Hanna Jameson’s The Last is an interesting one. The plot follows a group of strangers isolated in a remote Swiss hotel when nuclear bombs destroy the world. Few of the guests have little chance of ever going home -airports were destroyed and society rapidly disintegrates – so they make the most of a bad situation and turn the hotel into a new home for the new world order.
The writing was clean, characters varied and interesting, and most of the cliches of the post-apocalyptic genre were nimbly avoided.
My main issue is with the whodunit mystery aspect – it seemed shoehorned in to give the plot a focus, then didn’t go anywhere, and ended with a very contrived conclusion. Also, the theory that the world could be destroyed by nuclear bombs seemed overplayed – yep, long-term damage would be brutal in an all out exchange, but I’m pretty sure few bombs would land in the southern hemisphere meaning large parts of the world would still be inhabitable. At one point in the novel it’s reported Scotland has been destroyed: no-one would level Scotland – the highlands are so sparsely populated you’d only be killing a handful of people with each bomb!
That said, I did enjoy it, a solid 4 stars, just don’t think about the realities too hard or it’ll break your suspension of disbelief.
Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review.
See review on Goodreads.