The Last by Hanna Jameson

The Last
by Hanna Jameson
Published by Penguin Viking (31 January 2019)
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher

Publisher's description

BREAKING: Nuclear weapon detonates over Washington
BREAKING: London hit, thousands feared dead
BREAKING: Munich and Scotland hit. World leaders call for calm

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 verdict
The Last is post-apocalyptic fiction, yet it's really a novel of the modern age - dystopian fiction that no longer seems so unbelievable.

Twenty people appear to be the last survivors of a global nuclear attack, holed up in a remote Swiss hotel after a work conference with no way of communicating with the outside world. Historian Jon is determined to log their last days and weeks, hoping that one day someone will find his notebooks. When he finds the body of a young girl, he suspects murder. But who is killer?

The Last is a dark, disturbing and thought-provoking read. Think The Walking Dead without zombies, with characters having to work together (or not!) to survive and unsure what lies outside their newly created comfort zone. The plot is fast-paced and tense, with a perfect mixture of action, mystery, survival and sense of bewilderment and paranoia, all in a claustrophobic setting.

The book is beautifully written, highly graphic and would translate well to the big (or little) screen. It prompted so many questions of 'what if?' and 'what would I do?' as I read, and the ending was chilling.  Highly recommended!