It’s a difficult task for any contemporary novel written subsequent to the events of 2020 to avoid mention of the pandemic and, as though cognizant of this fact, in Last One at the Party, Bethany Clift goes all out, not only referencing it, but actually basing her story on a new and present threat in the near future. It’s a bold decision, especially given the global fatigue around such topics, but one which, curiously, by comparison, makes Covid seem like a tea party. 6DM (named after the fact that it takes six days maximum to prove fatal) is the apocalyptic threat of nightmares; its inevitable biological mechanism so bad, in fact, that global agencies are forced to provide a mercy solution in the form of a suicide pill.

As interesting as the premise is on a hypothetical level, all stories gain their emotional weight through the personalisation of struggle, and through the course of the novel the central character, seemingly the last surviving person on earth, certainly endures the most horrific losses as friends and family eventually succumb. Distinct from similar narratives such as the excellent Train to Busan, or World War Z, however, this is not a zombie story, although curiously it is in some way thematically about the undead. For as the novel progresses we learn that Clift’s nameless female protagonist has spent her entire life up to this point going through the motions, shape-shifting her way through other people’s expectations of happiness and, as a result, no longer knows who she really is. The journey of the book thus becomes a story of both physical and emotional survival and its central question one about what truly constitutes freedom. In this way, the novel’s events - as thrilling and readable as they are - become a larger metaphor for Newton's First Law of Motion, where the immovable object of the heroine’s inertia can only be changed by a truly monumental external force.

To say that this larger message is the joy of the novel, however, would be to do a huge disservice to the pleasure of the read itself, which is impressive given the difficult creative challenges of its storyline. For a start, almost the entire forward momentum of the novel is carried by a single character, without the variety that dialogue and other interpersonal exchanges allow. Our engagement with this character is key, and this is where much of the book’s skill lies. It is hard to come up with a fictional character who is quite so unflinchingly honest about herself, (TV tends to do this better, such as Lena Dunham in “Girls” or Michaela Coel in “I may Destroy You”), and it is these astute observations and details that accumulate as the novel progresses that make us root for her success. The events of the novel are both compelling and frequently moving, but equally often hilarious, and it is this variety of tone and mood that gives the book its power.

To point out that the narrative is light on the Political is merely to acknowledge the fact that most people are; overwhelmed as they would be in a similar situation with the day to day practicalities of survival. What Clift presents us with is a curiously British exploration of dystopia, filtered through the lens of her particular protagonist, and it was refreshing to read a novel of this genre that didn’t rely on the well-worn devices of mass weaponry, murderous communes, or conspiracy theories. The struggles here are real: a failing National Grid, feral seagulls; the ultimate pointlessness of designer handbags in a world where no one can see you anymore. Special mention to the sequence dedicated to a mini crusade to Suburbia which had me laughing out loud with its brilliant punchline. But importantly, the small, seemingly insignificant comforts are real, too. Here and elsewhere, there is a lightness of touch, a matter-of-factness to the prose, that by its apparent superficiality only highlights its profoundness and its poignancy.

Given these narrative challenges, it’s no surprise that the author intersperses the present story with frequent flashbacks that illustrate both her life and her emotional trajectory up to this point. Whilst certainly enlightening and important to the novel, I personally felt as though these were the least successful aspects of the book. The characterisation felt occasionally thin by comparison, the events a little predictable and familiar and, whilst this worked in illuminating the falseness of the protagonist’s former life, they did not have the freshness found elsewhere in the novel.

Clift does not necessarily aspire to write “literary” fiction: her gift is portraying real life in all its messiness and that is to be applauded. In a Forward to the book, she explains her intentions and motivations in writing the novel and, touching as it was, I’m not sure it was entirely necessary. It felt like a need to explain what was to come, a story that needed no such suggestion of apology or justification. Rather, the novel is what it is, and what it is is really rather excellent. Highly recommended.

Content warnings for graphic scenes of death, and the aftermath of death, and for references to suicide.

Andover, Kansas is now as famous as Wuhan as this is where the deadly virus 6DM (6 day maximum). It sweeps the world, there’s chaos, madness and devastation as the horrific virus sweeps all in its path. The UK holds out for a while but by 24 November 2023 it’s here. This is a dystopian novel but it more about one unnamed woman’s story of survival and she tells her own tale.

You’d think reading this in the middle of the Covid pandemic would be a mistake but it isn’t! It’s riveting, gripping and deeply emotional, it’s funny in places, you applaud our narrator survivor for her fortitude and initiative, you sob with her and live in hope with her. . Her narrative is extremely honest especially as she confronts her past and you become invested in her survival along with Lucky the golden retriever who is utterly adorable in his loyalty and love as her only companion. In places it is horrifying and there are some powerful visual images of the impact of the enormous loss. As the virus hits Britain her reaction is reminiscent of the danse macabre of the Black Death with an ‘eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die’ (well certainly in six days) attitude. It’s very well written, her backstory emerges a bit at a time and her battles with mental health over the years is movingly portrayed as she tries to quell her demons. In places it’s nightmarish as the depth of the pandemic reveals her solitude. Her travels the length and breadth of the island give some fabulous images with flashes of humour which are most welcome. It’s eerie, macabre at times, there’s hope, dashed hopes and chasing a dream. She’s incredibly resourceful, brave, clever yet at the same time fragile though stronger than she thinks. The end is excellent.

Overall, I fully appreciate not everyone will wish to read a book like this in these times but all I can say is that it is fantastic. Yes, it shows the effects of a deadly virus but it’s also about love, strength, self discovery but principally about survival against all the odds. Her character shines through admirably and just as she was the last one at the party pre pandemic so she is afterwards. This book is amazing!

With thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the arc in return for an honest review.

Loved this. Read it in one sitting. Found the lead character annoying at times - and would cheerfully have given her a good shake. Nevertheless it made me laugh, left me wondering what happened, and kept me interested and enthralled to the end. Really enjoyed it.

Perhaps not the best time in view of COVID-19 to read about a terrifying virus that wiped out whole populations but read from the perspective of a lone survivor discovering firstly the will to live, then attempting with great difficulty ( particularly with none of the modern devices so taken for granted) to find the knowledge and means to do so . The protagonist throws us into a world gone mad, in which euthanasia by tablet is the choice of the majority, whilst she struggles to understand and cope as the only human being without symptoms yet an inability to take responsibility for any aspect of her daily existence. The storyline swings between the difficulties she faced as a highly strung individual actively seeking out relationships that would supply total ongoing support and the current situation in which survival depended on her actions and decisions. in a world where she must assume she is the sole survivor. The trials and tribulations of this journey are chaotic, often graphic to become the stuff of nightmares, and detailed and raw enough to demonstrate how ill equipped we are to survive without the basics , fundamentals and essentials of modern living taken for granted. by the majority. The reclamation of the environment by nature ,the danger and fear of exposure of vermin and household pets all builds up to a premise that could so easily move from fiction to fact. Unable to put this dystopian novel down, yet strangely bereft upon conclusion . A debut that suggests a successful career for this this widely imaginative and knowledgeable author who has delivered an excellent and well written first book. Many thanks to publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

I absolutely loved this book and really hope there will be a follow-up book.
The premise of the story is that the majority of the human race is wiped out a virus just a couple of years after Covid. The only survivor is the lead character. I am not usually one for dystopian thrillers and I went into it thinking I was not going to enjoy it. Don't get me wrong there were many parts of the book that unsettled me but the writing was so good and the empathy I had for the main character and her loyal companion Lucky surviving such a horrific disaster had me on tenterhooks constantly and in the end I couldn't put it down and read it in two days.

It probably wasn't the best idea to read this book during a pandemic, but it really made me look at the things that I have and feel very grateful.
The main character is very well developed and I love that the story isn't just about her life after the virus. I think that the stories of her past life work really well, especially when they are beside stories of her present.
The one thing that I would say is that a lot was left unexplained. Which, in itself, isn't a bad thing necessarily. I just felt that there were somethings that would have made sense to explain. For instance, the ending was so rushed and I felt like I was left hanging. I also found it shocking that she ended up pregnant after everything she had done during the first few months. Another issue I had is that the author occasionally would just tell the reader things that the main character had been doing the whole time, but only at the end of the book, or at the end of a section that didn't even mention anything of the sort. One small example of this was that she had been taking very good care of her teeth the whole time, which just didn't make sense with everything else that she had done.
I wasn't a huge fan of the ending. I think that it could have just been left with the end of her story. It felt rather The Handmaid's Tale to me but wasn't as effective in my opinion.
But I do think that the story holds a good message about learning to love yourself and that it is ok to prefer to be on your own (which doesn't mean the same as not needing to talk to anyone at all). I know a lot of people talk about the current pandemic in their reviews (myself included) but I actually found that this was so far from our current reality that I didn't draw too many comparisons. There were definitely sections that did feel close to home but I think that Clift handles them well. I also like that, even though the majority of the book was written before COVID-19, she edited it into the story. I think this is a huge strength in the story because the characters have past experiences and Clift uses them to affect their thinking during this new pandemic.
While there were a couple of things that I felt could have been better, I loved this book and I love that Clift didn't try to filter the main character's experience. I am left in a strange sort of limbo after reading this book, it really sucked me in and I need time to process everything that happened.

Breathtaking in the way in which it has had such a major impact on the way I deal with my practical and emotional reaction to our current corona virus crisis. The writing skills of this author are beyond belief, I was not able to stop reading the minute I picked up my e-reader, if I had realised what an immediate effect it would have on me I would have at least prepared some meals in advance for the day. The attention to detail is at times overwhelming but nonetheless needed to make the reading experience immersive. I have told every friend about this in every phone conversation and zoom/FaceTime call, I am becoming a ‘Last one at the party’ bore. Please read this, although with care, I have given it a five star rating, which for me is very rare. Thank you so very much Netgalley, publisher and especially the very talented Bethany Clift for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is like this year, especially with COVID at the moment. It is written well yiu just need to carry on reading to the end.

I just raced through this book in a couple of days - from the outset the premise gripped me and the writing was absolutely compelling, the protagonist felt completely real and relatable and it was so tightly plotted I couldn’t put it down. I can see that for some people a post-apocalyptic thriller set in the aftermath of a deadly pandemic might hit a little to close to home, but somehow this didn’t bother me. This is the first time I have read a book that feels like a “chick lit” take on dystopian fiction (though I generally like this term) and it’s success hinges on the absolute relatability of the main character’s ups and downs dealing with the realities of life as the last human left on earth. Her struggles, and reactions, feel like the same ones any of us might face in the same situation. The only shame was the ambitious ending (which reminded me a bit of the way The Handmaid’s Tale ends without making clear the ultimate fate of the protagonist), which left me wanting to know what happened next.

I would predict that this book will be a big hit when it is published next year, I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it unlike any dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction I have read before.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Staughton for the ARC.

This was an absolutely perfect read for me. I was not expecting to like it as much, given that it treats difficult topics such as grief, loss, sickness, and the world after a pandemic but I truly enjoyed it.

The writing is witty and phenomenal and I felt very close to the main character who, I soon realised, was a very interesting and unique type of heroine.

This book is filled with life lessons and truths, it's at times devastating and presents the reader with an amazing journey of self-discovery.

It's one of the best books I've read this year and I highly recommended it!

In the current climate this was a difficult book to read - too close to home in light of COVID-19. Having said that it was so well written that I just had to keep going and was glad I did.
One quickly becomes immersed in the main character’s fight to survive and can’t help but root for her. The book is fast paced with a few twists and turns thrown in. Will definitely look for other books by this author.

I adored this book, I got swept up in it and once I had started I couldn’t put it down, I was spellbound. The story at some points was a bit close to the bone in the beginning, what with COVID-19 making an unwelcome comeback at the moment, but I was so wrapped up in her story that I soon got past that. It was so easy to relate to her worries and struggles, and I found myself crying quite a few times. The only part of the story I didn’t love was the ending, I was devastated it ended as it did, and actually shouted out loud at my kindle (much to the amusement of my husband) My only consolation is that maybe there will be a sequel as although I loved the lessons she learned about herself (and enjoyed so much her and Lucky’s journey both physical and emotional) I felt that the story just stopped midway through, that there was more to be shared.

Amazing! Maybe not the best read for a single woman during our own pandemic... thrilling and so very relatable. You really feel for the main character even if you want to shake her at points
The ending gave me chills! Still thinking about it days later...

Well done Bethany Clift, this is a stunner of a book! What a debut

Written as a diary by a survivor of the virus 6DM (6 days maximum) that is rampaging the world in 2023, and leaving nothing in its path, it pulls no punches from the outset. You hear about the mass destruction of everything that we have ever lived for and how utterly helpless humans are to stop the virus from spreading. But somehow, our heroine has escaped it - the book tracks her journey, going back and forward to explain more of the past and the present. She has to find everything, food, energy, shelter, to help her survive, and what sort of future is she going to find?
I was completely hooked and found myself thinking about it all - you can't help but think about how you might cope in the same way.
The book references the current COVID pandemic, and builds on that brilliantly and brutally, so if you are feeling anxious about the current state of the world, its probably best to skip this one, but if you like your fiction as dark and depressing as possible whilst still being entirely possible - go for it!

Thanks so much to @netgalley and Hachette for the ARC

This book is really, really unsettling. It's also excellent.
Written in a style that evokes Atwood, I feel it has potential to become another classic that will be dissected in schools and recommended by book clubs everywhere.
In a pandemic, reading about another pandemic is chilling. And doubly so because it all seems so incredibly possible and even likely.
The absolute raw blunt truth of the narrator, who assuredly is not prepared for a pandemic, is heart wrenching and terrifying.
I loved this book, but it also gave me nightmares.
Five stars!

I'm a big fan of dystopian novels and was intrigued by the premise of this one. I thought I might like it at least a little. Turns out I liked it a lot.

I wondered if it would make me anxious reading about a pandemic with 100% (or very nearly ... after all our narrator is alive) mortality while living through a pandemic that, thankfully, has a far lower mortality rate. It didn't, although I have to admit that late at night I found myself getting slightly mixed up with 2020 and 2023 but I was tired and the book had really grabbed hold of me!

The blurb tells us all we need to know about the plot, but it's the execution of the plot that is sublime. We follow our narrator from the last days of humanity with lots of trips to the past and who she was then. As with all good dystopian novels, this is as much about our own humanity and our own fears as it is about the dystopia we're presented with and as such this really hit home. So many of us are pretending to be who we think people want us to be and losing ourselves in depression, anxiety and caring far too much about what other people think about us. So, when suddenly there are no other people to think about us where do we go from there?

I got so much from this book. I loved the story, I loved our narrator, and I loved wondering what I would do in her situation. Pretty sure I'd have done many of the things she did and probably spent a lot longer in Harrods trying on all my favourite designers because I'm shallow like that.

I will be recommending it to friends who are fellow dystopian fans and I will be looking out for more work from Bethany Clift. Huge thanks to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC in return for an honest review.

An excellent take on the end of the world, with a nod to Covid and the restrictions we currently face as a now past event whilst a new virus sweeps through Britain killing almost everyone in its path.
Following a lone survivor via her diary entries we learn a bit more about who she was and what happened, itnerspersed with her ever more grim mission to survive.
There are suprising pockets of humour interspersed with the realities she faces trying to find a reason to keep trying to stay alive and I was frustrated when the book ended- I wanted more!

Review of Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift

Written in the form of a retrospective, this novel follows a survivor in a post-pandemic world. A killer virus — named 6DM because having caught it you have 6 days maximum until you die — has swept the world, and the narrator believes they are the only person left alive. In the midst of the 2020 Covid-19 crisis, I found this premise intriguing and the story didn't disappoint my curiosity.

Struggling to accept her plight, the narrator's already frail emotional state is battered time and again by the challenges she faces in her endeavors to eek out a living in a decaying environment devoid of any other living person. If she was unhappy with her life pre-pandemic, her troubles post-pandemic multiply beyond imagination, and many threads of lingering regret haunt her — she'll now never be able to make amends for the opportunities she previously squandered, nor rectify the consequences of her poor life choices. Apparently spiraling towards inevitable suicide, a chance encounter, and later an unexpected revelation, change everything.

The epistolary narrative, in the form of diary entries and, ultimately, dictaphone recordings didn't really work for me. I also found the numerous flashbacks increasingly annoying as I found it difficult to relate to the foundations of her characterization. This, along with the narrator remaining nameless, didn't engender empathy. However, the denouement worked delightfully, being a surprise twist which caught this reader unprepared.

#BookReview #AlexRosel #LastOneattheParty

I found it difficult to read a pandemic book in the midst of a pandemic, and I wish the author had not made light of COVID as there will likely be many readers who are suffering dreadfully right now who will find that deeply insensitive. Given that the idea for the book came months before COVID, it would have been more appropriate to concentrate solely on the 6DM plot without comparisons with the dire and worsening situation we find ourselves in.

I found the narrative fairly repetitive and the protagonist difficult to like or relate to back in the pre-pandemic world, and I wasn't convinced by the many and varied ways she went about her life as the supposed last person on earth.

The ending was abrupt and unsatisfying. We're told that a number of people were 'rescued'. From where, by whom and under what circumstances was not revealed and would have added an interesting dimension to a pretty one-dimensional book.

I loved this book it was so much fun which I didn't expect.
It was great that she brought in covid - 19 and Brexit into the storyline. The preface at the beginning drew me in which was unusual.

It really wasn't depressing at all. I am not usually into something like this book, love full blown dystopian and psychological thrillers but this was really wonderful. I laughed out load at certain sections.

I can see a second book in the making as really want to know what happens - can't say anymore due to spoilers. The writing was brilliant - really want to read more of this author. She should be so proud of her achievements.

I requested and received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley, the publisher and the author in exchange for an honest review.

I do not repeat the contents or story of books in reviews, I let them do it as the publisher do it as they do it better than I do.