The End: A Novel
About
The End begins with a chilling silence — the absence of wildlife in an African safari park, a subtle foreshadowing of the cataclysmic event to come. In London, Martin Larkin, a disillusioned teacher, and Katie, a successful barrister, are about to face a world far removed from their ordinary lives.
The arrival of Bohr’s Comet, initially a source of global excitement, disrupts technology and throws nature into chaos. As the comet’s influence intensifies, Katie undergoes a shocking transformation. She abandons her life with Martin, seeking a radical new identity in Sydney’s underbelly.
But the comet brings more than personal turmoil. A terrifying illness sweeps across the globe, decimating the population. Society fractures further, and the ABs, a new dominant life form, rise to power.
Martin, forced into the role of survivor, navigates a post-apocalyptic world. He grapples with loss, betrayal, and the constant struggle to stay alive. His journey brings him face-to-face with the remnants of authority and a society forever changed.
The End culminates in a heart-wrenching confrontation. Martin must confront the woman he once loved, now a symbol of the transformed world, and define his place in this new, unfamiliar order.
Praise for this book
A page turner for anyone craving an escape into the realms of the imagination.
Golding has proved himself to be a unique, fresh and dependable voice in the world of science fiction – a must read.
The End is the kind of novel that gets under your skin not because of spectacle, but because of how believable it all feels. Mark Golding takes an apocalyptic premise humanity on the brink and strips it of clichés. There are no last-minute heroes, no miraculous rescues. Instead, there are people ordinary, flawed, distracted people trying to hold on to the routines and illusions that make them feel safe, even as the world subtly, then violently, shifts beneath their feet.
The safari opening is one of the most memorable I’ve read in a long time. It’s rich with atmosphere heat pressing down, dust in the air, nervous tourists whispering to each other before twisting into something macabre. Yet the real power of that scene isn’t the horror of what happens, but the quiet despair that follows. You feel the guide’s helplessness, the tourists’ dawning realisation that they’ve witnessed something far bigger than an isolated incident.
Then we move to London, where the tone shifts from external menace to domestic unease. Martin and Katie are such sharply drawn characters that their conversations feel like they could belong to any couple trying to hold a life together in uncertain times. Katie’s transformation physical, emotional, and psychological is one of the novel’s strongest threads. It’s unsettling because it starts innocently enough a gym visit, a haircut, a new wardrobe. But it becomes clear she’s grasping for something more validation, escape, reinvention and the cost of that grasp is devastating.
The author ties these strands together with subtle thematic threads denial, longing, the fragility of modern life. The comet becomes both a literal and metaphorical presence: a bright distraction hanging over humanity, beautiful and terrible in equal measure. It’s a reminder of how easily we mistake wonder for safety, and how quickly hope can sour into dread.
Alien takeover but done in such a creeping insidious way. The subtle foreshadowing that something is wrong but you can't quite put your finger on it. The way the author would drop a hint to later be revealed was fantastic. This is definitely not your typical alien novel; in fact I'd hazard to say that the actual aliens are 1% of the book. No its a story about humanity, survival and family. Such an original story. Katie being the villain after starting out so lovely made me dislike her all the more. I'm still not sure how Simon came to be back at that final showdown...Lazarus part 2 I guess?
All in all this is a solid read. I read it in one sitting which a book has to really has to capture my attention AND keep it to do that. I would highly recommend this book!!