#Review - The Last Day by Andrew Hunter Murray #Dystopian #Thrillers #Political

Series: Unknown
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Release Date: February 4, 2020
Publisher: Dutton
Source: Publisher
Genre: Dystopian / Thrillers / Political

A visionary and powerful debut thriller set in a terrifyingly plausible dystopian near-future—with clear parallels to today’s headlines—in which the future of humanity lies in the hands of one woman, a scientist who has stumbled onto a secret that the government will go to any lengths to keep hidden.

A world half in darkness. A secret she must bring to light.

It is 2059, and the world has crashed. Forty years ago, a solar catastrophe began to slow the planet’s rotation to a stop. Now, one half of the globe is permanently sunlit, the other half trapped in an endless night. The United States has colonized the southern half of Great Britain—lucky enough to find itself in the narrow habitable region left between frozen darkness and scorching sunlight—where both nations have managed to survive the ensuing chaos by isolating themselves from the rest of the world.

Ellen Hopper is a scientist living on a frostbitten rig in the cold Atlantic. She wants nothing more to do with her country after its slide into casual violence and brutal authoritarianism. Yet when two government officials arrive, demanding she return to London to see her dying college mentor, she accepts—and begins to unravel a secret that threatens not only the nation’s fragile balance, but the future of the whole human race.

Andrew Hunter Murray's The Last Day is based on the premise that sometime in the future, the world is going to stop rotating, causing day and night to be the same spot day in and day out all over the world. The cold spots are eternally cold and the warm spots always warm, possibly too warm as they face the sun in the same position without change. The cause of this calamity was a huge celestial body known as a white dwarf star crossing space relatively near to our solar system. As a consequence of this event, the earth begins a period of slowing down in it's ever changing position of moving around the sun.

Differences in day and night and seasonal change begin to slow down, and eventually cease when our planet finally finishes slowing down and eventually stops. As the story opens, it is the year 2059, and we are 30 years into this apocalyptic event. In parts of Europe, 1/2 of Russia, the Middle East, Eastern North America and the top of South America, it is constant light 24/7. In other parts of the world like Great Britain, it is now a totalitarian nation with closed borders. In parts of Europe and other places, there's still electric power, and food being produced, and society seems to be continuing along. 

Protagonist Dr. Ellen Hopper is a scientist working on a rig in the North Atlantic. She is a science officer who has spent the past 3 years measuring the ocean currents and finding out whether humanity will live out the century. To make matters worse, Prime Minister Richard Davenport ordered every vessel approaching the country to be sunk which means ships filled with the dead who had no other place to go. He allowed what's remaining of the American government to take over acres of land known as the American Zone since most of the US is under darkness. 

Until one day when two officials (Ruth Warwick & Inspector Blake) from the British government visit her demanding that she visit her former mentor Edward Thorne from her days at university which was 15 years ago. Thorne once known as the savior of England now is on his final days. Thorne has a secret that he wishes that Ellen will uncover before it's too late. She secretly sends herself on a mission to try and figure out the truth, his secret, on her own, following clues and leads as she uncovers them. She is being watched and followed, beaten up and interrogated, yet still manages to stay one step ahead of the officials who want to destroy the information Thorne has hidden away. 

Helen's only ally might be her ex-husband, David Gamble, who she left behind to find herself. David is an editor of the only remaining newspapers in Great Britain. Her search makes this more of an espionage thriller, where the setting makes the search more interesting, but you have to believe she could find what others could not find. The ending leaves room open for a sequel. One nagging problem of mine was the science behind the slow down and stop wasn't presented until a bit later in the story when it should have been explained earlier. I think there is room for a sequel to this book as the author leaves her protagonist in a very dangerous position. 

Allegedly, in real life, the Earth is slowing down while the Moon is speeding up. The Moon’s gravity keeps Earth’s rotation in check, and to do this the lunar satellite’s orbit must be slightly ahead of Earth’s. As the Moon attempts to regulate Earth’s rotation and slow it down, the Moon moves slowly away. Could the events of this book happen in our lifetimes? Who knows? But, I think it's time to ask questions of our supposed scientists at NASA who should know the answers.

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