I live in London, in a small flat with large bookshelves, and I'm already working away on the next novel idea... Unfortunately the plot doesn't really live up to the excellence of the setting. Pemberley is a cross between cult leader and the kind of billionaire that we are increasingly seeing in real life who use their ridiculous wealth to carry out extraordinary experiments, with no real democratic or governmental control over them. In Pemberley’s case, he has decided that if humanity is about to bring about its own extinction, he will use the Sanctuary as a kind of Noah's Ark, but one where he is the supreme and sole ruler and where the normal rules of morality and ethics don't necessarily apply. Both mad science and cultish leaders have been done many times in dystopian fiction, and I'm afraid Murray doesn't really bring anything original to it. The narrator, Benjamin Parr, is an artist living in “the city” (unnamed but I assumed London because of the length of journey he has to make to get to the island where The Sanctuary is set). His fiancée, Cara, goes off on an assignment to work for a mysterious wealthy man who has set up a community on an island, John Pemberley. She does not return, and Benjamin follows his heart (pun intended) and makes his way up there to find out what is going on. Ben meets many of the island’s inhabitants, learns many aspects of life there, and sees much that impresses him. However, doubt still lingers, especially due to the continuing silence and absence of Cara, and the island clearly has other mysteries which also worry him. As Pemberley’s long-term plan is obviously nearing completion, what will Ben learn? What will he do? And where is Cara??? I really struggled with Pemberley's goal too. He was obviously a very intelligent man, who had a lot of vision in some ways, and achieved a lot, but his main goal made zero sense to me.

The Sanctuary sets up a dystopian world sometime in the near future. The elite and wealthy have retreated to private Villages in the countryside, living a life of luxury whilst the majority of the population continue to live in urban slums all whilst various climate crises dominate the news. Readers follow Ben Parr, a young painter who spends his time illustrating the wealthy inhabitants inside the Villages. Murray's debut novel, The Last Day, a dystopian thriller set in a future where the Earth has stopped spinning, was published in February 2020. [3] Film and TV rights for the novel have been sold to Stone Village Television. [4] His second book, The Sanctuary, was published in May 2022. [5] Murray is a writer and researcher for the BBC panel show QI, as a member of the team known as the " QI Elves". He co-hosts the spin-off podcast series No Such Thing as a Fish in which he and three other QI Elves – Anna Ptaszynski, James Harkin and Dan Schreiber – share their favourite facts from the week. Murray wrote and co-presented the podcast's spinoff television series No Such Thing as the News. He currently hosts " Drop us a line" as part of the Club Fish podcast. Andrew Hunter Murray is a writer from London. His first novel, The Last Day, is a high-concept thriller set in a world whose rotation has slowed to a halt. The Last Day will be published in the UK and USA in February 2020 by Penguin Random House. I felt there was very little mystery, really, but this is slightly spoilery, I suppose, so don't read on if you don't want any spoilers!

This book took a totally different turn to what I was expecting! Really enjoyable, stayed up late to finish it as the story was so tense towards the end.' Read more Details I enjoyed, “The Last Day,” by Andrew Hunter Murray and was pleased to read his latest. However, although I found this a thought provoking read, it was definitely a slow starter and I found it hard to engage with the central character, Ben. Superb writing but a disappointing twist 🙄 and climax and weak ending. It was almost one of the best books l've read this year but the last 20% wasn't as great. Interesting concept though. Finished this book so at least that’s something. I usually return half way through if I’m not into it but this just didn’t do it for me at all.

Ben is a painter, he has been living with his fiancée Cara for ten years, she has recently been working for millionaire philanthropist John Pemberley at his remote island known as The Sanctuary. When Ben receives a letter from Cara saying she wants to stay on the island and is calling off their engagement Ben decides to travel to the island for answers. First off, Andrew Hunter Murray has certainly created a believable and vivid dystopian sci-fi world. Not only does he tap into the very real fears of our current climate crisis, highlighting how the divide between rich and poor could play out in the future, but he does so in a way that still feels unique. The idea of isolated Villages living in their own bubbles away from the troubles of the world is eerily believable. Di Filippo, Paul (10 February 2020). "There's no shortage of novels about what happens when the Earth stops spinning. 'The Last Day' may set a new standard". The Washington Post . Retrieved 5 March 2020. The most divisive part of The Sanctuary we can imagine other readers having is Hunter Murray’s style of writing. He certainly carries a distinctive style, but it’s one that some may find a little eccentric when compared to other authors.Cards are played close to the chest and little is given away. We sense a growing need for Ben to act, but he does not seem immune to the spell of the great man. Our questions are, eventually, answered and we sense just how close Ben comes to a very different story. It’s a decent enough plot but the delivery was poor, it’s some kind of dystopian future however nothing is explained - there’s just vague references throughout to the planet declining and animal extinction. This aspect of the book would have been more enjoyable if there was a proper explanation of what had happened and what is going on. Hunter-Murray is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. His writing style is articulate and educated, whilst remaining easy to read (and easy to lose yourself in). The Sanctuary has made a big splash in the reading world, and it’s clear to see why. As an imaginative dystopian thriller, Andrew Hunter Murray’s book has an incredibly enthralling premise and a good few mysteries that should keep a reader invested throughout their time with the story.

Ben only came to the island to bring his fiancée Cara home. But when he arrives, he is rapidly seduced by the vision of a better way of life, as described by the charismatic and mysterious Sir John. The Sanctuary is one of those books that slowly but relentlessly draws you in. Not a lot happens, and what does happen does so slowly, until the story eventually reaches its climax and end. And it does so very enjoyably. As is my wont, this is another hairdresser read. I need something to lose myself in, once the small talk has finished.Part way through the first act of this explicitly three-act SF novel, I was finding things distinctly depressing. (But there's better news to come.) The first person protagonist, a portrait artist named Ben, lives in a low-key dystopian future for a country that is never explicitly identified, though is fairly obviously England. Cities are in decay, the economy seems to be pretty much non-existent and the only places that are pleasant to live in are Villages (with a capital V) - walled communities where old rich people are waited on hand on foot by the young poor. Set in a near future UKesque landscape, the last elephant has died (thanx, mankind), and the world is heading more towards the toilet than we believe it to be these days. Society is becoming layered - the wealthy live in secure villages (created by a billionaire developer) where everything is put on, then further out are their upper level helpers (teachers, doctors, professionals), then further still are the blue collar and unskilled workers, all dependent upont the village though. Quite honestly a brilliant book which, like all the best dystopian fiction, makes us question our own world by showing us another world that is going slightly awry in ways not dissimilar to our own. Very many shades of H.G. Wells’s The Island of Doctor Moreau and the classic movie Logan’s Run. Our main character is Ben, a painter, whose fiancée has been working for millionaire philanthropist John Pemberley at his remote island, known as The Sanctuary. Increasingly concerned at the hold this place seems to have on Cara, Ben takes himself on a journey fraught with danger to make his way to the island. My biggest problem was that it didn't capture my attention, so I was mostly bored, which also meant that my attention was drifting (mostly listened to the audiobook - the author did a great job narrating it!). I didn't really like the main character either, and wasn't particularly interested in the mysterious island.