*End of Story* by A.J. Finn is a gripping thriller that delves into the life of Sebastian Trapp, a reclusive mystery novelist with a dark past. Facing a terminal illness, Sebastian invites Nicky Hunter, an expert in detective fiction, to his San Francisco mansion to write his biography. As Nicky uncovers the secrets of Sebastian's life, including the mysterious disappearance of his first wife and son two decades earlier, she becomes entangled in a web of lies, intrigue, and danger. Finn masterfully weaves suspense, complex characters, and unexpected twists, creating a compelling narrative that keeps readers hooked until the very end. A must-read for fans of psychological thrillers!

I want to thank the publisher, netgalley, and the author for the free copy of this book. Unfortunately this story just wasn’t for me but I will be trying books from this author again in the future.

Archived before I could read it, shame. Archived before I could read it, shame. Archived before I could read it, shame.

this book was a wild ride, and not in a good way. It felt like the writer was trying to be super clever, but it just came off as confusing. The way they wrote? Thick and hard to get through, almost like they wanted you to be lost.
The talking? Forget normal chats. Everyone's throwing out these weird, complicated lines, like they're trying to win some kind of obscure word game. Made everyone sound like robots.
And the descriptions? Over the top. Like, dramatic stage plays, not a book. We even got stage directions. Seriously, why?
The story moved at a snail's pace. You could skip half of it and miss nothing. The mystery, which had potential, got buried under all this fancy writing. By the time we got to the end, I was too tired to care.
Basically, I was just confused. Confused by the writing, the length, and how it even got published like this. Felt like the author got lost in their own head.
I wasn't a huge fan of their first book, but I got why people liked it. This one? Nah. If you liked the first one, just pretend this never happened and wait for the next. Save yourself the headache.

My biggest issue was the writing style. There was something really strange about it. It felt strange like is was meant confuse and confound the reader. And I'll tell you what, it succeeded. Seams the kind of book that need to be read and never should be convert to audiobook .
But even in the physical and digital form i believe is very confusing to keep track.
The mystery itself had potential, but it's so buried under how the narrative that it's hard to take it for what it is. By the time we get to the reveal, I didn't care anymore about what was happening.
POV constantly shifted & at times you couldn't tell whose it was...the narrator didn't help with that .

It is rare that I don’t finish an audio book. Indeed, I often write that I can listen to a book when I wouldn’t be able to or bothered to read it. This is the opposite. I’m not sure that I would necessarily love to read this but at least I could skip through the drawn out first half to get to the action. To begin with, the narrator of this audio is so irritating! I would go as far as to avoid any books read by her in the future. Sadly, she didn’t have a great work to deal with anyway. Yes, it’s a mystery but to be frank I became uninterested after the first few hours. Not for me.

📚 Book Review 📚

Nicky Hunter is invited to the lavish San Francisco home of the reclusive writer Sebastian Trapp, a man who has lived away from the public eye since the disappearance of his wife and son twenty years ago. The mystery has never been solved and as Nicky soon realises, the man is a mystery himself. The million dollar question though, is he a murderer?

Nicky starts to build relationships with Sebastian, his current wife Diana and his daughter Madeline in an attempt to find out the truth. Then the paper butterflies start appearing and then a body is found floating in the fish pond in the grounds of the garden. Suddenly, the past is no longer buried and is fighting to be heard.

This book is a slow burner, a VERY slow burner. So slow in fact, I nearly gave up on it completely. It’s just over 400 pages long and it isn’t until the last 100 pages that things start to kick in. Luckily, I’d read lots of reviews that told me it was very slow so I decided to persevere and the narrator did a sterling job.

The book pays homage to the wonderful crime writers who came before and that, I did enjoy. After watching the film adaptation of the author’s last novel, I can see how this may well also be adapted for film and I can see it working, I wasn’t as engrossed in this book however.

I guessed the main reveal around half way through and it really is a fantastic twist. I enjoyed that the book is littered throughout with clues but I’m not sure I enjoyed the writing. I will read his other book though as it may have just been me!

All in all, great ending but a real slog getting there.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wow that twist! I did NOT see that one coming. A.J Finn is fast becoming one of my favourite authors.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to listen to an advanced copy of this audiobook in return for a fair and honest review

I tried listening to the audiobook version of this, but I really couldn’t get into it. It was really hard to follow and at times I would switch off and had no idea of what had happened. It’s not often I don’t finish books, but this one was really too hard to keep going.

I listened to the audiobook & really struggled to get through it. I wanted to dnf so many times. I'm not sure how much was down to not being able to engage with the narrator or that the story was very slow with no real plot but I struggled to keep track when the character pov changed & could go whole chapters without taking anything in.

The ending was better but not worth the effort to get there.

I received this book via NetGalley.

This book was difficult for me to get into, and I struggled to finish it. The writing style was not what I'm used to, and it didn't keep me engaged. However, the twists were surprising. It takes a while for the story to pick up; it's a slow burn for sure. The last chapters, though, redeemed it.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK Audio | Hemlock Press for the free copy of the book.

I listen to this on audio books. I found the narrator off putting to start with but got used to her towards the end. I think this is a book you need to read rather than listen to, so you don't miss any of the build-up and small details. Halfway through, I was completely hooked and loved all the twists. At one point, I felt emotional when one of the characters talked about their childhood. If you love psychological crime thrillers, then this is a must!! You won't see the end coming!

Sometimes, I'm in the mood for a thriller with an unreliable narrator.

End of Story is a twisty, psychological thriller.

It keeps you second-guessing everything.
The author crafts an eerie and suspenseful narrative, filled with layers of deception.
As a thriller should be!

The audiobook enhances the experience, with the narration adding to the unsettling and immersive atmosphere. Helen Laser did a great job with this, and I recall liking her performance in Yellowface.

While the plot of the book unfolds deliberately and slowly, the tension builds steadily, making it hard to stop listening.
If you enjoyed The Woman in the Window, this has a similarly gripping, psychological depth.

I had high hopes for End of Story—the concept was intriguing, and the setup had potential. However, the execution left a lot to be desired.
The pacing was incredibly slow, making it a struggle to stay engaged. I kept waiting for something to hook me, but it never quite delivered. The characters felt flat and unmemorable, which made it even harder to stay invested in the story. While I did manage to finish the book, it was more out of determination than enjoyment.

The Woman in the Window still to this day stands out for me as a book that I absolutely loved so when I saw that A.J. Finn had a new book being published I was super excited to get my hands on it.

Firstly, this was definitely a slow burn story. There were some sections that I questioned their relevance and maybe it could have been slimmed down, but on reflection, I do think it went someway towards misdirection. It certainly kept me guessing on when/what the plot twist was going to be.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere created in this book. It was very old school, classic mystery and I loved that. I'm not entirely sure that the locations were visualised in my mind how they were supposed to be, but I set the vibe for myself right from the beginning and I ran with it.

There were lots of characters in this book, but I felt like there were only a few that I got to know closely. That was fine though, I wasn't too angry about that and the book was definitely more plot than character driven in my opinion.

This book didn't quite live up to The Woman in the Window for me, however I did have a good time with it and although it was a slow burn, I flew through it. Enjoyable experience and I will continue to read from this author.

A slow burner that grips you and doesn't let you go. Nicky Hunter is called to write author Sebastian Trapp's memoirs. Trapps wife and son disappeared twenty years earlier and there's a body in the pool. Full of memorial chracters and an addictive listen. Helen Lasser does an excellent job narrating to book. Thanks to Harpercollins audio UK and Netgalley for this review ARC.

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.

We start with a murder, a body floating in a fishpond, but whose body we don’t discover until nearly halfway through the book, as we backtrack a few days to the arrival of Nicky Hunter at the home of acclaimed author Sebastian Trapp. This book is not what you would call gripping as the pace is slow, however there is the need to find out, not just who the body is but also what happened to Sebastian Trapp’s wife and son twenty years before.
I struggled with the narrator and actually switched to the kindle version of the book which I found much easier. Although the pace of the book is slow and the style a bit contrived with Sebastian and Nicky talking in quotes from detective stories, I did enjoy reading the book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the chance to hear the audiobook arc. It is 3⭐️ for the audio and 3.5⭐️ for the story.

The main two characters are (we are told multiple times in the narrative) insufferable - never using their own words instead quoting anyone and everyone but themselves, cocooning themselves in the intelligence of others. Unfortunately this does make the writing of the novel.....well annoying at best. The plot is ok, the imagery a little overdone perhaps and the pacing uneven.

Nicky is invited by her penpal to his lavish mansion to write the life story of Sebastian Trapp. He is dy8ng and mysteries from his past need resolving. His wife and son disappeared years ago and many believe he killed them. The interviews begin but who is this author and what really happened to his family.

Enjoyable mystery novel, well written and narrated (I listened to the audiobook). Good characters and there will be twists and turns before the truth is unearthed.