This was such an interesting story with such detailed world building. There were a few gaps - but they felt intentional. The slightly immoral AI was a fascinating add, with the pacing of this story and reveals just right. Characters made you want to shake them by the shoulders and shout at them, and for me, that meant the author was doing their job. As for the fog? I still have so many unanswered questions, but I like that!


Near the end of the book there is a copy editing error. Sentence starts “Niema wanted to give us a future…..” but a character is named wrongly further along in the sentence.

A complicated dystopian murder mystery set some time in the future where the last of humanity live on a remote island. The story is complicated and pace too slow for me to truly engage as a reader. I persevered til the end and was satisfied with the ending. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

Thanks to NetGalley for my copy.

A gripping read. This was right up my alley. A mysterious island, fascinating characters with flaws and depth. A post apocalyptic setting, but very different to what’s been done in the genre before.

90 or so years after a deadly fog enveloped the world, the last enclave of humanity survives on a remote Greek island. 120 people live their lives under the leadership of three elder scientists who direct their lives for the good of humanity’s future. Until one of the elders is murdered.

I found this story intriguing right from the off, the mystery is gradually explained while more questions are presented. It’s very satisfying and fast paced. Brilliant world building with tantalising details of what the world was like pre-cataclysm.

I thoroughly enjoyed Stuart Turton’s other books and this one was his best yet. He’s one of those authors that I will pick up regardless of any information on the title as he’s a guaranteed solid story.

In a post-apocalyptic world on an isolated island, villagers, the remnants of civilisation, survive under the leadership of elders, all of whom have escaped a deadly fog. Living in harmony, their fragile peace is shattered when a murder occurs, setting off a 'who-dunnit' mystery. The survival of the island's inhabitants hinges on solving the puzzle of this deadly crime before the ominous fog returns, threatening to consume the island once again. The narrative unfolds as the characters navigate through the intricacies of the murder mystery, revealing the delicate balance between order and chaos in their isolated existence.

The brilliance of Turton's 'who-dunnit' lies in its complexity, showcasing the author's meticulous planning, plotting and mapping. The narrative provides just enough information at just the right times, keeping readers consistently intrigued until then serving clever moments of revelation. Turton successfully blends genres, incorporating elements of whodunnit, dystopian, greek mythology and sci-fi, which elevates the story beyond a conventional murder mystery.

The book's pace in the first quarter was a drawback for me, with a slow start that initially tested my patience. While the world-building is commendable, the detailed descriptions may deter those who prefer a more streamlined narrative. However, the 'against the clock' mystery added a layer of suspense and ultimately compelled me to turn the pages eagerly in the second half.

Unfortunately, I struggled to form a genuine connection or emotional investment in the character’s fates and rather than being fully immersed and engrossed in their journeys, I felt a sense of detachment, as if observing the story from a distance, which for me, hindered the overall emotional impact of the narrative.

Overall, this was a mixed bag. The pacing and my personal lack of investment in the characters slightly let it down, but it did offer a meticulously planned whodunnit story with some great lightbulb moments that I think many readers will absolutely love.

Thanks to the publishers for providing an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I've never read any of this author's books before but this book appealed to me because I like dystopian books. At first I was worried I'd made the wrong choice, it seemed a bit too sci-fi for me. But after a few chapters I really got into it, and the world the author created.

The 'whodunnit' kept me guessing throughout, and the added time pressure of the rapidly approaching end of the world built up the suspense. There were also a few unexpected twists and turns.

I really enjoyed this book, it's made me want to try some of his other work.

A combination of apocalyptic dystopia and crime thriller may not immediately spring to mind as a winning combination but in fact it works quite well! I read and thoroughly enjoyed Evelyn so had high expectations for this title. The involved plot and complex characters was there, as was the tense and twisty plot turns. The cautionary commentary on the state of humanity added a level that was blended in well though there were moments when I thought that maybe there were too many themes being threaded in? At times the plot stalled a bit, at others it moved very quickly and required concentration to keep track. But my interest was maintained throughout and the "pages" turned very quickly. Maybe not an Evelyn but still worth investing in

I have a chequered past with Stuart Turton's books. I didn't like Evelyn and I thought Devil was about a hundred pages overdone but this, despite the thousands of red herrings and endless twists was definitely my favourite so far.

We are on an island surrounded by a deadly fog that has killed the rest of the humans on earth. The people left are the villagers who do the manual jobs and the elders who run the place. There's also the AI overseer, Abi, who "runs" the villagers lives. I won't go into minute detail but one of the islanders is murdered and the killer has to be found and confess otherwise the island itself will be consumed by the deadly fog being held back by technology.

It sounds pretty straightforward but there are some heft surprises along the way. I did get a bit irritated at several points because you start to think that maybe we'll have a Bobby Ewing moment and it will all have been a dream or we're living on a Seahaven Island type place with Truman.

Stuart Turton does write a good story which has echoes of The Time Machine and Greek myth at times but he keeps leading you down so many false paths and dead ends it's quite hard to keep up at times.

However, on the whole I enjoyed it. I read it in three sessions and wasn't bored once. It jogs away at a good pace, there aren't too many main characters and the plot is just clever enough. If I wasn't a total lame brain I'm sure I'd have guessed the truth more accurately.

I'm sure existing Turton fans will love this but even if you've read his books before and, like me, not been totally convinced I'd still recommend it. Definitely the best so far for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the advance review copy.

"She didn't come here to cry. There'll be plenty of time for that in the next few weeks. Her grief will be waiting in the dark, and quiet. It will hide behind a dozen ordinary things, ambushing her when her thoughts drift."

The last hope of humanity, an idyllic sanctuary and a bloody murder mystery - the makings for an electrifying story. Immediately the scene is set in a utopia within a dystopia; after the near extinction of the species we’re shrouded in that existential dread but also shown a beautiful scene of futuristic, peaceful society among the wreckage in a powerful and uncomfortable contrast.

From the very first page, the timer starts and it just makes an unshakeable intensity — taking classic sci-fi tropes like the countdown and collective amnesia and utilising them in such a refreshing and creative way. The villagers are introduced as they go about their life, the key players becoming apparent but the suspects not so much - not just for the murder but for countless other crimes happening in the shadows of the village.

The utopian society is a strange mix of ancient and futuristic - and it crumbles as the control and manipulation that holds it up starts to creep from the shadows, making us question not only who is the murderer in question, but who is guilty of anything and what that really means.

It moved slowly, a little too much at times, especially after the main introductions and there’s a lot to follow at the start but it settles into a good pace - with multiple strands of mysteries going on at once, weaving in with tales from before and plenty of speculation leading us in opposite directions as we try to not only solve a murder but the many mysteries of the island and its strange inhabitants. The storytelling was intriguing, but slightly filler-like in places as I found myself waiting for the next thing to happen.

A morally grey story about the astounding resilience of humanity and the complex nature of being human too, wrapped in a dystopian sci-fi mystery.

I really enjoyed his Evelyn book, so I was excited to get an ARC from Netgalley of this new story. It's a murder mystery sci-fi post-apocalyptic thriller, if there is such a thing, and I found it a really compelling read. It's a bit crazy in places, and I must admit, by the end, I was struggling to keep things straight in my head. But for all its twisty-turny-ness, I think it held together okay. I liked the main investigating character, Emory, and although there were a few moments where I thought 'wait, what?' as something was revealed that I could never have guessed at, it was still an exciting story.

A unique murder mystery set at the end of the world where secrets hide around every corner.

I loved this. Highly readable, really great characters and a clever, involving mystery.

The World built here is also clever and easily imagined as real.

Twisty and fun and I highly recommend.

This is a great telling of a story that is set at the end of the world, indeed the end of the human race, and the mystery of how and why it happened.

At the end of the world, on an island off the Greek coastline, there live three scientists and a small village of people. They live in harmony, each knowing their place and each having a purpose. All except for Emory. Where all the villagers are happy in their lives, not questioning or worrying about much, Emory has always been one to question and strive to find something she can not explain. She doesn't feel like she fits in, and that most people resents her asking so many questions.

Until there is a murder to solve.

This is a unique look at a dystopian future where humanity is ringed by death, and the last of the humans have to figure out why a murder happened and fight to stop the true end to all humanity. I really enjoyed it, it was well-paced and you feel the sense of urgency as the story progresses. A must-read.

We start with a discussion between two people, about a death and why it is necessary. We don’t get the details, but it seems that one of them has worked out the probability of every course of action, and together they have come up with a plan that demands murder. I am immediately hooked.

We spread out into the community, meet many people, understand their way of life, and discover some irregularities that really don’t make sense. This is a dystopian society, as explained in the blurb. But as time goes on, you feel like it’s a dystopian society unlike anything else you’ve read. Even though I found Mr Turton’s style reminiscent of Kazuo Ishigaro – especially Never Let Me Go and Klara and the Sun – it also felt unique. It glides over and through you, drawing you further into the world, accepting its foibles, and worrying about the people in it.

I’m not sure I really followed the denouement adequately. So much was going on as we reached the end of the world. Maybe I started reading too fast, too eager to find out what happened next. Maybe there was a leap of faith in one of the conclusions. But it doesn’t really matter. I absolutely loved this book. The technology is genius, the characters just as they should be under the curious set of circumstances they are in.

I’m looking forward to reading it again!

This book was just incredible. I have loved his writing since his debut (The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) and this one is no exception!

The writing, pacing, chapter lengths, and revealing the mysteries was just chefs kiss. Superb. Hooked, I read it all in two sittings (even when I really didn’t have time I kept going!) I’m actually sad now knowing that I won’t be able to read another book of his for a while! I have book hangover in the best way possible!

Stuart Turton you are the best.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for this arc!

4 stars for this creative dystopian murder mystery.

I haven't read any Stuart Turton books before so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed this book. It's told through the point of view of an AI called Abi who can see the villagers' thoughts and intentions, which was an unusual perspective but worked well for this book. The writing style took a little while to get used to and the first third of the book felt slow, but the pace picked up after that and the story became more intriguing.

Abi follows several characters throughout the book, and I enjoyed reading about them and their relationships - particularly Emory, who's the only villager to start questioning things when everyone else seems happy to live in ignorance. Her relationship with her daughter Clara was interesting and it was nice to read about them working together throughout the book.

Overall an enjoyable read, even though it was outside my usual genres - would recommend to anyone who enjoys crime/thriller novels for something a bit different!

(Review has been shared on Goodreads, and will be posted on Instagram closer to the publication date)

Rating: 2.1/5

I have now read all three of Stuart Turton's novels. They are all carefully constructed, with extensive plotting. Another thing they share in common is that I find them laborious to read. Much as I appreciated his debut, "The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle", I still found it unnecessarily protracted. The two books since then both contain elements worthy of admiration, but they have failed to hold my attention. In spite of their cleverness there is something lacking in the storytelling.

This latest offering has a post-apocalyptic dystopian setting, is partly satirical and contains significant elements of science fiction. The actions of the human race have finally taken their toll and the world as people knew it has been almost completely eradicated. The entire population of the planet is now restricted to a small island-based colony, led by a small group of scientists and under the all-seeing eye of an A.I. creation called Abi. The community is under a constant threat from a prevailing fog, which the scientists are at pains to hold at bay from enveloping and destroying all remaining life. To add further to the intrigue, one of the scientists is found to have been murdered and if the culprit is not identified within 92 hours the fog will destroy the island and everything on it.

I enjoyed the early chapters. The presentation of the dystopian world is quite intriguing and I found myself feverishly scribbling notes about the set-up and the underlying ideas that were at play. I was put in mind of Greek mythology with the god-like narrator, Abi, seeming to not only watch over everything and everybody, but also able to interact with characters at will. It was very much reminiscent of the Greek gods watching over their human playthings and toying with their everyday lives for their own amusement.

This element of Greek mythology continues to run throughout the piece, but the novel also becomes increasingly science fiction driven. As the "whodunnit" thread is introduced into the plot, so I began to find the role of Abi and the sci-fi aspects increasingly irritating. If you read a lot of murder mystery fiction you will be aware that there are certain unwritten "rules of engagement" in the genre. However, there are several examples in this story of the science fiction element allowing the author to circumvent those usual rules of engagement. Some may argue that Stuart Turton is not actually breaking the rules, but if he is not guilty of quite going that far, then he is certainly bending them to the point where they are barely recognisable.

I have little doubt that there will be many readers who love this book, but I think this is likely to mark the parting of the ways for me and Stuart Turton's work. In spite of the fact that the settings are clever and imaginative, there is something about them that doesn't manage to deliver the all-round storytelling experience that I want from a novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

Stuart Turton is one of my favourite authors. His debut was phenomenal, and I equally adored his second novel. Despite this, and despite the fact I went into The Last Murder at the End of the World with huge expectations, I was still completely blown away by it.

Turton is one of the most creative and original writers I've ever read. His ideas are absolutely fantastic and his plots are intricate and complex, but also fast-paced and engaging.

This book is an highly inventive murder mystery, but it is also a post-apocalyptic story, with even a dystopian feeling to it. After a deadly fog destroyed the world, only one island remained isolated and safe from the fog. On the island live 3 scientists and 122 villagers. Everything seem peaceful, despite the fact there are several strange things going on: for example, everyone on the village has a voice speaking in their heads, and all the villagers must obey a nightly curfew. One day, one of the scientist is found brutally stabbed to death. The villagers are distraught, but worse still they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. They must solve the murder within 92 hours, or the fog will smother the island and kill everyone. The problem is, the security system also wiped everyone’s memories of what happened the night of the murder, so not even the murderer remembers what happened!

If the premise alone doesn't make me you wanna read the book now, I don't know what will, but I can only say that this book was great from start to finish. Like in <i>The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle</i>, the beginning was very confusing and mysterious, and I had a lot of questions. I always wanted to keep reading to learn more and to see what would happen. Things were gradually revealed as the story went on, and I was shocked by every discovery. Towards the ending I did guess what had happened, but there were still things I didn't see coming, and all in all the story was wildly inventive, and absolutely unforgettable.

Apart from the story, I also really grew to like the characters, especially Emory and her daughter Clara. Emory is a villager, but she is the only one who realizes that things are strange. While the others are content with their life and never question anything, Emory is curious and determined, and I rooted for her from the start. I also really loved reading about her difficult relationship with her daughter, I thought it was really well done.

One last thing: I adored the casual mentions to Samuel Pipps and Arent Hayes. I just love when authors reference their own works!

A dark and deadly fog is sweeping closer to the island threatening the inhabitants. It has already killed most people on the planet but is being held in check for the moment until the death of one of the elders triggers it's advance. In order to save the island the murder of this elder must be solved.
The Last Murder at the End of the World is hard to categorise. On one level it is a murder mystery but it is set in a dystopian post apocalyptic world with science fiction elements. The inhabitants are helped/hindered by an AI being who is in the heads of all of them and controls some of their actions.
The story itself is quite simple but the unravelling is complex with many twists. The scientific elements are inventive but perhaps interfered with what we would think of as human processes. I have to say I found it a surprising and interesting read and somewhat different to a) my usual choice of books and b) other books by the author that I've read (although they are very different) but it didn't grab me maybe because the inhabitants of the island had a slightly drone like quality that stopped me really feeling for them. I also found the voice of Abi, written in the first person, sometimes jarred with the other voices in the story and I had to do a double take and think, who was just saying/thinking that?
Having said that though, it is a very interesting read, and well written and certainly different. With thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for an early copy in return for an honest review.

Stuart Turton is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. The Last Murder at the End of the World follows the story of 122 people and 3 scientists who live on an idyllic island. Their peaceful harmony is about to be destroyed by the brutal murder of one of the scientists, and unless the islanders can solve the mystery and reveal the murderer, the island will be shrouded in a fog that will kill them all.
The book starts out a little chaotic, with dozens of characters introduced and seemingly little plot. The story, however, soon gains momentum and I raced to finish it. At the heart of this novel lies the simple question, ‘what makes a human?’
Expect lots of mystery, deception, dystopia and thought-provoking scenes.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC.

Wildly inventive and difficult to categorise as it ticks so many boxes- dystopia, sci-fi-fantasy , murder mystery. Another fabulous read from Stuart Turton.

The novel is set on an island holding the last remnants of humanity in the world and surrounded by a deadly fog. Emory is a villager on the edge of her community, distanced from them by her unique tendency to question everything that happens.. When a murder occurs in their community- an anomaly in a society that exists in apparently perfect harmony- it’s only Emory who can piece together the puzzle pieces and hopefully save the islanders from destruction.

Plenty of twists before the final piece slots into place. Kept me enthralled. Many thanks to the publisher and #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

Love, love, loved this book! It fits so many labels - high-concept, dystopian, fantasy, murder mystery - but what it is simply, is a book about being kind.

The world’s last survivors and an AI character face a countdown that adds urgency to solving a murder. Stu uses amnesia to reset characters’ memories, forcing us to second guess what’s going on and who we can trust if they can’t trust themselves.

On the surface this is different to his previous works, but what still shines through is mastery of suspense and atmosphere. It’s the kind of book you read and then get jealous that others are coming to it for the first time.