Last of the Mountain Men by Tony Moyle is the second hilarious and exciting novel in the Ally Oldfield Series. This book had me laughing out loud!
If you missed my review of the first book, The End of the World is Nigh, feel free to check that out!
Full Disclosure: I received an early release copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my rating in any way. (I also purchased a copy of the final version as well.)
Let’s dive in!
My Thoughts on Last of the Mountain Men by Tony Moyle
In this tale, we center mainly around two characters from the first novel:
- Ally, the stern researcher.
- Gabriel, a ditsy doomsday prepper.
We’ve also added to the crew, a very clumsy and lanky young man named Lance, and a very aggressive FBI Agent, Daniel, who is quite used to getting his way no matter what.
Per usual, these characters all find themselves in quite the situation. Each time they seem to solve something, they learn that it’s just one small part of the overall mystery. As they work toward saving the world (again!), they must continue to band together in order to figure out what all the clues mean before it’s too late.
The characters are all so wonderfully developed. Some I just couldn’t help but love, while others made me shake my head with their absurdities.
I loved seeing more of Ally in this novel. I have to admit that I didn’t love her in the first book, but her snark and tendency toward rudeness grew on me! I also really enjoyed seeing her very slight turn toward being less aggressive and more open-minded. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how she grows next.
Gabriel was her usual self, which made me laugh but also seriously worry about her. Lance was definitely my favorite of the crew. As a wicked clumsy person myself, I related to Lance quite a bit. I also loved his innocence. The poor guy…
I loved how this story was organized! It all flowed together perfectly. Right from the start, Ally had me chuckling over the things she got herself into. It wasn’t long before the first major situation arose and then we were off and running!
I just love Tony’s writing style and how many chapters seem to go off on a rant or tangent before perfectly looping back to the story. Take this chapter opening for example:
Deep inside all of us, dodging in-between the double helix of life like a racing driver navigating a chicane, are attributes that wear a cloaking device and can’t be explained by counting the pairs of nucleobases. However much the chain is assessed it will never explain why incredibly attractive women date ugly men, why anyone might voluntarily eat a durian fruit or why someone would attach a piece of elastic to their feet and jump from a tall building only to bounce half way back up again.
They will also never develop a test to explain why people with absolutely nothing to hide will feel an immediate sense of guilt the moment they come into contact with a blue flashing light or a policeman. When this occurs the instinctive response within every human being is to convince themselves that they’ve secretly stashed have half a kilo of cocaine up their arse, are knowingly holding fourteen illegal immigrants in their basement and have recently fiddled their tax return to the tune of six million pounds. Hands will sweat like sprinklers at the thought of the polygraph test that will clearly prove their guilt, their eyes will find it impossible to look at their accuser and even light questioning will bring a full and lengthy confession for every unsolved crime from the last fifty years.
On this particular Monday morning it was Ally’s turn to engage the paranoia.
I especially loved the last 40% or so of the novel. When that section of the story hit, I could not put this one down! SO many things were happening and I couldn’t wait to see how everything would turn out!
Another element that I loved was the Fact or Fiction section at the end of the book where Tony explained each of the Mountain Men. In this section, he also told us what was truth or made up from what we learned about each man in the story. I thought this was such a clever addition!
My Favorite Passages From Last of the Mountain
Tracing the money would be more complicated than working out why God saw fit to give the Tyrannosaurus Rex ridiculously small arms when clearly the rest of its torso had been designed for something much more fear inducing.
“Was this all he left?” demanded Hudson.
“That and a few items of clothing,” replied Timon looking up from the wallet.
“Odd though wouldn’t you say?”
“Not really. People generally don’t die naked unless they slip in the shower.”
“The letters,” said Daniel pointedly.
If a complete stranger talked to you only once it was officially and rightfully labelled as a normal human pleasantry. If, however you’d offered them clear facial signals that you’d rather rip your own ears off than continue with the social interaction, and yet they’d continued blindly marching on towards it, then you’d snagged yourself a bona-fide nut job.
“No. Stop, you’ll only make it worse. In all my years I have never met anyone with such a natural talent for clumsiness. It’s like a super power. It’s not normal.”
As she pulled the duvet down further around her body to cocoon herself from the increasingly dazzling sunlight that had joined the birds in their incessant campaign to force everyone out of bed, the doorbell decided to join in. Two seconds later it rang again.
Ally took the news of her suspension pretty well. Nine dinner plates smashed in to a thousand pieces on the kitchen floor weren’t keen on agreeing with her.
However well you think you know someone, they can still surprise you. Ally had seen this wisdom in Gabriel before, yet it always came out of the blue like a summer thunderstorm.
Asking Lance to be careful was like asking a bee to be less buzzy. The two aren’t easy to separate.
Books are everything. They document our history, enrich our present and secure our future. They capture humanity’s progress in the fields of the arts and sciences. They reveal who we were, are and want to be. Without books humans lack knowledge. Books are a tangible proof of human progress.
The trees of Stanton St John has shaken off most of their leaves, forming an autumnal blanket of orange and brown over the paths and bridleways of the village. At the entrance to the village a white sign with black writing confirmed its identity.
The human ego’s reaction to mistakes can generally be separated in to two polarised categories. ‘Fuck it’ and ‘Go again.’ The first might not be a permanent state of being, although the more frequently the same mistake repeats the more likely that outcome becomes fixed. Occasionally, after a brief period of ‘fuck it,’ the emotions might relent, the mind might clear, and the right support might be offered to engage the ‘Go again’ instinct. There’s a small fraction of people in the world who only know ‘Go again,’ but they’re freaks and aren’t to be trusted.
“That’s just the point though isn’t it. Not everyone can, or wants to, reach the top of the mountain, there’s just not enough room.”
My Final Thoughts on Last of the Mountain
Yet again, like Tony’s other tales, this book had a little something for everyone! It had humor, mystery, light romance, historical elements, and a bit of suspense!
I highly recommend this one if you’ve read the first in the series!
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Thanks for reading!
What was the last book that made you laugh?
Sounds like an interesting read. Great review!
It sure was! I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book in the series! 🙂