I just could not get into this book. It was a struggle. I will try it again at some point, but not sure it was for me!

I loved The Woman in the Window so had high hopes for this one, but unfortunately I couldn’t get into it and after reading about 10%, I gave up to move onto my next read.

End of Story by AJ Finn is an extremely frustrating book to read. At first it moves along okay, with the writer Nicky Hunter being invited to write the story of Sebastian Trapp, the reclusive mystery novelist.
People are still curious to know whether he was responsible for the disappearance of his first wife and son. Will he now reveal all.? Other characters are introduced into the story and it ambles on.
There are points in the story when I had to look up words for the meaning and I found that was very annoying, because the words were not necessary in the context of the sentences.
There were various twists and turns to the plot but after I while I just wanted to finish the book and move onto my next read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc.

I wanted to love this book because I loved the authors previous work but I couldn’t get into the book and love the characters the way I felt they deserved.

This story had a very ominous tone to it which intrigued me but the pacing was too slow and I couldn’t stick with it.

I don't usually read murder mysteries however was interested in the story summary and thought I'd give this book a try.
Really glad that I did as I found the characters well written and even the ending has multiple twists one of which I totally didn't see coming.
Don't really want to put any more details as it would spoil your enjoyment.
Definitely worth a look even if you're not a massive fan of murder mysteries.

The plot of the story is very dark and mysterious . It’s a gripping book , loved the deep conversations between nicky hunter the writer Sebastian trapp in the story . However I feel that the first half of the book was too long . I am grateful to the publisher and netgalley who gave me the opportunity to read the book. I was not aware to the other book by the author the women by the window which I would like to read on a later date . The ebook version can be improved the letter are very little and puts a strain to read the novel.

This is one not to be missed! When thriller writer Sebastian Trapp learns that he doesn’t have long to live, he invites super fan and writer Nicky Hunter to his large, mysterious San Francisco home to help him write his own story. Trapp’s life holds many mysteries, chief of which is the disappearance of his wife and young son many years before. Will Nicky uncover their secrets? There is quite a large cast in book and it took a little while to sort them all out at the start, but once the story got going it was gripping, fascinating, beautifully written and a truly unique and engrossing read.

The plot is as deep and dark as it gets, multi-layered with 'who knew what when?' as the strands come together and the finer details get filled in. This is an compelling, gripping book full of mystery and suspense. Only a few authors can write deeply involving psychological drama of the very highest quality.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I thought the book was a bit too slow to start and I found myself putting it down after just a few pages, however when it did pick up the pace, I found it thoroughly enjoyable and very cleverly put together.
Thanks to NetGalley, the editor and the author for the opportunity to access this copy.

End of Story by A.J. Finn

There was something about The Woman in the Window that really appealed to me and I loved it. So I started End of Story with high hopes and it did start well. But the story slowed towards the middle and I started to get a sense that the author was rather pleased with himself, with the way it was going. But the clues were there and I picked up on many of them and so the ending was not a surprise, although it did feel clichéd. I didn't enjoy the characters and so I wasn't invested in the development of the story. I did, though, stick with it to the end, so there must have been something about it.

After The Woman In The Window was a bit of a mixed bag for me, I probably should have waited until I saw more reviews of this book before requesting it, as sadly I tend to agree with what many others thought.
I really had to push myself to read and finish this, which wasn't ideal.
It dragged on but then the ending felt rushed, which was so frustrating.
While it picked up toward the end, it took way too long for that to happen.
It also felt overly wordy and just didn't grip me like it should have, which was a real shame as I had been looking forward to it.
I would, however, still be up for reading more from A.J. Finn in the future.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

#EndOfStory #NetGalley Great read. My only complaint is that the first half of the book takes too long to get the story going. I appreciate that the author is building a narrative but better editing is needed. I persevered because Liz Nugent had recommended this book and I love her novels so I knew this one must be good. Some of the descriptive passages also needed to be edited. I got very bored with the descriptions of the waves in one section, much more suited to a screenplay. The writing is beautiful but a thriller needs to keep pace to get the reader involved. Having said all that this is a very original story , with great characters and a very unexpected twist at the end. Often I have been disappointed by thrillers with rushed predictable endings or a ridiculous outcome that bore no relation to the previous information given. In this case the clues were there to be picked up on. There are hints of the older mystery writers Christie and the detective Holmes which fans of that genre should enjoy. I hadn't read either in years but appreciated the influences. I will definately be reading more of this author. Many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Overall I enjoyed the book. Many thanks for the ARC.
So many books in this genre, especially recently, fall short by slow brooding up to a dramatic finale and racing through the best bit when everything gets revealed and tidied up for the reader. However, I'm really pleased to say that around the last 10% of the book was left to tidy up the remaining loose ends and this gave it a well-deserved and well-earnt conclusion. Well done to A. J. Finn for leaving a large part of the book to do this.

However, I say that the ending is well-deserved for the reader as you've had to work hard to get to that reward at the end of the book.
I found many, many times that I'd lost perspective of who was narrating and in dialogue it was hard to keep up with who was talking. It was a frustrating read from this point of view as even going back and re-reading points didn't really clarify it and in the end I ended up skimming parts that were not easy to follow especially in dialogue. I think a little is lost (always) in Kindle format as line breaks and paragraph breaks tend to get a little lost in format conversion/translation and that probably had a part to play - maybe it will be sorted for the release copy (I hope so).

I loved the first book "Woman in the Window", so had high hopes for the second (unrelated) book, but unfortunately was left a little underwhelmed.

It's 3 stars from me - a good finish but slow going in the middle and at times (too) hard to follow properly. I was really impressed with the writing in the first book, so this just reinforces my disappointment to what could have been a really good book with the plot that unfolded in this one.

I’m very grateful to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title.

It started out strong and had me invested in the suspense and twists right from the first chapter. But somehow, after the first quarter of the story, it became repetitive and not something that I wanted to keep reading. I have stopped midway for now because I didn’t like any of the characters or what was happening unfortunately. Maybe I’ll give it another chance at a later date but for now I’m just not happy to continue.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this one at 28%. It was quite slow going, nothing really was happening to keep me entertained. The point of view switched quite abruptly at times between the two female protagonists, making it hard to keep up with.

This took a lot of percervering to get through, the overall story was good and it was enough to keep me intrigued in what was going on, however in parts it really dragged and I was getting a bit bored of it.
The last 20% or so really did pack a punch and there was twists I didn’t see coming. One of my biggest bug bears is when and ending is rushed and not really explained, this was totally opposite to that it was unraveled and explained so nicely that I was glad I had managed to get to the end.

Thank you AJ Finn, Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction | Hemlock Press for the eArc of End of story.

I did like reading this, one of my first A J Finn's books. And I have heard some great commitments about their previous books.

I did find End of Story a little hard to get into. That saying, the narrative is a great premise and did pick up patter half way through the book. Im glad I kept with reading but didn't keep me as engaged as I was hoping. I'm still looking forward to picking up more of A J Finn's books in the future.

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperFiction for the opportunity to review this digital ARC.

I had been excited to read this book but sadly found that it did not live up to my expectations. It was very slow with confusing character dialogues. There was a brilliant story in there somewhere but I found it difficult to wade through the excessive wordiness! I’ve never had to look up so many words and it felt the author was simply choosing them to convey how clever he is rather than add anything to the story. I was determined to finish it and I’m glad I did as the ending was clever and tied the story lines up well - it just felt like far too much hard work than a novel really should.

This is a fascinating story as it's a modern thriller but there's some element that brought me back to 40s noir and thriller.
It kept me on the edge and reading. I was surprised and kept guessing.
Found it a bit slow at the beginning but it always kept my attention
Excellent storytelling and plot/character development
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I was thrilled to nab a spot on the blog tour for A.J. Finn’s second novel, End Of Story. (I absolutely loved The Woman in The Window!)⁣
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We begin the story with the discovery of a body and not much else in terms of context. We then travel backwards with our protagonist Nicky on the doorstep of the esteemed mystery writer Sebastian Trapp, following a personal invitation to his estate to help draft his biography. ⁣
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I found the story to be quite a slow start and a slow-burn novel overall but the pace definitely picked up the further into the book I got. I found the inclusion of Trapp’s missing ex-wife and son an interesting situation and it definitely ramped up the mystery factor. I kept thinking I had the culprit of Hope and Cole’s disappearance ~possible murder~ sussed but my mind changed several times throughout the course of the story.⁣
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I think it would be unwise to compare this novel to the author’s debut as they are completely different. End Of Story is a complex mystery with several different strands interwoven into the story. I can’t deny that the ending was the absolute definition of a twist although I don’t know if I was wholly satisfied with the conclusion!