Wow. What an amazing story! I read this in two sittings. It would have been just one but I started it late in the evening and needed some sleep. I loved the characters and the island setting. It really is an amazing story.

The last humans live on an island, behind a barrier that protects them from the fog that destroyed the rest of the world. But when one of the islanders is killed, a security system is triggered and the barrier is lowered. Unless the murder can be solved within 92 hours, the fog will smother the island and kill everyone on it. As if the task were not difficult enough, the security system has also wiped the memories of the night of the murder from the minds of every islander ... including the murderer.

The Last Murder at the End of the World is a brilliantly inventive murder mystery that won't disappoint fans of Stuart Turton. From the very first page it is clear that there are layers upon layers to unpack in this story, extending far beyond the murder investigation. Part-murder mystery, part-thriller, part-science fiction, part-apocalyptic fiction, part-small town story, I loved the world Turton has created. As someone who doesn't tend to read much apocalyptic fiction, I also appreciated the way Turton treats dystopian ideas seriously without making his story too bleak. This was very nearly a five-star read for me, but a story this imaginative and ambitious is always going to have a few things that didn't quite work for me.

Yet, The Murder at the End of the World never lost or confused me. I enjoyed the puzzle of working out not only who the killer was, but also what else was going on, and who I could trust. I also loved the way the murder investigation, and the island's impending doom, bring this community to a crisis point; relationships are pushed to their limits, and secrets and lies begin to be revealed. Linking all the different genres together, and keeping such an original story relatable, is a story with people at its heart. This is a thought-provoking and page-turning read, and Stuart Turton remains one of my favourite authors.