The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

April 4, 2024

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

The last 122 people on earth live in a village on an island at the end of the world - everyone else has been consumed by a mysterious fog. Technology is gone, the last of it buried somewhere beneath the island. All of the residents work for the greater good, managed by Abi, an artificial intelligence. No one lives beyond the age of 60 - when a villager dies, another appears to take their place. The deadly fog remains at bay, but they all fear that someday, the fog will consume them too. Equilibrium is maintained until a resident is murdered, and the fog suddenly begins to creep closer.

Stuart Turton writes mysteries that are anything but ordinary. I refer to them as "thinking person mysteries," with stories that are complex and original. Like the author's previous books, this one is edgy and a blend of dystopia, sci fi, and mystery. It's a "locked room" mystery, where a group of people are isolated from the outside, and one of them must be the murderer, but it seems to be impossible that any of them did it. Hints of the television series LOST and also The Prisoner. I could have used a map of the island since it was sometimes difficult to picture where the characters were at times in relation to the village and the bay. Not for someone looking for a traditional mystery, but will appeal to readers who like fiction that is "out there."

Many thanks to NetGallery and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

A foggy island at the end of the world

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

 October 17, 2020

The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

Samuel Pipps is the most valuable agent employed by the Gentlemen 17 who run the United East India Company.  His cases are read by the public like the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  But after successfully completing a mission in Batavia on the island of Java, he is suddenly arrested and imprisoned in a dungeon before being transported to Amsterdam to stand trial for an unknown offense.  His bodyguard and associate Arent Hayes is determined to not only find out what Sammy stands accused of, but also to discover and thwart the unknown force that is threatening to destroy the ship they are sailing on.

The second title by the author of The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, this is another historical mystery but with less of a fantasy overtone than Turton's first book.  Almost all of the story takes place on an Indiaman, a type of 17th century sailing ship, and without a diagram of the ship, it was difficult to figure out exactly where the players were located at any given time.  It is a clever mystery although the ending felt rushed and therefore a little unsatisfactory.

Sailors were a superstitious lot in the 17^th century – they may still be, although my husband was in the Navy and while there were lots of bad habits, they didn’t seem to indulge in much superstition.  But it seems like just about everyone was extremely superstitious in the 17th century.  Superstition, religion, and social standing ruled everyone's lives.

I have an uncommon last name, and I was startled to find that it was used in this book – it was a little disconcerting every time I saw it in print. 

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in return for a review.