Okay so Stuart Turton sure does know how to write a compelling story. I’ve thought as much from the very first time I read one of his books. Since then I have read Devil and the Dark Water and the Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle which truly had me on the edge of my seat, and same here. He is my true auto-buy author!

I was immediately hooked. And OH MY GOD. The plot. This is a book you stay up all night reading. Trust me, you will not be able to put it down. The intrigue. The plot forever thickens! You’re left stroking your imaginary beard as elements of the story start to unfold and you’re hanging off every snippet of information trying to piece together the story.

An apocalyptic expanse, all that remains of humanity, a murder and a countdown to extinction. I mean, couldn’t want for more!

I love how he dangles little snippets of information that deepens the story and starts to bring it together but still keeps you guessing. It was another masterpiece!! I will be anxiously waiting on the announcement for another one and any of his future books because they are honestly like no other!!

4* Stuart Turton, plotting genius, has done it again with The Last Murder at the End of the World.

The world has been wiped out by a mysterious fog which destroys all living creatures in its path. The one remaining enclave is a small private island which was previously the preserve of cutting edge scientists. However, having managed to build a fog-barrier off the coast of the island, the fog then infiltrated the underground laboratories, curtailing hope that a solution could be found.

The island's villagers live a hum-drum but content and crime-free existence, led by the Elders who were part of the original scientific colony. However, a murder in the village leads to catastrophe. It's not just the shock of crime and violence but no one can remember what happened. Worse still, the ripples of the crime have knocked out the barrier and in 3 days the deadly fog will envelop the island, unless the murder can be solved.

The Last Murder at the End of the World is Stuart Turton's third book. Each one is completely different from the others with the only similarities being brilliant writing and intricate plotting. It takes a little while to set and settle the scene in the book, not least because understanding village life (and all the oddities and unanswered questions) is a core part of the book. As with his other books, I knew to trust the author, as once the pace picks up it is spell biding. The one significant differentiator is that this book feels more thoughtful in purpose.

Perhaps running with a slightly lengthy cast list, there are a number of characters that I grew very fond of, notably Emory, Clara and Seth. The world they live in is unfurled in a way that makes you feel part of their community. I hugely enjoyed this book and will be strongly recommending it.

Huge thanks to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for an ARC.

Thanks to the publishers & Netgalley for the ARC! I was a huge fan of Mr. Turton's book 'The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" (it made me ugly cry) and was super excited to read his follow up work "The Devil & the Dark Water". I only made it a few pages in to "The Devil & the Dark Water", because I found it confusing and weird. Well, this book was also very confusing and very weird, but I loved it. Side note: Going to pick "The Devil and the Dark Water" back up and give it another shot). It took me a solid hundred pages to get into it, but I liked where the book was going and once I got into it, I was hooked.
I'm not sure how to exactly describe this book... dystopian murder mystery? It's super weird with fantastical elements, deep character exploration and great dialogue. It's not an easy read; you have to pay attention or you will get confused. BUT it's worth it. I'd recommend this book to all dystopian fans, Turton fans, science nerds (said lovingly), questioners of AI and anyone who wants to really think about what the end of the world would look like. What would you do if the fog was closing in? Will you kill--or be killed? 5/5 stars *****

What a rollercoaster!!

I have just finished The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and. Saw this on NetGalley , needless to say I was made up to be accepted for the Arc of The Last Murder at the End of the World. A post-apocalyptic island, murder took place and a deadly fog. Excellent read from start to end.

A devastating plague is unleashed on the world, killing everything in its path. A small group of survivors travels to an island where a clever group of scientist has created a way to keep the fog at bay. When one of the inhabitants of the island is murdered, the fog is no longer kept at bay. They have 92 hours to solve the murder, or they all die.

I've heard of the author and his beloved novel The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, so I went in expecting a great read, and it did not disappoint. It was really well-paced and you were sucker-punched with twists every 10 pages. The character development was great as well, with the reveals being balanced well with exploring each character's motives and mindsets. I loved how the nature of the island sets the mystery up from the start. There is so much that the villagers don't know because they're told not to question the status quo. You are just as shocked as each bit of the puzzle comes together.

Overall, this is a unique mystery that is thrilling, gripping and will you have finishing it in one sitting.

Having read “The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” I was eager to get my hands on a copy of this, the authors latest offering. "The Last Murder at the End of the World” depicts life on a post-apocalyptic island where a murder took place and the race is on to find the murderer before they all die from the deadly fog. It’s an exhilarating rollercoaster of a read, one that entices and holds your attention from start to finish.

It is really interesting reading Stuart Turton's novels and I do hope he keeps up writing unique, quirky mysteries that get the brain thinking. Is it too soon to name him the new "Claire North"? Anyway "The Last Murder at the End of the World" kept me gripped from beginning to end. I like the dystopian qualities about how the survivors on this island have managed to keep the fog at bay, the fog that has wiped out the rest of humanity. The murder element is somewhat complicated as we, along with the villagers, have no idea who did it. We are brought along for the investigation and we discover other plot twists and turns along the way. The only reason I am not giving it 5 stars is because there were a few character name errors which caused great confusion. However, I am sure this will be ironed out once it is finally published.

It was a really intriguing concept and I think he nailed how humanity would have reacted to that type of tragedy/attack. There was enough mystery to the murder to solve and I think the audience being as completely blind as the characters to what happened is good. You learn the clues as they do.

There were a few grammatical errors and in two instances I think he accidentally transposed the names of Emory and Clara as they were assigned actions/dialogue in scenes they weren't in. Also, the chapter numbering misspelled 'forty' throughout those sections (it was 'Fourty'), but I am not sure if that is in the printed book or just an error on the Kindle version.

I have read his first book as well, and overall, I find that Stuart has very interesting concepts but his delivery is usually slightly underwhelming. This was a nice read but it was fairly average.

Stuart Turton is an excellent mystery writer, as proved by his two previous books. The mystery writing is still wonderful here, but the world building around it doesn’t quite work. A lot of the plot seems very disjointed, and none of the characters are quite fleshed out enough to care about. A good, twisty murder though!

I have read The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton and this one hooked me just as much, building suspense throughout.

A Solid Puzzle..
The world is destroyed, one island remains idyllic - a small group of villagers and scientists seemingly living in unison and in harmony. When one of the scientists is discovered murdered, security is lowered, and they learn that the island will be the next to be destroyed. Can they prevent it? Perhaps, but there is something else that they cannot possibly understand. A high concept murder mystery with a solid puzzle at its very heart, meticulously crafted and well executed and which consistently remains, remarkably, wholly credible.

Having been a fan of Stuart’s debut, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, still a book I urge others to read, I was expecting much from his third high concept novel. I was not disappointed – it was a complicated, layered work where you’re never quite sure if what you’re reading is the truth. Picture an island with fewer than 130 inhabitants. Everyone else is dead, the world as we know it is gone, destroyed by a deadly fog. Over 120 villagers and three scientists have made their lives work, the former abiding by the latter’s decisions. All is well until one scientist is found stabbed to death. The murder has triggered a lowering of the security system, meaning the fog is on its way. The villagers have less than four days to find the murderer and save themselves – and try and remember what happened the night before. A carefully crafted novel that will have you holding your breath at times. Wonderful.

What I wanted was a sequel to dark water but the author has stated he doesn’t do sequels, that gripe out of the way I thoroughly enjoyed this book, good story, good characters

4.5 stars

The Last Murder at the End of the World is Stuart Turton's new book, and once again he delivers a complex, fast-paced story. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the reader will follow the investigations through the island with twists and turns at every corner. Nothing is as it seems and you'll need to reach the very end to discover the truth. I was captivated from the beginning and, like his previous books, I couldn't guess who the murderer was. He truly knows how to develop compelling and elaborate stories. Totally recommend it if you want to read a good mystery book!

Goodness me - once again Stuart Turton has written a book with so many twists, turns, u-turns, dead ends and red herrings that my mind is spinning, whilst being in awe of anyone who can create such a complicated chain of events.
It took me a while to get to grips with the storyline - once the major reveal came about I was able to settle into it, perhaps a little bit of explanation earlier in the tale would help. As with many post-apocalyptic stories it all seems a little too close for comfort, so as long as you are happy to be befuddled, perplexed and downright confused with a little bit of end of the world commentary, this is the book for you,

I enjoyed this book immensely. I went in blind and I want everyone else to do so as well. It was very atmospheric. I was hooked from the first page to the last.

Some authors are a must-buy because you know exactly what you're going to get. Stuart Turton's first 2 books were so different that this isn't the case with him, and this 3rd book is again something totally different. So if you like more-of-the-same, then Stu might not be for you. But if you want to go on a real ADVENTURE with every novel, yet still be secure in the knowledge that what you're going to read is going to be brilliantly written, then Turton's your guy.

The Last Murder at the End of the World is about a small, post-apocalyptic island of hardworking and philanthropic villagers, and their three intelligent and long-lived elders. The entity Abi is a sort of overseeing telepathic being, in all their minds - and with some ability to restrain them physically from breaching the boundaries in place for them. The fog surrounding the island is murderous - and has destroyed the rest of the world - but is held back by security measures developed by the elders. Our chief character is Emory, a villager who persists in questioning everything, much to the discomfort of her friends and family, and the frustration of the elders, who are used to cheerful obedience. Widowed, and somewhat estranged from her daughter, who chose to be an apprentice despite that being what killed her father, we enter the story as Emory's grandfather is about to die, as all villagers do when they're 60. What follows is a lovely ritual, although Emory's questioning of her own father after the event finally ends up frustrating him to the point of washing his hands of her too. Then the villagers wake up one morning and everything is in chaos, one of the elders is dead and a failsafe mechanism now means the security keeping the fog at bay will fail if the culprit isn't found within a couple of days. The only trouble is, their memories have been wiped, so none of them knows what happened the night before. It's a race against time, but who better to investigate than the doggedly persistent, questioner extraordinaire Emory?
And thus the stage is set to try and untangle exactly what happened the night before from the scant and confusing clues available. Granted an exception from the curfew and allowed to travel anywhere she wills, she's also able to contact the outlawed Adil, her friend's father, who is one person who has a motive for murder, and the only person on the island not under Abi's control. Emory's brilliant daughter Clara is helping too, as her best friend Hui is also missing, and this brings the two women to an initially uneasy peace.

What I absolutely LOVED about this story was being so invested in it, which is what always happens for me with Turton's books - NOTHING else gets done while I'm immersed! It's a worn phrase but in the unpacking of what actually happened there are more layers than an onion and - here's the kicker - AT NO POINT DID I HAVE ANY IDEA MYSELF! The only character I had an 'uh oh, I think you might be malign' moment about...I was wrong! Often when you read a mystery you have a guess along the way, a feeling, a strong suspicion, or you totally see it coming (& ideally the author wants you to be wrong!) but to take Agatha Christie as an example, she'll have half a dozen people or so and you know it's one of them. Clues are laid out in such a way that either it's a dead heat and could equally be any of them, or else it points compellingly to one of them, but on the last page it'll turn out to be a bell boy who only made the briefest of appearances on page 22! Well in this book I didn't get any strong suspicions going, there were a handful of likely culprits but I couldn't choose between them, so the ending (which again, was layer upon layer of unravelling) was a complete revelation, and at no point did I see any of it coming.

Although this copy was an uncorrected proof and there is a fair amount of tweaking to be done before the final version, Turton has a lovely turn of phrase which will unquestionably remain - for example , I particularly liked 'she hands out compliments the way the moon hands out fruit'! The state of humanity prior to the apocalypse is depressingly familiar in today's world, and the almost 'Avatar'-like utopia of the island makes for appealing and compelling reading, with characters you become genuinely attached to. I found it a very visual read, it would make a great film! It's a story line that will stay with me long after the final page and I highly recommend it. I just can't wait to see what he comes up with next!

What a rollercoaster! Punchy chapters, quality characters (some likeable, some not!) and a storyline that will blow your mind.
The Last Murder is everything I wanted it to be. It hits the mark, draws you in and keeps you there. Brilliant storytelling.

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.