An Apocalyptic Murder Mystery

Another Marvelous Genre Blend

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton (2024) – When human carelessness results in a black killing fog covering the world, a small group of people survive on a protected island. After 90 years, the leader of the group decides to tell everyone the truth. Her death triggers events that will allow the fog to penetrate this last bastion of life on Earth, unless one outcast can solve the mystery and find the murderer.

Why I Liked It – Stuart Turton offers another brilliant mystery surrounded by a cocoon woven from dozens of unanswered questions.

When I read Turton’s first book, the brilliant “The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle,” I went into “I Can’t Wait For The Next Book” mode. I had to wait for two years to read “The Devil and the Dark Water”. Like his first book, Turton expertly twists genres together to create another brilliant book. As with everything, it looks like the pandemic slowed things down, because it’s been FOUR years between that book and this one. His third book continues with the masterful blending of genres, and labyrinthine plots and sub-plots. The result is the third “can’t put it down” book in a row.

The truth about this island and its inhabitants reveals itself slowly. There was a cataclysmic event that poured a murderous black cloud across the planet. It killed without compassion everything it touched. The secrets of that cloud may lie in an underground laboratory. Also, in those sealed rooms is another group of survivors, held in perfect sleeping stasis. But the killing cloud got into the lab before it was sealed. While the sleeping survivors are safe, they and the laboratory are beyond the reach of the rest. With the help of three “elders”, the villagers continue to make a life for them all. It’s a precarious sanctuary. It may not survive certain revelations about what brought all of them to this place.

Turton is a master of weaving complex stories together, and revealing the hidden truths at just the right moment. Just when you think you understand what is going on, another twist sends you in a new direction. Here is a story of a fragile dystopia, in danger from without and within by the arrogance of those who think they can play God. It’s also a tribute to the very best of humanity. In the end, their future, as well as ours, may rest on those attributes.

Once again, when people ask what I’ve read that’s good, I’ll respond with “Have you heard of Stuart Turton?”

“The Last Murder at the End of the World” will hit bookshelves May 31, 2024. This review was of an Advance Reader Copy and complies with my published ARC policies.

Rating – **** Recommended