"With her deep and husky timbre, Xe Sands is the perfect reader for this horror/sf blend." —Booklist
Last to Leave the Room is a new novel of genre-busting speculative horror from Caitlin Starling, the acclaimed author of The Death of Jane Lawrence.
The city of San Siroco is sinking. The basement of Dr. Tamsin Rivers, the arrogant, selfish head of the research team assigned to find the source of the subsidence, is sinking faster.
As Tamsin grows obsessed with the distorting dimensions of the room at the bottom of the stairs, she finds a door that didn't exist before - and one night, it opens to reveal an exact physical copy of her. This doppelgänger is sweet and biddable where Tamsin is calculating and cruel. It appears fully, terribly human, passing every test Tamsin can devise. But the longer the double exists, the more Tamsin begins to forget pieces of her life, to lose track of time, to grow terrified of the outside world.
As her employer grows increasingly suspicious, Tamsin must try to hold herself together long enough to figure out what her double wants from her, and just where the mysterious door leads...
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.
2 of 3 copies available
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
October 10, 2023 -
Formats
-
OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781250290717
- File size: 341527 KB
- Duration: 11:51:30
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
July 24, 2023
Starling (The Death of Jane Lawrence) hits a rare false note in this underdeveloped, anxiety-inducing take on both mad scientist and doppelgänger tropes. The brilliant but deeply unethical Dr. Tamsin Rivers has made a terrible discovery: her city, San Siroco, is sinking. Myrica Dynamic, the corporation bankrolling her underground experiments, demands answers she doesn’t have, and her minder, Mx. Lachland Woodfield, makes it very clear that Myrica will hold Tamsin responsible for whatever happens to the city, good or bad. To make things worse—and weirder—a door appears out of nowhere in Tamsin’s basement. When it opens, out walks Tamsin’s double, who Tamsin names Prime. As Tamsin desperately tries to solve the mystery of the basement door, Prime starts filling in for Tamsin in public, until no one, not even Tamsin, can tell who’s the original and who’s the copy. For readers, this question is never in doubt, however, leading a third act twist to fall flat. Though the action is pulse pounding, the thematic exploration of identity and the limits of human understanding remains frustratingly shallow. Readers will be disappointed.. -
Xe Sands's eerie performance beckons listeners into this horror story. Parts of the city of San Siroco are sinking, including the basement of Dr. Tamsin Rivers. At the same time, the room's dimensions are slowly stretching, revealing a door that shouldn't exist. Then, perfect doppelg�ngers of herself and her cat appear. The distortions can't be explained by science, and Tamsin is growing more forgetful and panicked the longer she's around her double. Sands's vocal fry and emotional tone will keep listeners on edge as Tamsin becomes more and more obsessed with the door in her basement. Some character voices are difficult to distinguish, but Sands's unsettling performance and consistent pacing are remarkable. A.K.R. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
-