The last exit

Author : Federico Axat
Title : Kill the next one
Published : 26/01/2017
Pages : 416
Format : Paperback
Publisher : Text Publishing Company






      Ted McKay had it all: a beautiful wife, two daughters, a high-paying job. But after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour he finds himself with a gun to his temple, ready to pull the trigger. Then the doorbell rings. A stranger makes him a proposition: why not kill two deserving men before dying? The first target is a criminal, and the second is a man with terminal cancer who, like Ted, wants to die. After executing these kills, Ted will become someone else's next target, like a kind of suicidal daisy chain. Ted understands the stranger's logic: it's easier for a victim's family to deal with a murder than with a suicide. However, after killing his targets, Ted's reality begins to unravel.

     I think what drew me to this book was the unusual synopsis. The idea that the hero of the novel could be both victim and perpetrator  was one that intrigued me. Would it in fact make it easier for those left behind if you were murdered my some unknown killer than to find you dead from suicide. Not to mention something has to go wrong in Teds plan otherwise this would be a very short book.  

 

     We are first introduced to Ted just at the moment he is about to put a bullet through his brain. I can help but feel this is a fairly unique way to introduce the hero of your story to the reader. Even with this start Ted is someone you will feel empathy for. He is by no means perfect he is simply trying to the best he can with the hand life has dealt him. And while the choice he makes are not necessarily the ones we would  make they make sense to him. Axat gives us a well defined character in each of the three sections of this book. He also shines a light on they effect of traumatic events in a startling real and human way. Whilst never failing to keep the story intriguing and tense. Each of the Supporting cast seemed well fleshed out. Whilst the story is focused on Ted we get to learn enough about the rest of the people for them to not just seem like background scenery.

 

     The authors style is some what drawn out. It takes time for facts to be revealed to us. He is very good a leading us down wrong paths and only when he is completely ready do we get to learn the whole truth of this sordid affair. The story is presented to us in three very distinctive sections. I think this worked very well for the tale Axat chose to tell. His use of mental illness focuses the story and gives it direction.  To some extent this book feels like a bait and switch. The blurb from the back doesn't really give the reader a decent sense of what this book is about. But maybe this is more on the part of the publishers trying not to give to much away.  Whilst I could bring up many more points that would be informative about the nature of the story they would be riddled with spoilers.  All I would mention is there is one scene direct towards animal cruelty that some readers will find very disturbing.  

 

     By the time I got to the end of this book it seemed like I had been through the ringer. This is a book that will have you scrabbling for the truth right up until the end. This is in part down to a very unstable and unreliable narrator. But it is used to good effect in what is a tightly written thriller. If you like something a bit different in the thriller genre you could do a lot worse than to give this one some of your time.