Review: A Murder Mystery After the Apocalypse
The Last Murder at the End of the World explores the dangers of absolute power.
(Photo: The Last Murder at the End of the World/Raven Books)
The Last Murder at the End of the World is deceptively light and smooth for a book that does so much. The latest from Stuart Turton (The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle) is a dystopian science fiction novel that is also a locked-room murder mystery that is also a philosophical exploration of the perfectibility of man and the dangers of absolute power.
The locked room in question is the island home of 125 refugees from the apocalypse and one morally ambiguous AI entity. A carnivorous fog has been held at bay for the last 90 years, but the murder of the village matriarch triggers a dead man's switch, leaving little time to unravel a century of noble lies and find a way to secure a future for sentient life on Earth.
