Last Murder At The End Of The World - Stuart Turton

Sci-Fi/Mystery

Rating: 8.5/10

If Sherlock Holmes and M. Night Shyamalan had a book baby, this would be it!

The island is idyllic: 122 villagers and three scientists/elders living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to be of service in sustaining their way of life; obeying their nightly curfew, doing what they are told. Until, to their horror, one the scientists is found brutally murdered and they discover that the security system keeping a deadly fog at bay has failed. They will soon be smothered unless they can remember what happened the night of the killing.

Our Victim: As Niema considers the risks of telling the islanders the truth, she struggles knowing that the extent of her betrayal will be revealed, and that old grudges will come back to haunt her. Turns out she was right…

Our Sleuth: Emory has always been curious, full of questions that she hungers for answers too. At thirty something she has more than a dozen notebooks, every page stuffed with questions she has never received answers to. A never-ending list that grows every day.

Omniscient Narrator: From Abi’s vantage point, inside the minds of everybody on the island, he can predict the future with a high degree of accuracy. It’s a confluence of probability and psychology, which is easy to chart when you have access to everybody’s thoughts. With dozens of possible futures, each waiting to be brought into existence by a random event, an idle phrase, a miscommunication or a telling of secrets. Abi seemingly has all the power. The ability to have people see exactly as much as he wants them to see. Have I mentioned that Abi is an artificial intelligence entity?

Readers are introduced to several fully fleshed out characters that spend time on the page, each teasing out secrets leading us to the big one. One that I did not see coming and that was brilliantly executed.

An audacious, inventive, and utterly mind-blowing postapocalyptic murder mystery.

Book Pairing(s): Aurora by David Koepp, The World Gives Way by Marissa Levien, Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton