End of Story: A Novel

For fans of Knives Out comes a spellbinding thriller from the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Woman in the Window

"I'll be dead in three months. Come tell my story."

So writes Sebastian Trapp, reclusive mystery novelist, to his longtime correspondent Nicky Hunter, an expert in detective fiction. With mere months to live, Trapp invites Nicky to his spectacular San Francisco mansion to help draft his life story . . . while living alongside his beautiful second wife, Diana; his wayward nephew, Freddy; and his protective daughter, Madeleine. Soon Nicky finds herself caught in an irresistible case of real-life "detective-fever."

"You and I might even solve an old mystery or two."

Twenty years earlier--on New Year's Eve 1999--Sebastian's first wife and teenage son vanished from different locations, never to be seen again. Did the perfect crime writer commit the perfect crime? And why has he emerged from seclusion, two decades later, to allow a stranger to dig into his past?

"Life is hard. After all, it kills you."

As Nicky attempts to weave together the strands of Sebastian's life, she becomes obsessed with discovering the truth . . . while Madeleine begins to question what her beloved father might actually know about that long-ago night. And when a corpse appears in the family's koi pond, both women are shocked to find that the past isn't gone--it's just waiting.

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413 pages

Average rating: 5.53

38 RATINGS

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2 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

SharonLooksAtBooks
Oct 24, 2024
4/10 stars
What I liked: I loved this author’s previous book “The Woman in the Window” and looked forward to reading this book. What I disliked: This book is very slow moving and quite dull. 200 pages could have been edited out (which is ironic, since there is a line in the book about making sure novels don't go on too long).
Gias_BookHaven
Oct 01, 2024
1/10 star
I did not like this book. I could see how it was set-up and character clues would lead to 2/3 of the most important twists in the book within the first 20%. The narrative is clunky, portentous, and drab. It's 100 pages too long and I know the author is supposed to be know for misleading but what's the excuse for all the homophobia?!!?? Cole was different. Ok, and? Why the jump to the horrible bullying? I didn't spend much of the book feeling I was reading a thriller either. These toxic characters and the toxic family dynamics just UGGHH.

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