Rarely read a scifi but picked this one up for its whodunnit crime and mystery theme. Set in a darkly drawn post-apocalypse island after the world was destroyed by a fog, I followed 122 villagers and 3 scientists living in an idyllic harmony until one of the scientists was found brutally stabbed to death. A chaos entered when the murder triggered a lowering security system around the island that keeping the fog at bay, and to make matter worse, the security system on the island came with a curfew command that would wiped everyone's memories on what had happened during the night. While the clock is ticking, a group of them decided to investigate the case and finding a way to save the island before the said horrific fog could smother their lives forever.

A slow-moving plot at first but thanks to Emory’s persistent character and dynamic, the progress later hooked me to stay curious for its mystery. Quite ingenious to follow Abi; the non-human memory gem’s POV in this tale— a hollow puzzle for a character yet adding an enticing and intricate idea for the whole worldbuilding (I liked how the island itself felt like a character too). A scene stealer character for Hephaestus and interesting characters for both Adil and Thea— them being too suspicious at times really spooked me a bit. It gets thrilling later with more hidden secret unveiled, Niema’s incident was an easy to guess but loving the twist and its revelation anyway— of the good and bad of humanity, on technology and empathy, a question of human extinction and relations in general that brought me to an enthralling tension of one’s grief, greed and ambition.

A hue of creepiness was foreseen as it deals with a dystopian backdrop as well, not a heavy to grasp all and all on the scifi part for me but enjoyable much for the thriller and its crime exploration