The Last Murder at the End of the World
Apr. 17th, 2024 10:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI loved Stuart Turton's first book and thought his second was pretty good, so I was excited about The Last Murder at the End of the World, but also a bit apprehensive.
I didn't get off to a great start by first trying to read it in bed while mostly falling asleep. However, once I restarted the next day, I found myself very much involved, intrigued, engaged and going slightly crazy...
So many layers. So many questions.
There's an island and it's surrounded by deadly fog, possibly the last place left on Earth where people can survive. Someone dies, the barriers come down - and Emory has 50 hours to solve the mystery before the island is engulfed...
It's gloriously high-concept and impressively woven together. It's also the best example of a truly omniscient narrator I've seen - though the fact that Abi knows everything does grate a little as things progress. It makes sense that she doesn't reveal things to the villagers, but it doesn't make as much sense that she hides them from the reader.
It got just a little bit too much to keep track of towards the climax - and I found myself wanting to skim, just to find out what happened. But I didn't - partly because I knew I'd miss vital details that would render the ending incomprehensible - but mostly because the writing is just so damn good. Great imagery, great metaphors, great description, great moments of philosophy and psychology.
It pretty much all came together in a satisfactory way in the end - I figured out a couple of things, but certainly not most of it.
I can only applaud Mr Turton and look forward to his next book...
I didn't get off to a great start by first trying to read it in bed while mostly falling asleep. However, once I restarted the next day, I found myself very much involved, intrigued, engaged and going slightly crazy...
So many layers. So many questions.
There's an island and it's surrounded by deadly fog, possibly the last place left on Earth where people can survive. Someone dies, the barriers come down - and Emory has 50 hours to solve the mystery before the island is engulfed...
It's gloriously high-concept and impressively woven together. It's also the best example of a truly omniscient narrator I've seen - though the fact that Abi knows everything does grate a little as things progress. It makes sense that she doesn't reveal things to the villagers, but it doesn't make as much sense that she hides them from the reader.
It got just a little bit too much to keep track of towards the climax - and I found myself wanting to skim, just to find out what happened. But I didn't - partly because I knew I'd miss vital details that would render the ending incomprehensible - but mostly because the writing is just so damn good. Great imagery, great metaphors, great description, great moments of philosophy and psychology.
It pretty much all came together in a satisfactory way in the end - I figured out a couple of things, but certainly not most of it.
I can only applaud Mr Turton and look forward to his next book...
