#BlogTour: The Last by Hanna Jameson @VikingBooksUK @Hanna_Jameson @Emily_BookPR #TheLast

Book Synopsis:

BREAKING: Nuclear weapon detonates over Washington

Historian Jon Keller is on a trip to Switzerland when the world ends. As the lights go out on civilisation, he wishes he had a way of knowing whether his wife, Nadia, and their two daughters are still alive. More than anything, Jon wishes he hadn’t ignored Nadia’s last message.

Twenty people remain in Jon’s hotel. Far from the nearest city and walled in by towering trees, they wait, they survive.

Then one day, the body of a young girl is found. It’s clear she has been murdered. Which means that someone in the hotel is a killer.

As paranoia descends, Jon decides to investigate. But how far is he willing to go in pursuit of justice? And what kind of justice can he hope for, when society as he knows it no longer exists?

My Review:

The thing I most enjoy about dystopian fiction is the chance to explore the author’s great imagination through the world they have created . The Last was a very well imagined and frightening story made all the more so by how realistic it seemed. The nuclear weapon is detonated because a politician makes a mistake, which is seeming increasingly likely in today’s political climate. I found myself instantly drawn into this world, trying to work out how I’d fit into it which is always a sign that I’m enjoying a book.

The characters or residents of the hotel are all very varied and well developed. It was fascinating to read about how much they change over the course of the book. The fear and uncertainty that the characters feel are almost palpable at times and I found myself feeling very sorry for them.

This is quite a character driven novel though it is still quite gripping as the more I got to know the characters, the more involved in their story I became. I wanted to keep reading to find out not only who the murder was but also what would happen to everyone.

The murder mystery side of the story was very intriguing and I enjoyed watching it develop. The evidence is tantalisingly revealed and I found myself changing my mind frequently as to who the murder could be.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I’ll definitely be going back to read her previous novels soon. The Last manages to be both a dystopian and a murder mystery which I felt was an interesting mix that worked very well!

Huge thanks to Emily Burns from BrandHive for inviting me onto the tour and to Viking for my copy of this book which I received in exchange for an honest review.

About The Author:

Hanna Jameson’s fourth novel, part murder mystery and part post-apocalyptic thriller – THE LAST – is out early 2019, with Viking UK and Simon & Schuster – Atria Books US. The Last is the story of an American academic searching for the truth about a girl who has been murdered in his Swiss hotel in the aftermath of a nuclear war that has destroyed most of the Western world.

Jameson had written the first draft of her debut, award-nominated novel – SOMETHING YOU ARE – at just seventeen. Something You Are and two further novels in the series – GIRL SEVEN and ROAD KILL – are available now in the UK, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands.

She lives in London currently, and is working on screenwriting projects. She likes whiskey, history, and emotionally taxing TV shows.