Post-apocalyptic dystopian sci-fi hasn’t been this gentle since 2089!
At one point in Stuart Turton’s unusual murder mystery, the lead character says “Nothing is what it seems. “ This is a gigantic understatement. This story is brilliant in that it constantly pulls the rug from under what you think you know.In an idyllic village, in the future, the residents are happy productive and leisured. They live shrouded on an isolated Greek island, the only place safe from a disastrous bio weapon that has destroyed the rest of planet Earth.
The very notion of murder is anathema to these gentle citizens, so when one of the elders is found dead in terrible circumstances, Emory, the one villager who seems to question their idyllic existence, is set to investigate and solve the murder.
There are so many twists and turns that I can’t say much more without including spoilers!
Indeed those twists and turns mean the characters develop in leaps and bounds. Suddenly things that seemed out of character fall in to place perfectly. And Turton has included the most definitive example of an omniscient narrator I can imagine. This narrator, Abi, is actually one of the characters too.
If I ever wondered how one could combine the two genres I’ve published novels in – cozy murder mystery and post apocalyptic dystopia – The Last Murder at the End of the World answers that question .