Last Murder at the End of the World

I enjoy a good mystery novel on its own, but when one brings in enough worldbuilding that can stand on its own, it makes the mystery so much sweeter. Tainted Cup is one book I read earlier this year that did this to great effect, and The Last Murder at the End of the World strikes a different blend that kept me engaged the whole way through. Unlike Stuart Turton's previous time loop-esque murder mystery, I found this one to be temporally more straightforward and the worldbuilding to be much stronger and more intriguing. There's still plenty of red herrings, questions, and multilayered deceptions.

The premise is delightful. The first quarter of the book is an intriguing worldbuilding and character introduction. The earth is covered in a deadly fog and a single Greek island is the only part free from the apocalypse. The villagers and elders who live on this island have some peculiar routines and customs. Finally, and most importantly, Abi (the first person perspective of this book) is able to read everybody's thoughts and can speak to them internally.

Then, the hook. Everybody wakes up. There's a fire. Everybody's memories of the past night have been forcibly wiped by Abi. There's been several murders, people have injuries and blood on their clothes. The murderers could be anybody, even the person investigating it, as nobody has any memory of that night. As a bonus wrinkle, there's time pressure that these murders must be solved in two days or everybody will die.

The last bastion of humanity at the end of the world, post-apocalyptic plague—and the murder mystery that unravels it all.

Stu Turton has done it again! His books don’t follow a set genre, and this time we have a sci-fi/dystopian murder mystery—he calls it a ‘locked island’ scenario. In a world beset by a fatal fog, a group of villagers and the elders they rely upon eke out a meager existence on a small Greek island. However, this delicate balance is thrown into chaos when one of the elders is found murdered. Our protagonist, Emory, puts her years of reading detective stories to work and takes the case—not only to get justice for her friend, but to save the lives of everyone on the island.

Although Emory was not my favorite character, I did appreciate her sense for details and ability to puzzle together the various bits of evidence. What I appreciated from her character was her relationship with her family—her reclusive and emotionally distant father, Seth, and her daughter (also somewhat emotionally distant), Clara. To put it bluntly, Emory is slightly persona non grata—not only with her family, but also in her village; her natural habit of being curious and asking too many questions has not endeared her to the other villagers. Yet, it is exactly this trait that makes her a great protagonist for a murder mystery—her inclinations become a strength and perhaps she is the only one who can take on this task.

The other characters were fairly complex and nuanced—the elders in particular have some interesting backstories, which I will not elaborate on. Suffice it to say that they are much more nuanced than they first appear, and everyone has some stake in the events that are under investigation. Turton’s skillful arrangement of the relationships between the villagers and the elders, as well as the familial relationships, was quite well-done. I felt the fragile bonds of pain and distrust but also desire for reconciliation that characterize Emory and Clara’s mother/daughter relationship.

The Last Murder at the End of the World is clearly a novel inspired by living during the pandemic. Yet it takes those familiar ideas and turns them on their head, asking what it means to be truly human and what it might take to thrive even as the world is ending. It is brilliant, descriptive, and the plot twists are especially compelling!