is a full explanation as to what led up to these events to leave 3 elders at the end of the world with villagers who only live a fraction as long. In the way of good dystopia, the characters, for the most part, just accept the things as they are because this is all that they have known.

After one of the Elders is killed, the truth slowly begins to come to light. The murder has to be solved before the fog arrives and kills them all. While everyone has a motive, it seems that very few had the ability or the desire to kill.

I like the concept, the build up and the revelations. The actual solving was a little more drawn out than I would have liked. and the pacing dragged a several points,

3 Stars

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I don't really know where to begin here. I am a Stuart Turton apologis, I've probably recommended The 7 1/2 Deaths of Eveyln Hardcastle more than any other book in the last 6-7 years. I also loved the Devil and the Dark Water which some found tedious. I was so excited to get a review copy of this new book. And it was such a disappointment for me. The premise was solid, but the execution was unconvincing. I had a hard time caring about anything that was happening to any characters. It also felt a little too long. I think this book has readers who will love it, but it wasn't right for me. I was not a fan of the audio narration at all and believe that could have changed the experience for me significantly. I may return to the book in print down the road.

I will still continue to recommend Turton and love his books - just maybe not this one so much.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an audio ARC in return for a fair and honest review.

This story is eerie, creepy, and un-put-down-able! The premise of this story drew me in immediately.. murderous FOG?! Count me in. I enjoyed Turton's writing and style, finding it very easy to understand and gripping. He truly blends a variety of genres into Last Murder, mixing in a little bit of everything. I highly recommend this page-turner.

“The Last Murder at the End of the World” offers a thought-provoking exploration of humanity and the forces that bind communities. However, it’s plot is a bit convoluted and some may find it distracting.

It must be wild inside Stuart Turton’s mind. His stories are such intricate puzzles and I cannot help but wonder how he manages to lasso the many ideas running through his brain, successfully taming them into one tale.

But let me tell you this: The Last Murder at the End of the World is a bit long winded. I’m beginning to think that’s Stuart Turton’s signature style. The synopsis’s promised murder takes quite some time to actually occur and the path to its resolution is a long and winding one.

Of course, the cleverness of this complicated tale makes the aforementioned aspect forgivable. Turton has a way of taking stale themes and making them seem fresh. Turton’s skill as a storyteller builds those themes into complex structures, making it all magnificently intriguing. So, yes, it’s a long, winding road, but the scenery is so vibrant, it’s easy to lose yourself in the journey.

What I especially loved about narrative, though, was the exploration of creation, control, and moral compasses. It’s its own sort of genesis, despite opening at the end of the world, and it all leads to a thought provoking mystery.

I did experience one issue, however. I had both the e-galley and advance audio copy of this. Having felt overwhelmed by my reading options, I chose to listen to this. Although James Cameron Stewart did a wonderful job bringing the story to life, I was baffled by the whimsical tone of the story, and couldn’t decide if this was because of how he read it or if I would have also interpreted it as such had I read it on my own. It just didn’t seem to mesh well with the dark content so it did hinder my immersion at times.

I am immensely grateful to Tantor Audio, Sourcebooks Landmark, and NetGalley for my copy. All opinions are my own.

Dear The Last Murder at the End of the World,
Turton's stories are always a trip. I never know exactly what I am in for with one of his books, and you were no exception! There were so many things about your plot that surprised the pants off of me, and I was in for it! Your story took so many surprising twists. It is really difficult to write about you without giving anything away, but you were one wild ride!!

This book took me some time to read because of the amount of post-its I put in it. The same way I did for 7 and 1/2 deaths of Evelyn Hugo. This book, however, I figured out way sooner than I did with 7 Deaths.
I liked the mystery. I liked how things came together. It wasn’t exactly how I thought it would be because after 7 Deaths, I thought some wild things.
Overall it was a pretty decent read.
I will say that some of the names in the book were unnecessary but I don’t know if that is to misguide you.
Worth the read

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!

#netgalley
#thelastmurderattheendoftheworld

#netgalley
#lastmurderattheendoftheworld

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!)