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A review by bandysbooks
The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Stuart Turton is an author I’ve been wanting to read for quite a while. I’ve heard so many people rave about his writing, so when I saw this pop up on Netgalley I knew I wanted to give it a try. I’m glad I did.
This book is set on an island after a post-apocalyptic scenario where a poisonous gas cloud killed off most of the world. There are 122 survivors and 3 scientists on a small Greek island. The scientists have created strict rules for how the society should function and everyone has a role. Then one of the scientists is murdered and it triggers a short period of time before the island’s defenses drop letting the poison gas in. Only solving the murder can prevent it.
Look, I won’t pretend this is a perfect book. This is very twisty and unrealistic, so it requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief and there are a few plot threads that never get tied up. That said, I had a good time with this.
I appreciated the mixture of post-apocalyptic scenario with murder mystery and even a sprinkle of police procedural elements.It created a really unique vibe that was conveyed really well by the narrator of the audiobook.
Speaking of which, I really appreciated the main focal character. That added to the uniqueness of the book and once again was captured perfectly in the audiobook.
I will say that some elements were a bit predictable and there were some twists and caveats thrown in to try and keep things surprising. That wasn’t always successful.
Ultimately, this wasn’t the best book I read this year, but it was a fun read. I would recommend this to people looking for a fun mystery/thriller with post-apocalyptic elements. If you decide to give this a try, consider checking out the audiobook as the narration was done well.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and Stuart Turton for the audio-ARC.
This book is set on an island after a post-apocalyptic scenario where a poisonous gas cloud killed off most of the world. There are 122 survivors and 3 scientists on a small Greek island. The scientists have created strict rules for how the society should function and everyone has a role. Then one of the scientists is murdered and it triggers a short period of time before the island’s defenses drop letting the poison gas in. Only solving the murder can prevent it.
Look, I won’t pretend this is a perfect book. This is very twisty and unrealistic, so it requires a fair amount of suspension of disbelief and there are a few plot threads that never get tied up. That said, I had a good time with this.
I appreciated the mixture of post-apocalyptic scenario with murder mystery and even a sprinkle of police procedural elements.It created a really unique vibe that was conveyed really well by the narrator of the audiobook.
Speaking of which, I really appreciated the main focal character. That added to the uniqueness of the book and once again was captured perfectly in the audiobook.
I will say that some elements were a bit predictable and there were some twists and caveats thrown in to try and keep things surprising. That wasn’t always successful.
Ultimately, this wasn’t the best book I read this year, but it was a fun read. I would recommend this to people looking for a fun mystery/thriller with post-apocalyptic elements. If you decide to give this a try, consider checking out the audiobook as the narration was done well.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and Stuart Turton for the audio-ARC.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and Murder