Splicing post-apocalyptic dystopia with fiendishly gripping Agatha Christie-esque whodunit, first-time novelist Hanna Jameson has created a brilliant twist on the conventional thriller. The Last conjures a mood that balances eerie menace with utterly credible characterisation and plotting, resulting in one of the most compulsively readable and original novels of 2019 and a standout bookseller favourite.
Our Thriller of the Month for August 2019
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?
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 9780241983997
Number of pages: 400
Weight: 318 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 24 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'The Last is a brilliantly executed novel, and the questions Jameson poses -who will be with you at the end of the world, and what kind of person will you be? - are as haunting as the plot itself. This is a chilling and extraordinary book - Emily St John Mandel, author of Station Eleven
'Dark, original, compelling.' - CJ Tudor, author of The Chalk Man
'A clever, original, scarily plausible white-knuckle read.' - Erin Kelly, bestselling author of He Said, She Said
'A brilliantly imagined tale of suspicion, betrayal and survival in a world on the brink of extinction. One of those books that you can't stop reading - but don't want to end.' - TM Logan, bestselling author of Lies
'Stephen King meets Agatha Christie, in this fantastic and highly original novel that I'll be recommending to readers for a long time to come. I loved every second of it! This is the book of 2019.' - Luca Veste, author of The Bone Keeper
'Chillingly nightmarish - a gripping read.' - Sophia Tobin, author of The Silversmith's Wife
'Gripping, and thoroughly and frighteningly believable. I could not put this book down.' - Jennie Melamed, author of Gather the Daughter
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