Castlebar Book Club
The Book Club meets once a month (usually the second Tuesday of the month) in Castlebar Library at 8.00pm. Check events page for next meeting. (Previous Book Club selections)
Last Light by Alex Scarrow
After several years of research into an issue that affects us all, Alex Scarrow has written a chilling thriller that depicts in a harrowingly convincing way just how fragile our society really is, and how we are only a hair's breadth away from its collapse. 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. And 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 to his family, trapped as transport links and 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 London, where their children are marooned 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 a lawless and anarchic vision of Hell. And against all this, a mysterious man is tracking Andy's family. He'll silence anyone who might be able to reveal the identities of those behind this global disaster.
amazon.co.uk
In Alex Scarrow's Last Light, a sinister gang of businessmen foment unrest in the Middle East, the oil supply to the West is cut off and, in Britain, people go from panic-buying to panic-beating each other to death. Leona, a teenager, has a lot to cope with: not only do she and her brother Jacob have to survive on tinned pilchards while hiding from gangs of feral youths, but she also has dangerous information about those sinister businessmen; and so, in what is perhaps a plotline too far, a hitman is sent to kill her. Alex Scarrow's depiction of Britain as only a few hours away from disintegration is chillingly plausible. This is the perfect book to give to somebody who opposes your plans to build a wind farm.
The Telegraph
Few books have made my heart race and blood pressure soar like this one ... it had me on the edge of my seat.
Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Scarrow keeps his foot on the accelerator in this apocalyptic thriller, which is reminiscent of Frederick Forsyth and John Wyndham.
Birmingham Post
Last Light is sensational.
London Lite
About the Author
Alex Scarrow lives a nomadic existence with his wife Frances and his son Jacob, their current home being Norwich. He spent the first ten years out of college in the music business chasing record deals and the next 12 years in the computer games industry.
Reader Resources:
Dedicated to book clubs, ReadersPlace.co.uk (Random House) is a website where reading groups can find inspiration, have their say on books, and connect with other book clubs and authors.
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Reader's Review site with active discussion board
- CompletelyNovel.com links readers as well as new writers, offering a one-stop author-reader experience.
- Book Group Links: A selection of sites compiled by the Salt Lake City Library.
- Great Books Foundation: The grandfather of them all
- Reading Group Choices Online: Over 550 guides from publishers. 150 can be printed from the site
- Reading Group Guides: A very useful selection of reading group guides from Random House Publishers
- Writer's Resource site for writers of all abilities
- Reader's Area of this site