Susi Holliday’s The Last Resort sells itself as a modern version of Agatha Christie’s beloved classic … And Then There Were None, and initially it looks like that’s what this is: buncha strangers rock up to an island after receiving mysterious invites. But that’s about all the two books have in common - The Last Resort is as terrible as Aggie’s novel is superb.
The cast are a dull bunch of forgettable nobodies who get contrivance devices fitted to their brains, or some such rubbish, so they can see each other’s memories of terrible deeds. And, while the deeds aren’t exactly flattering, they’re a long way from interesting or meaningful either. They each learn they’re not great people - and nothing happens. No consequences. So… what’s the point?
Characters start to get killed off but it’s done in a more circumstantial, leisurely way - one character falls, another gets bitten by a snake - rather than a murderer going around knifing people, so it’s much less exciting. And that’s the bulk of the novel: boring idiots wandering around watching pointless secrets and occasionally dying, while we wait for the reason for all this crap to be revealed.
And that’s where I was hoping the novel would be somewhat worth it: come on big finale! But no - the ending is definitely the worst part of the book. Baffling, idiotic, extremely convoluted, laughably feeble, underwhelming, and anticlimactic - it couldn’t have been a worse ending.
The Last Resort is one of the worst novels I’ve read in a while. A dreary waste of time, ignore anyone comparing this to Agatha Christie, and I’d suggest ignoring this book too!
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