End of Story
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
The brand new edge-of-your-seat thriller from the author of the smash hit bestseller The Woman in the Window.
'Elegant, absorbing, full of Hitchcockian menace’ Lucy Foley
‘I was mesmerized’ Lisa Jewell
'Brilliantly plotted' Liz Nugent
‘Fans of detective fiction will be thrilled!’ Shari Lapena
"I’ll be dead in three months. Come tell my story."
This is the chilling invitation from Sebastian Trapp, renowned mystery novelist, to his long-time correspondent Nicky Hunter, an expert in detective fiction. Welcomed into his lavish San Francisco mansion, Nicky begins to unravel Trapp’s life story under the watchful eyes of his enigmatic wife and plainspoken daughter.
But Sebastian Trapp is a mystery himself. And maybe – probably – a murderer.
Two decades ago, his first wife and son vanished, the case never solved. Is the master of mystery playing a deadly game? If so, who will be the loser?
And when a body surfaces in the family's garden, they all realize the past isn't buried – it's waiting.
What readers are saying about End of Story
'Had me gripped all the way through to the jaw dropping finale!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘Lots of plot twists to keep you on the edge of your seat’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘A great rollercoaster ride of a book’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘I changed my mind about the way I thought the plot would progress so many times, and was still surprised!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘This is a writer who loves words, loves mysteries, and loves weaving the two together’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘One of those books that once finished I want to read from start to finish all over again’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘The whole novel is packed full of atmosphere’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘An extremely twisted murder mystery’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
About the author
A. J. Finn has written for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the Times Literary Supplement. Finn’s debut novel, The Woman in the Window, was sold in forty-three territories worldwide and was released as a major motion picture from 20th Century Studios in May 2020. A native of New York, Finn lived in England for many years before returning to New York City.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In the terrific End of Story, A. J. Finn delivers a classic detective tale that paradoxically unpacks the genre's conventions. It follows Nicky Hunter, a tenacious young woman tasked with writing a private biography for the family of Sebastian Trapp, a famed but reclusive crime novelist dying of renal failure. A guest in Sebastian's fog-enshrouded San Francisco mansion, Nicky becomes an amateur detective when she discovers a woman's body in the parterre courtyard's koi pond. The narrative is as dynamic and dramatic as the grand setting, and the pairing of two crime writers within a crime novel is clever and fun. All of the characters, including Sebastian's second wife, Diana, and his daughter, Madeleine, are fascinating and richly drawn, showcasing Finn's exceptional talent for building internal landscapes. Peppered with sly mystical elements and chock full of shocking twists—including the ending—it’s a highly entertaining read.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
From its gothic opening image of a woman facedown in a koi pond to its stunning cliffside climax, this spellbinder surpasses the high bar set by Finn's bestselling debut, The Woman in the Window. Readers are immediately plunged into the world of Sebastian Trapp, a reclusive novelist made rich by a long-running detective series and notorious by personal tragedy. On New Year's Eve 20 years earlier, Sebastian's first wife and teenaged son disappeared from separate locations, and Sebastian remains, in the public eye, the primary person of interest. Recently diagnosed with kidney failure and given months to live, Sebastian invites—to the consternation of his second wife, Diana, and adult daughter, Madeleine—Manhattan crime fiction critic Nicky Hunter to move into his Victorian San Francisco mansion while interviewing him for a private memoir. From there, a cat-and-mouse game unfolds as Nicky and Sebastian, both charming but perhaps equally unreliable, chase each other through the labyrinth of Sebastian's life toward the secrets at its core. Meanwhile, Madeleine receives unsettling texts from someone purporting to be her long-lost younger sibling. Given the grand surroundings and rich array of eccentric characters, comparisons to the Knives Out film franchise will be inevitable, but Finn cuts much deeper. More than a mere puzzle, this elegant symphony of ghosts and fog concerns the nature of storytelling itself—and the crucial art of crafting one's own narrative. It's a tour de force.
