The Last Checkout

By: Peter Besson

Narrated by: Conner Goff

Grand prize winner 2018 Writer's Digest Self-Published E-Book Awards.

Runner-up for the 2018 Del Sol Press Prize for best novel.

If there ever was a bad time to fall in love, dangling by the neck from a rope tied to a chandelier would be it, but love just doesn't care....

By the year 2031, global warming cooks the planet, endless wars sweep the globe and pollution tries to finish everybody off. Science has declared re-incarnation a fact and legally sanctioned death houses have sprouted up like mushrooms in overcrowded cities. Those so-called 'Last Resorts' provide the paying guest with the tools and the know-how for a successful exit from life - with one simple rule: once checked in, the check-out is feet-first only.

Nobody leaves a 'Last Resort' alive.

Ansel Grayson has been a resident at the 'Hotel Terminus' for over 12 years, unable to take the last step. On the day he finally works up the nerve to check out and hang himself, he is interrupted by Nikki Forlan, the most recent addition to the guest list.

Ansel and Nikki, broken by life, find themselves drawn into each other's orbit, and with their final check-outs looming, they try to discover a reason to live, certain they will have to die.

©2017 Peter Besson (P)2018 Peter Besson

An interesting look at the future

Published by Peter Besson, Inc.
Read by Conner Goff
Duration: 7 hours, 7 minutes.
Unabridged.

In the near future the population of the world has reached the breaking point and climate change has made it all the harder to feed everyone. Throw in a near-continuous state of war and a collapsing economy and you might understand why some people would want to go and kill themselves before someone else gets around to doing it.

So many people were killing themselves that a niche industry formed - suicide hotels designed to deal specifically with the needs of those that want to kill themselves. They are called "Last Resorts" and have any number of conveniences for those that are determined to "check out" of this life, such as handguns, poisons, drugs for overdosing and convenient places to throw oneself off of the roof without harming passersby. The only real rule is that once you check in, you cannot check out alive. You can stay as long as you'd like, so long as you have the funds. Also, if you change your mind, you will be killed by a professional assassin. No one gets out alive.

Ansel Grayson has lived in a Last Resort for 12 years. He and a few other long term residents have watched hundreds of people check in and leave via the morgue in the basement of the hotel. For 12 years, Grayson has tried to work up the courage to finally kill himself and on the day he truly works up the nerve, he gets interrupted by a new female resident who is determined to kill herself as soon as possible. It's love at first sight for Grayson and suddenly he has found a reason to live...

This was an interesting audiobook. I can't say that it was fun to listen to, although it times it was very funny. It was a book full of misery, pain, addiction, greed and despair, but it was also hopeful. I am glad I listened to it, but I never want to listen to it again.

The book could easily be adapted to an Amazon Prime Video or Netflix 10 show mini-series format since it explores not only this brutal vision of the future, but it also explores the reasons why many of the long term residents of the hotel have checked themselves into a "Last Resort."

Conner Goff did an outstanding job as reader. He struck the right tone throughout, which had to be tough considering how many of the characters are trying to kill themselves.