90 years ago the world suffered a catastrophic event. Sinkholes appeared from nowhere and a fog began to blanket the Earth causing most of the population to perish. A small number of people were able to escape to an island where the fog surrounded but did not reach.

Run by the "Elders" - three people who were around when the world collapsed and now don't seem to age - the island operates like a machine. Everyone has something they contribute to the overall wellbeing of the people and the island. Although some, like Emory, would say that the villagers trust too much in the Elders. After all, her husband was one such casualty of the Elder's demanding experiments.

Plus, in order to keep the population under control, no one lives past sixty years old (barring of course the aforementioned Elders). So it is on the eve of her grandfather's death that Emory finds a revived sense of wariness where the Elders are concerned. Truthfully, she's always been curious and not one to let a question go unasked - even though she rarely gets a straight answer. This sense of curiosity has made Emory somewhat of an outlier within the village. No one wants to look too hard at their situation, they just want to continue living their lives.

So maybe it's fitting that when one of the Elders is discovered brutally murdered, Emory is the perfect one to lead the investigation. But she's on the clock as the surrounding fog is slowly starting to encroach upon the island.

This book took a bit for me to get into. To the point where I picked it up and started and just wasn't connecting with it so I put it down. When I started listening to the audiobook, that made it unfold better for me, and then once we get to a certain point, I'd say maybe about 15 to 20 percent into the story is when you realize that everything going on has more depth than people simply surviving and rebuilding after collapse of civilization.

Adding to all this is the fact that the story is told to us from the perspective of Abi. An omniscient presence who is able to speak into the villagers' minds and know their thoughts and whereabouts. This presence is always a little ominous. You don't know what Abi is and what her true function is within this society. Therefore, you don't know if you can fully trust her.

Trust is a big thing in this book. Not only trust, but the blind trust we often place upon people in positions of authority willing that they have our best interests at heart. This is not to be a scary allegory of trust and faith, but I think more of a don't be afraid to ask questions kind of thing. Don't be afraid to learn and be curious. Because it quickly becomes apparent that there are things the Elders have been keeping from the villagers.

I thought that Stuart Turton lead us on a wonderful unfolding of this society. Each chapter revealed another layer or another piece of the puzzle working toward putting together the big picture. I never felt like there were too many twists and turns, which to be honest there are a lot. Instead each turn leads nicely along to the next and the next in a way that makes sense. I was rapt by how everything was unfolding.

Now, I think this also sets a pretty high bar that's difficult to top. Meaning, the ending wasn't as revelatory as I was expecting. To be fair, though, I think this says a lot about it being more about the journey than the destination. It also doesn't negate the fact that the book kept me wanting to read on, wanting to find out what was happening next. I wanted to put the pieces together with Emory to see where it lead. Overall, it was very satisfying.

Speaking of the listening aspect of the book as mentioned above, I think an audiobook really works because it leans into the idea that we're being told this story (via Abi). The telling makes sense then if we are literally being read the story aloud. I think it's an interesting choice to have a male narrator essentially speaking for a female entity as Abi is referred to as she throughout the book. I don't think it takes anything away or adds anything, I simply think it's an interesting choice and makes me wonder about the process of choosing narrators for audiobooks. I do feel like there were times it was difficult to know which character was speaking. There was not enough distinction between the differing voices used for each character in some cases, but I'd say Emory is definitely the main protagonist of the book and she does stand out.

Overall, I know that Stuart Turton is known for the clever twists and turns in his stories. Reflecting on this one, I truly was surprised in quite a few places, but not only that, I'm left very curious about the world and left thinking on what the world was like. I appreciated that it's set in an unknown time so we have no idea what year the fog came and overtook everything in relation to our own real world which gives it a timelessness. As though this could all really happen at any moment. So again with that ominous feeling.

Any book that can make me continue to think about it for days going on weeks afterwards is a book worth spending time on. ( )

The book started out strong. It had a great concept behind it and I did really enjoy the story. However, it felt scattered at times. It was kind of all over the place, following too many perspectives and not making the narrator clear. It took a little bit before we finally figured out who was narrating the story. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but I don't think it quite worked for the story. The characters didn't do anything to make me feel a connection to them. I honestly didn't care about what ended up happening to them. The different perspectives at the beginning didn't do enough to make any of them appeal to me. Especially since we ended up following one perspective more than the others. It just felt messy to me.
I feel like this book is just an okay story. There was nothing overly good about it, but it also wasn't bad in any way. It was just a story to entertain you for a little bit. I don't have strong feelings about it either way. It doesn't fit the genre stereotypes at all, the whole premise could have been leaned into to make a solid murder mystery set in a sci-fi world, but this story doesn't do either one justice. ( )

This was an interesting story. I remember reading a sneak peak of this book and I was intrigued by the foreboding feel of it, almost sinister and dark, with a weird voice that knew everyone's thoughts and feelings. The world building is amazing, with details slowly being unveiled about a past that is way more technologically advanced than we are currently, and an island that has many secrets all around and under it.

This was honestly kind of hard for me to get into at first. There seemed to be too many characters being introduced all at once and there was a lot of shifting around on what character was being focused on. I believe the narrator throughout the whole book was Abi, the all-knowing voice, but sometimes it could get kind of confusing, almost like there was a shift in tense. Once I got used to it and the story really started unfolding, I was really greatly entertained by the story line. I love a good murder mystery, especially when memories have been manipulated or erased. Emory was like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, noticing all the small details that everyone else misses and recreating the chain of events that led to the murder.

There's also a message woven throughout the story, about what humanity is and what is an acceptable line to cross to ensure the greater good. I can't really say a whole lot, because I don't want to ruin the whole plot of this novel. It was great having all the clues unveil and the puzzle pieces lock into place. This book showed the difference between being biologically human and having humanity, and even though we can have empathy for people's circumstances and the horrors they have had to face, it doesn't excuse their actions.

I raced through the last 60 pages or so, anxious to see if the approach of the fog would be stopped and to find out who the murderer was. I was satisfied with the ending, but I do feel like it was a little anti-climactic and I think some questions were not fully answered. Overall, I was very entertained by this book and would recommend to anyone who likes post-apocalyptic fiction or murder mystery.

Thank you to BookishFirst and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily. ( )

I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook version of The Last Murder at the End of the World. The narrator is British and was understandable. He used different voices to represent different characters, and while I didn't necessarily love all of voices, it did help differentiate who was speaking in the story.

This book was an interesting take on a post-apocalyptic dystopian world. At first, I was a little overwhelmed by the number of characters who were introduced, but I quickly was able to get familiar with the key players. The narrator of the story is ABI, an artificial intelligence that is connected to everyone's thoughts and can communicate with them, almost as a second conscience. The first quarter of the book concentrates mostly on world building and getting to know the characters, so it takes a while to really dive into the more exciting parts of the story, but I did like how descriptive it was. We end up in a murder mystery, but it all turns out to be far more complicated than expected. The book really took some turns that I was not expecting at all, and it kept me guessing about what really happened and who was involved. At times it could be a little confusing, trying to keep everything straight amidst the constant turns the story took, but eventually everything is fully explained. The story kept me interested and was hard to put down until I reached the end.

Thank you to Tantor Audio, Sourcebooks Landmark, and NetGalley for the audiobook review copy of The Last Murder at the End of the World! All opinions expressed in my review are completely my own. ( )

The title of Stuart Turton's new book caught my eye - The Last Murder at the End of the World. I enjoy post apocalyptic fiction and murder mysteries, so this was an easy book to pick up.

I'm always fascinated as to what an author imagines for the 'end of the world'. I liked what Turton has come up with - there's so many directions the plot could take from the opening chapters.

The end of the world is a small island surrounded by a poisonous black fog. Three elders make the decisions for the 121 gentle villagers. And then there's Abi - the artificial intelligence that speaks to everyone through their thoughts. When a body is found, its heralds the beginning of the end...

There's lots more about the island and the inhabitants to discover. Trying to solve a murder is a new situation for the villagers. Normally the elders take care of everything and their word is the final decision. But one villager is determined to get answers for not just the murder, but for the rest of their tiny piece of the world. They have 107 hours to solve the killing.

In addition to some great world building is the characters' growth. Will they find the whodunit? Will changes take place? Will they survive the changes?

Something different for me, but I very much enjoyed it. ( )