| Last Light |  | Author: Alex Scarrow
Publisher: Orion Publishing
List Price: $9.99
Buy New: $5.44
as of 7/31/2010 23:14 MST details
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Seller: bangzo
Rating:  12 reviews
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 496
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.3
ISBN: 0752893270
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9780752893273
ASIN: 0752893270
Publication Date: September 1, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
It begins on a very normal Monday morning. But in the space of only a few days, the world's oil supplies have been severed and at a horrifying pace things begin to unravel everywhere. This is no natural disaster—someone is behind this. Oil engineer Andy Sutherland is stranded in Iraq with a company of British soldiers, desperate to find a way home, trapped as the very infrastructure of daily life begins to collapse around him. Back in Britain, his wife Jenny is stuck in Manchester, fighting desperately against the rising chaos to get back to their children in London as events begin to spiral out of control—riots, raging fires, looting, rape, and murder. In the space of a week, London is transformed into an anarchic vision of hell. Meanwhile, a mysterious man is tracking Andy's family. He'll silence anyone who can reveal the identities of those behind this global disaster. The people with a stranglehold on the future of civilization have flexed their muscles at other significant tipping points in history, and they are prepared to do anything to keep their secret—and their power—safe.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 12
 Last Light April 23, 2010
Felicia Tiller (Washington, D.C.)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The book was a good premise, but in my opinion, I would like to have seen a different ending. It seems the whole story is running up to the main premise, Peak Oil, and life after the crash of it, and then 3/4 of the way through the book, the focus of the story changes to the main character and his family and the conspiracy behind the impetus for the crash.
All in all not a bad read, though.
A World Without Oil January 25, 2010
Jeff Swystun (Ottawa & New York)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is actually three books in one. One aspect is the conspiracy surrounding the theory of Peak Oil, the second is the breakdown of society, and the third is the three individual journeys of family members as they attempt to re-unite in global mayhem. It was highly entertaining and a relatively fast read. I especially enjoyed the odyssey of Andy Sutherland from Iraq through Turkey back to London.
Sure, much of the action stretches credibility but the sequence of events that shutdowns global oil supplies is scary to consider. I was intrigued by how important communication is in any catastrophe given that Scarrow has the British Prime Minister multiply the panic by delivering a horrible press conference. Like many apocalyptic books, one must wonder how people would behave. Would we see people band together or, as most of this fiction suggests, would we quickly revert to savagery and 'everyone for themselves'?
I read this book for an escape and it delivered on that expectation. The ending was abrupt and slightly disjointed so as a result the book lost a star. Quite frankly, what happens next would make for an even more interesting book.
 Not as good as I hoped it would be.... September 30, 2009
Patriot Reader (Idaho)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
End-of-the-world fiction offering, not very interesting unfortunately.
Thin plot, two dimensional characters and lack of excitement makes this a ho-hum offering in the genre.
 Peak Oil Crisis September 18, 2009
B. J. Ryan (Homosass, Fl)
When Andy Sutherland is commissioned to write a report on the world's oil supply and the consequences that might happen if oil becomes in short supply it becomes an all consuming passion. For the next 8 years Andy spends every waking moment to the detriment of his family worrying and thinking about a "Peak Oil" crisis. His marriage crumbles his children grow up and a once close family becomes dysfunctional.
Spring ahead 8 years, Andy is in Iraq on a commission for an oil company Leona the daughter is in college, Jenny the mom is preparing for a separation and divorce, by traveling to Manchester for a job interview and Jake is in prep school. As the plot evolves we learn that Leona has seen several of the men who commissioned Andy to write the report, men who are part of a cartel who want to control if not oil the world. As a series of events all over the world stop both the production of oil and its delivery the world begins to unravel.
The remainder of the book deals with the family's survival both from the oil shortage and its effects on society, but also surviving a contract killer sent to kill Leona the daughter because she can identify some of the men who are behind the chaos.
The book is well paced and has characters that are well developed and interesting. There are several sub-plots that add to the story and keep it from bogging down into just another Post-apocalyptic survival story. The book also sheds light on a Muslim view of what is happening in today's world.
The book was a very interesting read giving both sides of today's issue with oil producing countries and how dependant our society is on oil. A good read.
Peak Oil Deserved A Better Novel February 22, 2009
darklordzden (Australia)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
'Last Light' had the potential to be one of the scariest books that you'll ever read, but, unfortunately, due to Alex Scarrow's shortcomings as a writer, it never really fulfils its promise. It may be a hit with lovers of badly written disposable airport potboilers such as 'The Da Vinci Code', but I think even they will wince at the standard of some of the writing; some of the sentence construction and plot structuring is so laughably bad that, whilst reading it, I found myself wondering whether an editor or proof reader had actually cast an eye over the manuscript before it went to the presses. This is not to say that it isn't compulsive reading. It is. But connoisseurs of anything more literary than 'Heat' magazine will probably find themselves sucking their teeth and girding their loins on virtually every other page. Ostensibly, the plot concocts a scenario in which a devastating series of terrorist attacks on the world's major oil "chokepoints" cuts off global supply and effectively plunges humanity into a new dark age. In the midst of this, a civilian petrochemical engineer based in Iraq attempts to make his way home through the chaos in order to reunite with his disparate family in the UK. If the concept sounds like it has promise, let me assure you that its squandered. What could have been a plausibly chilling geosociological analysis of an oil addicted world "powering down" is sidelined in favour of laughable dialogue, paper-thin characters (including, implausibly, a cameo by 'The Apprentice UK's' Ruth Badger) and the non-revelation that everything which is occurring is actually part of a *YAWN* co-ordinated conspiracy perpetrated by the now ubiquitous group of *SNORE* Bilderberg avatars. In terms of action, there is very little. Those hoping to get their widescreen apocalyptic jollies in this book are really only treated to two extended sieges by Chavs and a bit of horsing about with firearms in Iraq. To tell the truth, the whole thing has the whiff of a masochistic 'Daily Mail' wet-dream about it - albeit one which is laughably written and rather mystifyingly sees fit to leave the now de rigeur 'ultimate assassin' character sitting alone in a flat in Guildford waiting for the majority of the novel. One day, someone will write a very good fictional speculative novel about the impending car crash that is peak oil, but rest assured - this isn't it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 12
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