The Last Day

Despite the unbelievably impossible ‘science' in this fiction, this mystery set in a dystopian near future is worth reading.

The world stops turning and chaos ensues. I really enjoyed this and if you like dystopian thrillers you will probably enjoy it too. I found the bits about what happened directly after the event really interesting, probably more so than the main story itself. The ending sets up a 2nd book very nicely indeed. Not perfect but very enjoyable.

I had some nitpicky issues with the science, but overall it was an interesting read.

3,5 stars. Cool concept, good pace keeps the pages turning, but the writing is a bit clumsy (not as bad as Dan Brown but still a bit light)

An excellent take on a near future dystopia. Like all great dystopias this one stays close enough to reality that the loss of control and slip into totalitarianism feels scarily real. This one adds a nice sci-fi twist as the explanation for the country's acquiescence with this new reality - the world has stopped spinning and become in lock-step with the sun. This means that one side of the planet is permanently in sunshine and therefore becomes too hot to be habitable, and the other side is permanently in darkness, becoming to cold to be habitable. All that is left is a thin band of normally habitable ground in the twilight zones between light and dark. This is a clever construct and thought experiment. A reality such as this would definitely cause the chaos and threat of ‘other' that could lead to the type of dystopian state being proposed.

The central story is around a secret hidden by a dying former member of the government. What this secret is and who wants to reveal/suppress it becomes the main bulk of the story.

I really enjoyed this - the world building with its paranoia and totalitarian state was believable and all the more scary for it. The sense of isolationism and fear of foreigners that pervades the fight for resources seems sadly too real. With the main setting being the UK and the current Brexit isolationism being actively promoted it seems very apt for the times too. I got a very ‘Children of Men' type vibe from the story too.