The Last Visitor

“In this tense and absorbing chronicle, a documentary filmmaker flees a problematic past by rushing into a treacherous present. The Last Visitor is reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, but Mr. Griffin’s stylishly written white-knuckler, which culminates in a breathtaking abandoned-lighthouse sequence, creates an atmosphere all its own.”

“There’s a lot more going on than a murder investigation in Griffin’s highly atmospheric book, including the necessity for Tess to reconcile the secrets from her past with the exigencies of the present. The plot spins and spins. The best character is the island itself.”

“A good mystery. The flashback narrative ends in an ingenious twist, and the dazzling climax of the present-tense mystery takes place in a Victorian-era lighthouse that rivals Stephen King’s eeriest settings. The final showdown makes the extended sojourn worthwhile.”

“Griffin has created an interesting variation on the locked-room mystery.”

“A taut and inventive closed-circle whodunit. Griffin conjures a tense, paranoid atmosphere and steers the narrative in genuinely surprising directions. This sleek Agatha Christie update is a cut above similar fare.”

“A worthy successor to Griffin's great debut, The Second Stranger. Inventive, thrilling and with a fine sense of place, The Last Visitor glistens with menace.”

"A real tour de force. The Last Visitor is a perfect locked room mystery, with believable characters, razor-sharp dialogue and a desolate island setting that proves to be the stuff of nightmares. Martin Griffin has created a tale that grips you from start to finish.” 

Praise for The Second Stranger:

“Good premises can come easy; sustaining them across a novel's length is the trick. Martin Griffin does precisely this, and then some, in The Second Stranger, a Misery-evoking debut thriller set in the blizzard-blasted Scottish Highlands.”

"A nasty February storm has cut off phone service at the remote MacKinnon Hotel in the Scottish Highlands. Suddenly, an injured man comes through the door, identifying himself as Police Constable Don Gaines and saying that he’s been in a car accident—and that the dangerously manipulative inmate he was transporting from the local prison has escaped. Remie’s own memories contribute to a sense that she, too, is keeping secrets from the reader. Are any of them telling the truth, and will any of them get out alive?”

“Clever and bold. The Second Stranger starts with a shiver of dangerous uncertainty before exploding into full on murder and mayhem. Anything you think you know, you don't.”

“If there is a finer crime debut this year, it will be a surprise, for this story set in a remote hotel in the remote Scottish Highlands during a blizzard is stunning. There are shades of the great 1948 American film Key Largo as the serpentine story unfolds, and this is not only every bit as gripping, it also boasts a heroine whose resilience warms the blood.”

“An incredibly fun concept: two strangers both claiming to be the same person. This original and enticing premise kept me glued to the pages, trying to guess which of the men was who they said they were, and what would happen when the two finally met. The surprises kept coming and I could not predict the ending. Fresh, gripping, and addictive! An absolute gem of a crime novel.”

“Break out the superlatives! The Second Stranger absolutely blew me away. This superb thriller is the book everyone's going to be talking about, a brilliant, tense, twisty, atmospheric, and utterly compelling debut from a major new voice in crime fiction. Just read it.”

"An impressive debut thriller shot through with a menace that makes its Highlands hotel setting feel like a house of cards. The tension winds ever tighter as the storm strengthens its grip and the cracks start to show—in the illusion of warmth and safety, the mask of the murderer, and the frozen landscape itself."

“In this tense and absorbing chronicle, a documentary filmmaker flees a problematic past by rushing into a treacherous present. The Last Visitor is reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, but Mr. Griffin’s stylishly written white-knuckler, which culminates in a breathtaking abandoned-lighthouse sequence, creates an atmosphere all its own.”