The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton Narrator: James Cameron Stewart
Published by Tantor Audio on May 21, 2024
Source: NetGalley
Genres: Mystery, Science Fiction, Dystopia
Length: 11 hrs 21 mins
Pages: 400
Format: Audiobook
Purchase at Bookshop.org or Audible
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Solve the murder to save what's left of the world.
Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched.
On the island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they're told by the scientists.
Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And then 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. If the murder isn't solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island—and everyone on it.
But the security system has also wiped everyone's memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer—and they don't even know it.
And the clock is ticking.
At some point in the future, a fog, probably man-made, covers the whole globe. The fog is filled with tiny insects that devour any living thing they come in contact with, including humans. The only safe place is an island protected by a some kind of shield where 122 villagers and three scientists/elders live. It’s a peaceful place where everyone has their jobs and knows their place. Until one of the scientists is murdered causing the shield to go down. If the murder isn’t solved and the killer executed within 92 hours, the fog will engulf the island.
The narrator is Abi, the artificial intelligence who knows everything that goes on on the island and controls most of it. She is also the one who wiped everyone’s memory. The thing about Abi is that she has a job, she has commands she must follow. So even though she knows all and sees all, she doesn’t share everything with the reader or the villagers. I listened to the audio and the narrator didn’t quite fit as Abi’s voice for me. That doesn’t mean he didn’t do a good job, just that he wouldn’t have been my pick.
Our amateur detective is Emory, a villager who has never quite found the job that fits her. She’s never been typical – too curious, too questioning, prone to step out of line. It’s those traits that make her the only choice for investigator. She does as good a job as can be expected and does discover a lot of the island’s secrets in the process.
It’s an interesting concept and it worked well. I liked Emory and her family but wasn’t overly invested in the solution to the murder. I did however want to know what the mysteries were surrounding the island and villagers.
About Stuart Turton
Stuart lives in London with his amazing wife and daughter. He drinks lots of tea. He’s got a degree in English and Philosophy, which makes him excellent at arguing and terrible at choosing degrees.
Having trained for no particular career, he has dabbled in most of them. He stocked shelves in a Darwin bookshop, taught English in Shanghai, worked for a technology magazine in London, wrote travel articles in Dubai, and now he’s a freelance journalist. None of this was planned, he just kept getting lost on his way to other places.
He likes a chat. He likes books. He likes people who write books and people who read books.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges: