End of Story by AJ Finn. Helen Laser does a fabulous job narrating over 13 hours in what would have otherwise been a very long book to read. Most of the negative reviews were about the length of the book but the time flew by on the audio. Thank you to NetGalley for my book.

The story opens with a woman's body floating in the koi pond of a San Francisco mansion owned by well-known mystery author, Sebastian Trapp. The story then goes back six days earlier to when Nicky Hunter arrives at the Trapp mansion. Sebastian has invited Nicky to stay with them as he wants her to write a memoir for his closest friends and family as he only has a few months left to live.

His first wife, Hope, and young son, Cole, disappeared over twenty years previously and lots of people thought that Sebastian had something to do with it. Nicky is intrigued to hear his story.

The household has many characters: Diana the second wife, his adult daughter Madeleine from his first marriage, Freddy the nephew pops in all the time along with his new friend Jonathan. Is Nicky safe staying in this large rambling house? She happens to be staying in the attic room which belonged to Cole.

Soon red origami butterflies are found: in a box on the doorstep and then on the typewriter in Sebastian’s office. Cole used to make red origami butterflies.

It was a slow burn book with such unexpected twists. When the big secret was revealed, I thought the story was finished, but then realised there was still another hour to go and wow, so many other secrets were revealed in the end.

The book had a strong detective film vibe, with a creepy mansion and noir-inspired characters. While the atmosphere was entertaining, it occasionally felt over-the-top and a bit cartoonish. The characters were all too witty, with snappy comebacks in every scene, which made their voices blend together and disrupted the immersion. The dialogue didn’t always feel authentic, which was a bit distracting. That said, the story did offer some solid twists and clever red herrings that kept me intrigued. The final twist was unexpected, though it required some suspension of disbelief. Overall, while it wasn’t a book I’d highly recommend, it wasn’t without its merits and certainly had its moments.

Months to live, secrets, a life story, and the search for the truth about the past set the stage for A.J. Finn's End of Story. The synopsis was intriguing. A reclusive writer, the disappearance of his wife and son twenty years ago, and his revelation that he would be dead in three months sucked me in.

Sebastian Trapp invited Nicky Hunter, his longtime correspondent, to come to his home and to help write his life's story. He informed her he had three months to live. Sebastian lives with his current wife, his daughter and his nephew in a mansion in San Francisco. Nicky will stay in the home with them while she and Sebastian discuss his life. Nicky can't help but be intrigued by the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Sebastian's missing first wife and son.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator did an admirable job. My main issue with this book was how slow-slow-slow it was. I struggle with slow burns and this one was you guessed it, slow. I wanted to hurry it up quite a bit while reading. The slowness of the book is the reason for my 2-star reading.

One that thing did work for me was the atmosphere. I love the atmosphere in this book, and I was also invested in learning more about the disappearances in this book. There was one reveal which I did not see coming. I thought the author pulled that off nicely.

Others have enjoyed this book more than I did, so please read their review as well. This is a case of it is the reader and not the book.

Honestly, I was excited to read this book because I loved 'The Woman in the Window' and the plot synopsis sounded interesting. A celebrated mystery author invites Nicky Hunter, with whom he has corresponded for 5 years via emails and letters, to come write his life story. The author, Sebastian Trapp, has just few months to live and he wants to chronicle his life, filled with mystery and tragedy, on paper. 20 years earlier Sebastian's first wife, Hope and his son, Cole disappeared without a trace on New Year's eve of 1999. This single incident destroyed the Trapp family and Sebastian stopped writing for many years. Now with a fresh perspective Sebastian and Nicky hope to solve the cold case along with writing Sebastian's biography.

The story has a lot of promise but there was something off with the narration style. It just irritated me and was infuriating to read the initial few chapters. The writing was obscure and I kept zoning out while listening to the book. It took all my resolve and patience to get through the first 30% of this book. The book picks pace maybe after three quarters but by then the reader is hanging by his/her last thread of patience. The twist in the end was good but it came too late to redeem the book. So if you're planning to read the book, then be prepared for a test of your fortitude or perhaps just skip this altogether 😏

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of this audio book.

Got it! Let’s remove the rhetorical tone and keep it sharp and direct:

This was literary pain. A thriller so desperate to seem clever that it stumbles over its own convoluted plot at every turn. The author clearly wasn’t concerned with engaging the audience, instead opting for cheap red herrings and endless melodrama. The result is a hollow story trying to disguise its lack of substance.

The protagonist was insufferable, veering between “tragically misunderstood” and “aggressively irritating.” I could not stand him. The supporting cast was no better—flat and forgettable, their only purpose to occasionally spout cryptic one-liners before fading into irrelevance.

The pacing was a mess, alternating between chaotic fast-forward and glacial slow-motion. The so-called twist was overworked and contrived, a frustrating reminder that deliberate confusion does not equal cleverness. It’s the kind of ending that insults the reader’s patience and intelligence.

By the final page, the only relief was that it was over. If this is the End of Story, it came about 300 pages too late.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK Audio for the ARC

I loved A.J. Finn's debut novel and had high expectations to this. Unfortunately I think those expectations let me down. I did think it was ok, but I was never as invested as I should be in a thriller. An interesting concept, but not the best execution. I also felt it was a bit long. Not bad, but I wished for more.

Great narrator. Story is slow to get going but it's worth sticking with it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This one had a slow start, and I found it hard to get into. They kept alluding to mysteries and family secrets, but it took too long to get going.

I enjoyed the narrator and it was. Compelling audio book. A lot of twist and turns ! I did have trouble following the story at times but it was easy to get back on track.

Thank you AJ Finn, Netgalley ,| Hemlock Press for the eArc of End of Story.
Narrated by Helen Laser.

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.

Helen Laser narrated this book and even though its my first book listening to Helen, she had a lovely voice and suited the pacing perfectly.


3.5 stars on story graph and rounded to 4 for other review sites

This one sounded intriguing but I nearly DNF’d several times. It never really got going or built the suspense to continue to listen. I didn’t really care for the storyline or the characters. I was just bored and didn’t really find it interesting or engaging. Unfortunately this one was a slog and not really sure why I continued but I was glad to finish it. You can’t like them all I suppose.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK Audio for the opportunity to listen and review #EndOfStory

Thank you to net gallery and the author for this arch copy of this book. It took me 11 days to read this book has I kept putting it down as it did bore me at some points. Some of the characters were so annoying and so boring if I am being honest. The main character thought the know it all and they made sure everyone know about it. I did enjoy the twist and turns this book did bring to it as they were loads in this book. I thought the ending was very predictable as you could tell who the killer was from the middle of the book as they made it so obviously which I absolutely hated. I will give this author another go though xxx

This was a good listen although at times it felt long. Nicky, a long time fan / sleuth / writer is invited by notorious author Sebastian Trapp to visit his home during the last period of his life which has been clouded by the mystery of who killed his wife and what happened to his missing son Cole.

Now remarried, the family come back together and adjust to Nicky being within their midst. Sebastian comes across as quite eccentric, albeit it smart as a whip and we the reader along with Nicky unravel the clues to try and discover what happened. The general consensus is that Sebastian killed his wife and son and has managed to get away with it.

It felt long at times but I enjoyed it, well narrated and the twist I didn't see coming.

I thought this was a bit mediocre overall. I definitely preferred the author's previous book.
The plot twist was clever though and I didn't see it coming.

Having read and enjoyed ‘The Woman in The Window’ I was excited to listen to this book by the same author.

It took me a while to get to grips with the characters as, apart from Nicky, they seemed quite shallow, maybe because it felt like everyone was hiding a secret. Sebastian Trapp felt like a force to be reckoned with.

Whilst I’m sure some people would, I didn’t really enjoy all the quotes from Sherlock Holmes books (amongst others) as it felt like I was being bombarded by them. That said they did help place the book into a similar genre, with the setting depicted similarly to how I would imagine a manor in Holmes era.

The plot has an interesting premise, delivered slowly with clues hidden throughout. The narrator did a fabulous job, depicting the characters consistently well and varying tone appropriately to the circumstances. She was interesting to listen to.

I did enjoy listening to this book, despite the slow drawn out pace, and took a while to finally put all the pieces together in my head.

With a jaw-dropping end to the story, the is more than just a tale of an author wanting to record his life story for posterity. I loved listening as the revelations unfolded, and was often reluctant to have to switch it off to do other things, as I just wanted to keep on going. A devilishly deceptive story, excellently narrated.

God this was awful and hard work. Slightly pretentious “haha look at how clever I am writing”, beating you over the head with “cherchez la femme”, and “hahaha look at how star spangled awesome Americans are” narration. I quickly hated this book, especially when the body didn’t even show up until over half way in… I hate listened to the rest of it just to be done, but can’t say I cared enough to pay full attention. Save yourselves, don’t bother with this.

I received a free ARC copy of this via NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

I find myself with such mixed feelings about End of Story. The cover is beautiful and intriguing, and it does seem like a story written for fans of Agatha Christie and Knives out, with its broad cast of characters with dubious intentions, gloomy mansion, and series of murders and disappearances.

Unfortunately I struggled with the first half of the story. The vast cast of characters were difficult to keep track of, and many seemed irrelevant to the story. The slow pacing, and length of the book also made it hard to remember key details, and I feel I missed important elements and clues which would have enhanced my experience.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the last quarter of the book, which very much delivered in terms of twists, intrigue and drama. I enjoyed the authors use of language throughout and as much as I struggled with elements of the early story I’m really glad I persisted. This is my first of Finn’s books, and I’ll be interested to try another.

The narrator did a wonderful job of adding drama and flair to the cast of characters, building a sense of tension and mystery. 3.5 stars.

Thank you Harper Collin’s UK Audio for a copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

If, like me, you are a sucker for Golden Age mysteries, you will understand why I was tempted by the premise of this novel. A stranger is invited to come and write the biography of a dying crime writer; a writer whose wife and child disappeared mysteriously years before and he is the chief suspect in their presumed murder. Don’t be tempted.

The mystery novels of the 1920s and 30s shared certain characteristics: pace, brevity and lack of sentimentality. None of these are true of this novel. It is at once mawkish and unengaging as well as being much, much too long. By the denouement, I was thoroughly sick of all of the characters, even the dog. Even the dead dogs!

I listened to the audio version of this novel which ran to over 13 hours. Since I had been given an arc of the audiobook, I listened to all of it before giving a review but otherwise would have abandoned it long before I got to the end.

I’m afraid this is my honest opinion. I would recommend you read The Woman in the Window by the same author instead.

I have found this audio book pretty average! I thought the narration was a struggle due to the English accent used, the constant change of perspective was not made clear therefore leaving me having to re think who I was listening about.

Such a good ending but way too long and drawn out!
The constant change in narrative of the story, in my opinion, was unnecessary and often confusing.

I was so glad to get to the end and enjoyed how the story finally unfolded but for me it wasn’t worth the wait.
I enjoyed the Count of Monte Cristo and butterfly references in relation to the conclusion.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to review.