The Last Day

A Novel

By: Andrew Hunter Murray

Narrated by: Gemma Whelan

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

“Wonderful: boldly imagined and beautifully written—the best future-shock thriller for years.”—LEE CHILD

A visionary and powerful debut thriller set in a terrifyingly plausible dystopian near-future—with clear parallels to today's headlines—in which the future of humanity lies in the hands of one woman, a scientist who has stumbled upon a secret that the government will go to any lengths to keep hidden.

A world half in darkness. A secret she must bring to light.

It is 2059 and the world has crashed. Forty years ago, a solar catastrophe began to slow the planet's rotation to a stop. Now one half of the globe is permanently sunlit, the other half trapped in an endless night. The United States has colonized the southern half of Great Britain—lucky enough to find itself in the narrow habitable region left between frozen darkness and scorching sunlight—where both nations have managed to survive the ensuing chaos by isolating themselves from the rest of the world.

Ellen Hopper is a scientist living on a frostbitten rig in the cold Atlantic. She wants nothing more to do with her country after its slide into casual violence and brutal authoritarianism. Yet when two government officials arrive, demanding she return to London to see her dying college mentor, she accepts—and begins to unravel a secret that threatens not only the nation's fragile balance, but the future of the whole human race.

“A tantalizing, suspenseful odyssey of frustration, deceit, treachery, torture, hope, despair, and ingenious sleuthing . . . Murray has so thoroughly thought through the ramifications of his conceit and conjured up such a dramatic plot and stellar cast of characters that he might have set a new standard for such tales.”—The Washington Post

Political Sci Fi

I liked the sci fi but was not a fan of the political. Great world building, but I felt the mystery was drawn out and really no surprise at all in the end, so it just annoyed me. I don't regret the purchase or time spent listening, but it's not a book I will listen to again.

Interesting and entertaining take

This was an interesting flavor of world ending - severely damaged but not quite dead. There's the technical parts - following the spreading web of consequences and secondary effects of the event. Layered on top are the political and social changes that would be brought about. Then the deep morale dilemmas that every individual would have to wrestle with every day. What to do to survive and is it worth the cost? Or should something change the status quo?

Wow! So good!

I'm a huge fan of QI and "No Such Thing As A Fish", so listening to this was like reading a book that a friend wrote and thinking "Wow! I didn't know he was so talented." The book is utterly unexpected if you think of Andrew hunter Murray as a comedian. It's not a funny book. But, don't let that stop you. The same mental gymnastics that make Andrew so great at dishing up surprisingly interesting trivia make him an excellent story teller and great at pondering the "what if" kind of tale. The characters are compelling. The world is well described. The plot is twisty and turny and awesome all the way through. Absolutely worth your credit and your time.

My favorite read this year!

So detailed you felt like you were there with the Protagonist…well developed characters you cared about and I loved the narrator. Ready for a sequel.

Very cool original premise

Nothing to dislike about this book. Far and away one of the best I’ve listened to this year.