I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Jake and his girlfriend are on a drive to visit his parents at their remote farm. After dinner at the family home, things begin to get worryingly strange. And when he leaves her stranded in a snowstorm at an abandoned high school later that night, what follows is a chilling exploration of psychological frailty and the limitations of reality.


Iain Reid's intense, suspenseful debut novel will have readers' nerves jangling. A series of tiny clues sprinkled through the relentlessly paced narrative culminate in a haunting twist on the final page.

Reminiscent of Michael Faber's Under the Skin, Stephen King's Misery and the novels of José Saramago, I'm Thinking of Ending Things is an astonishing and highly original literary thriller that grabs you from the start—and never lets go.


Iain Reid is the author of two critically acclaimed comic memoirs, One Bird's Choice (winner of the CBC Bookie Award for Best Nonfiction Book of the Year) and The Truth About Luck (named by Canada's Globe and Mail as one of the best books of 2013). Reid recently received the 2015 RBC Taylor Emerging Author award. He lives in Kingston, Otario.


‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things is one of the best debut novels I’ve ever read. Iain Reid has crafted a tight, ferocious little book, with a persistent tenor of suspense that tightens and mounts toward its visionary, harrowing final pages.’ Scott Heim, author of Mysterious Skin and We Disappear


‘Iain Reid’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things is an engaging and bizarre dialogue between normality and weirdness…in a novel this twisted it shouldn’t come as a surprise that its ending is even stranger than the narrative route that takes us there—but it does. Reid’s novel is a road trip to the heart of creepiness.’ Sjón, author of The Blue Fox


‘Here are some near-certainties about I’m Thinking of Ending Things. Number one: you’re going to read it fast. Over the course of an afternoon or an evening. The momentum is unstoppable—once you start, you won’t be able to stop. And two: once you race to the end and understand the significance of those final pages, you won’t be able to stop thinking about it. This novel will find a spot in your heart and head, and it will live there—for days, weeks, months, or (in my case) the rest of your life. Yes. It really is that good.’ Craig Davidson (AKA Nick Cutter), author of Cataract City and The Deep


‘This slim first novel packs a big psychological punch with a twisty story line and an ending that will leave readers breathless.’ STARRED Review, Library Journal



‘Iain Reid has written a creepy but enthralling new novel...It’s a psychological thriller that keeps readers guessing.’ NPR Weekend Edition



‘Reid’s gradually building spookiness and plainspoken intellectualism make I’m Thinking of Ending Things a smart and unexpectedly fun book.’ New York Journal of Books



‘This is the boldest and most original literary thriller to appear in some time.’ Chicago Tribune