By: A. J. Finn
Narrator: Helen Laser
Harper Audio
ISBN: 978-0062678454
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: 02/20/2024
Format: Other
My Rating: 4 Stars
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.
My Review
A.J. Finn returns following his debut, The Woman in the Window with his latest, END OF STORY— a famous mystery writer with a mysterious past of his own comes out of hiding in this twisty slow-burn thriller.
Sebastian Trapp is a reclusive mystery novelist. He wants someone to tell his story before he dies (he only has months). They have been corresponding for years.
Nicky Hunter is an expert in detective fiction. He invites him to his mansion in San Francisco to help write his life story.
There is also his second wife, Diana, his nephew, Freddy, and his daughter, Madeline.
Nicky soon finds herself caught up in this mystery. She is obsessed with discovering the truth. Everyone questions Trapp's past.
However, there is a mysterious past. Twenty years ago, on New Year's Eve, 1999, Sebastian's first wife, Hope and teen son, Cole vanished from different locations and were never seen again.
Did the crime writer commit the perfect crime?
Why has the writer emerged from seclusion now and allowed a stranger to dig into his past?
Then a shocking surprise when the past collides with the present in this twisty mystery suspense.
A cleverly written mystery with a noir-detective vibe infused with literary quotes and witty scenes.
The best part is the enigmatic main character, Sebastian. You will have to read to learn more about Nicky and the cast.
END OF STORY has a menacing Hitchcockian Gothic Agatha Christie vibe with an atmospheric setting and a sense of foreboding and darker current surrounding the eccentric remote mansion and the mysterious past.
For mystery readers who enjoy classic detective fiction and quick wit with lots of red herrings— Sharply written for fans of Nita Prose, Ruth Ware, Lisa Jewell, Thomas Perry, and Knives Out.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Helen Laser for a chilling performance.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: Feb 20, 2024
Praise
“Elegant, absorbing, full of Hitchcockian menace. Once again Finn reinvents the genre in spectacular style.”
— Lucy Foley, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Apartment
“A. J. Finn’s new novel is beautiful, intense, beguiling. I was mesmerized by End of Story.”
— Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of None of This Is True
“A thrillingly Gothic golden age mystery to lose yourself in."
— Jenny Colgan, New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Skies
“Literary magic – a mystery lover’s delight . . . Absorbing, stylish, and sparkling with quick wit . . . reminds you of something so utterly essential about a truly masterful mystery – that the end is just the beginning.”
— Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid and The Mystery Guest
“Fans of detective fiction will be thrilled by Finn’s latest!”
— Shari Lapena, New York Times bestselling author of Everyone Here Is Lying
“There’s something irresistible about this made-for-the-movies tingler. Finn knows how to pleasurably wind us up.”
— USA Today on The Woman in the Window
“The rocket fuel propelling The Woman in the Window… is expertise. . . . Dear other books with unreliable narrators: This one will see you and raise you.”
— New York Times Book Review on The Woman in the Window
“Superior.”
— New Yorker on The Woman in the Window
“As the plot seizes us, the prose caresses us. . . [Finn] has not only captured, sympathetically, the interior life of a depressed person, but also written a riveting thriller that will keep you guessing to the very last sentence.”
— Washington Post on The Woman in the Window
“The Woman in the Window is a tour de force. A twisting, twisted odyssey inside one woman’s mind, her illusions, delusions, reality. It left my own mind reeling and my heart pounding. An absolutely gripping thriller.”
— Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author
