Read @ Joe’s

Title: The Last Murder at the End of the World (2024) Author: Stuart Turton Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark Book jacket: Outside the island there is the world destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched. On the island it is idyllic. Until one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. If the murder isn’t solved within 92 hours, the fog will smother the island – and everyone on it. Joe says: For all the talk of world ending urgency, the murder mystery is set at a much-too leisurely pace. But maybe that’s the laid back island life for you.

Ever race to finish reading a book not because it is a page turner but because you just want to end the damn thing? Sure you have. And chances are, you will again. Especially if you read Stuart Turton’s third novel, The Last Murder at the End of the World, which is a totally fine murder mystery unfortunately set at a much-too leisurely pace. And oh yeah, there is a decent-sized spoiler right there in the Table of Contents.

Set in the somewhat near future, a killer fog is beset upon mankind. Alas, not one full of cool John Carpenter ghost pirates, either. The last outpost of civilization resides on a tropical island. Life continues. Until! Someone is killed! And then? Everyone’s memories of the night before are conveniently erased (remember: set in the near future, so just go with it).

The Last Murder at the End of the World is billed as a clicking clock mystery as the killer fog (but the one without ghostly pirates) comes ever closer to wiping out the last of humanity. To get to that countdown, however, Turton fishes through an ocean-full of world building.

Turton’s debut, The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, was an elegant murder mystery that indeed had you guessing from that first jump. Turton allowed the reader to get closer to the characters and to guessing the mystery as the story progressed. He reverses course here, supplying the reader with a Wikipedia entry’s worth of info on Emory the villager, Niema the teacher, the elders, their daily rituals, the mechanics of the cable car, and biometric AI. Then – and only then – he presents the murder.

And here? The actual case of the murder? One does not need to be Hercule Poirot to figure out who to point the blame on.

  

Turton does have some fun reveals along the way. He gets into the makeup of the island as well as the intricacies of that dark deed. Yet for all the talk of world ending urgency, none of the characters react that way. But maybe that’s the laid back island life for you.

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Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for thinking of me and sending on over the ARC. This pairs nicely with a mai tai. And a John Carpenter soundtrack.