A meteor is on a collision course with Earth. The entire human race has 3 months to live. Uncontrollable panic has set in across the globe, but 23-year-old Haru is still determined to finally get her driver's license.

When Haru and her ex-cop driving instructor Isagawa open their car trunk one day to find the corpse of a murder victim inside, they feel duty-bound to investigate. Together, they set off on a road trip through the crumbling landscape around them to hunt for the killer. As more bodies start appearing, more questions surge. Why would a serial killer begin work 3 months before the end of the world? And does justice lose its meaning with humanity on the brink of extinction?

Murder at the End of the World has a story by Akane Araki. English translation is done by Jesse Kirkwood. Published by Pushkin Vertigo (August 4, 2026).

Erica Friedman
Rating:

This review will have to come with an extra helping of salt, because Murder at the End of the World is very much a murder mystery and is, therefore, full of murders, all of them brutal. It is also a dystopian thriller as the world is about to end, hence the title. So with all that in mind, when I say this was an excellent novel, you'll need to add some critical thinking and decide if a brutal murder mystery set as the world is about to end is your cup of tea. It was very much mine.

The protagonist, Haru, is a young woman who, as the earth is about to be destroyed, decides to finally go ahead and get her driver's license. This act opens up several dangerous cans of worms that will end in a violently climactic fight for survival, when absolutely no one is getting out alive.

The characters here were phenomenal, and so was the storytelling. Layers of motivation are peeled back one at a time, until the truth, no matter how horrible, is laid bare. There is a strong underlying nihilism in many of the contemporary Japanese novels I've read, and like those, here there is also a refreshing hope when there is no hope.

The ending was absolutely perfect. I was really concerned that it might not nail the ending, but Araki came through with an ending that was wholly, perfectly in character for Haru and Isagawa. An excellent book, if you like murder mysteries and the end of humanity.