Books
About the Author
Appearances
BlogThomas Mullen
News and Reviews
Named Best Debut Novel of 2006
A Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year
In his remarkable first novel, Thomas Mullen employs a theme as old as Sophocles' plague-ridden Thebes and as modern as Camus's Oran. ... A brilliant series of plot twists is set in motion. ... Chilling parallels are overshadowed by the steady, nerve-shredding movement toward the story's climax. ... Time and again, Mullen's suspenseful storytelling pulls us forward. Time and again, his imagery -- from the "logs bobbing on the water's surface like corpses" to the whole town, seen "in full eclipse" -- is devastatingly right.
-New York Times Book Review (and Editors' Choice)
Thomas Mullen's absorbing first novel draws you in immediately, just like the deep, rich forests of Washington state, where The Last Town on Earth begins with a bang. ... [The novel] is both a moving coming-of-age saga and an intriguing portrait of a town in trouble.
-USA Today
In his extraordinary debut ... Mullen gracefully interweaves story arcs -- a poignant romance among them -- and evokes a powerful sense of place. Set during an unpopular war and highlighting the human desire to stave off the world's horrors, his tale is deeply resonant. Four stars.
-People Magazine
A striking debut.
-Atlanta Journal Constitution
Thomas Mullen's page-turner of a debut historical novel ... [is] part morality tale, part coming-of-age yarn. ... Gripping ... Psychological suspense, villains, victims, a conflicted hero or two, secrets and a mystery. In short, it's a grabber. ... Mullen's a pretty wise first-time novelist. Consider this reflection from Graham's wife, Amelia, worrying about the effect the initial killing had on her husband: "And even if so much was stripped away that you no longer recognized yourself, the thing left was the part of you that you never understood, that you always underestimated, that you were always afraid to look at. You were afraid you'd need it one day and it wouldn't be there for you, but in fact was the one thing that couldn't be taken away." Now that's a killer insight, and the kind of writing that makes The Last Town on Earth ... a worthy place to visit.
Mullen raises some great questions. ... [He] keeps the pages turning and the reader thinking.
-Denver Post
A subtle, robustly written novel of compelling contemporary resonance.
-The Observer (London)
Mullen raises complex moral issues with convincing characters. ... It is hard to accept that this is Mullen's first novel. His dialogue, plotting and character development are that good. His ability to explore complex issues with emotional impact may remind you of a young Barbara Kingsolver.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
[A] stunning debut.
-Cleveland Plain-Dealer
Mullen's debut novel has me anxiously waiting for his next book.
-Ft. Myers News-Press
[A] briskly told, provocative morality tale that resonates with contemporary issues and poses some deadly serious questions.
-Minneapolis Star Tribune
Mullen is a terrific, clear writer, and the story moves at a rapid pace. ... A gripping story.
-The Oregonian (Portland, OR)
An engaging look at political and social isolation, and a vivid ... study of human nature. ... The drama of the situation carries the book as inexorably forward as does the march of influenza through the area. ... If this novel teaches us something, it is that our history books can rarely portray the personal nature of political discourse in the past, or the sacrifices people make for their ideals.
-The Lancet
Mullen provides a rich historical background and a well-drawn cast of characters ... Mullen has written a fascinating account of a time and a place that most of us have never heard about, all without going overboard in sentimentality or kitsch.
Mullen's plot cleverly complicates what sometimes appear to be reasonable choices made under duress. ... You will find even his minor characters of interest ... Many of their lives, too, seem to be asking Philip's question early in the novel, when he wonders "if there was some end point, some line in the dirt, some amount of pain and suffering beyond which one could never continue." ... The Last Town on Earth is clever enough not to answer. But its witnessing is enough to contemplate.
Thomas Mullen's The Last Town on Earth explores the risks of trading freedom for safety. ... This ambitious debut [is] tough to put down.
-Entertainment Weekly
Haunting.
-Portland (OR) Tribune
Thomas Mullen is an old-fashioned storyteller, and his epic novel dramatizes the complex tensions between individual rights and group responsibilities. ... Mullen is both merciless and measured in his depiction of the natural forces that can drag idealism down to earth.
-The Daily Telegraph (London)
Wonderful ... Mullen has done a fine job with this, his debut novel, presenting an array of characters and showing with a deft hand their differing responses to the situation in which the town finds itself. And he allows the tensions within the community to unfold naturally, never letting the narrative drift into the melodrama that might have been inevitable in less capable hands. ... [Mullen] has created a fascinating microcosm and it's enthralling to watch the (albeit creditable) certainties upon which Commonwealth was built slowly breaking down. Essentially, what makes this novel compelling is not only its hint of allegory (the founding of the US and its subsequent history come immediately to mind) but the broader questions it forces us to ask. How best do we balance the competing needs of individuals and societies (and the competing needs of different societies)? To what degree must we sacrifice our own well-being and security to the greater good? And, how true is the moral compass we use when making such decisions? ... What he manages to do is leave the reader interrogating themselves as to what their own response would be and should be if faced with these same ethical dilemmas. And that's something to be valued in any novel.
-Canberra Times (Australia)
Provocative ... Dramatic ... A brisk pace and good storytelling bring to life a historical period that seems as fraught and fascinating as our own. ... The Last Town on Earth asks important questions and has contemporary resonance, given the AIDS crisis, the threat of terrorism and our current state of political polarization.
The best historical fiction I've come across this year is a powerful first novel by Thomas Mullen, The Last Town on Earth. ... This is a book about what fear (we might want to say "terror") does to people. It is also a bleak and unforgiving mirror held up to the American character.
Subtly underscoring the novel's contemporary parallels, Mullen depicts a nation gripped by fear of German spies, anxiety for loved ones serving abroad, and powerful antiwar sentiments. Sparingly deployed, his research vivifies his vision without obscuring the human drama at its heart.
-Bloomberg News
Mullen's ambitious debut ... will keep readers turning the pages.
-Publisher's Weekly
Debut novelist Mullen patiently unfolds the plot, using historical facts as a springboard. His long and absorbing novel is a timely and sobering look back at a nation during a deadly war involving a human enemy far away, a disease at home, fear, and political and cultural forces. Recommended for all collections.
-Library Journal
The Last Town on Earth is a coming-of-age story set in one of the most turbulent periods of the 20th century. Readers can easily draw parallels between today's events and Mullen's setting ... From the graphic descriptions of flu symptoms and riots to the chilling reality of people mistrusting their neighbors, The Last Town on Earth is a prime example of what we don't want America to become. Perhaps this book will teach us what not to do.
-Deseret Morning News
The themes woven throughout Thomas Mullen's debut novel are nothing if not timely: Who defines patriotism? Does isolationism negate fellowship? Is morality absolute or relative? ... He breathes new life into a popularly overlooked cultural milieu that mirrors our own.
-Kirkus Reviews 2006 Big Book Preview
Set in 1918 against the backdrop of World War I and the influenza epidemic, this ambitious debut novel draws several vivid parallels with ... our current fear of contagious viruses, obsession with foreign operatives, and repression of political dissent. ... Its foreboding atmosphere and grim story line exert considerable pull.
-Booklist
A thoughtful and absorbing novel. ... [A] compelling morality tale with striking contemporary parallels.
-Lancaster (PA) Intelligencer Journal
Mullen shows how quickly fear turns this town full of utopian dreamers into paranoiacs and vigilantes ... A forceful portrait of survival in extremis.
-Baltimore Sun
Buy the Book:"The Last Town on Earth wraps the reader in its quiet power. As the characters become trapped by their town, we become increasingly trapped by our own fears and hopes. Thomas Mullen's debut is stirring, classic storytelling, with a deep resonance between the book's moment in history and our own times."
-Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow
"Like the best historical fiction, The Last Town on Earth illuminates a place and time not our own . . . Mullen's novel [also] could not be more timely or relevant, and eerily so. I promise you, while you're reading The Last Town on Earth, the mere sound of a cough will be enough to raise the hair at the back of your neck."
-Larry Watson, author of Montana 1948 and Orchard