Nicky Hunter a writer is summoned to a mansion of a infamous crime novelist to tell his life story before his imminent death.
I just didn't care. I didn't like the writing style found it quite confusing. I didn't care about the characters or the story and wasn't even invested for the twist 😴 sorry just wasn't for me.
Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Collins UK and A J Finn for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

🎧Audio Book Review🎧

End Of Story
AJ Finn

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I've actually had this on my shelves since its release and just not had time to grab it - but finding it on audio gave me that push to get it read.

So, this was my first read by this author and therefore, I wasn't sure what to expect.
I have to say that I was completely hooked!

I loved the tone of the book which I admit, was slightly odd for this genre - at times this definitely felt more family drama than thriller.
The pace was also much slower than I'm used to, but I actually really loved this for a change.

There's quite a cast of characters and I'm not convinced that I loved them all if I'm honest, but I feel like this was the point.
This steered us in certain directions at times and had me being wary of, or suspecting everyone.
Some much more deserving than others.

I loved the setting and the concept of writing Sebastian's memoir. Many hoping that this would uncover the truth about the disappearance of his wife and son decades ago.
I loved that he was a mystery writer himself and that there were lots of book references here.

Despite the slower pace - this was still an exciting read which was packed with suspense and twists galore.
I did guess a couple of the reveals fairly early on, but this didn't spoil the story at all and it was great to see how the author pulled everything round to get to these conclusions....and then there'd be an additional twist that threw us right back off again.

This was a complex case that had some great twists throughout and was quite a different read from lots of the thrillers around at the moment.
I really enjoyed working my way through the clues and watching this all play out.

3.5 stars.


Young writer Nicky Hunter is summoned to the lavish mansion of infamous crime novelist Sebastian Trapp to tell his life story — before his imminent death. What really happened to his first wife and young son, who disappeared twenty years ago? And then a body is found…

I’d seen the mixed reviews before picking this up, and after reading this myself, I understood. There were parts that worked well for me, and there were some that didn’t.

First of all, I didn’t connect with any of the characters. Nicky came close in the beginning - I thought I understood her, a young, ambitious journalist who received a once-in-a-lifetime chance to unmask Sebastian Trapp. But as soon as she got sucked in to Trapp’s ‘circus’, I felt she faded away as she lost control of the narrative.

Sebastian Trapp was… a lot. He was intended to be dramatic and over-embellished, but after a while his character hindered me from enjoying the story. His unpredictability took away airtime from the other characters that I would’ve liked to know more about.

Having said all that, the beginning of this book was quite strong. Nicky’s journey to the Trapp house opened the story really well. The overall plot and the major twist were right up my alley, and I also liked the conclusion. Overall, this book had strong start and end, just a bit wobbly in the middle.

The audiobook narration was great. I think it actually helped me to experience the book a bit more positively than otherwise. The only downside I noticed was that there was no differentiator between Nicky’s chapters and Madeleine’s so I often got confused who the ‘I’ was in the chapter until a dialogue set it right.

Thoughts:
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I was intrigued with the premise of a dying crime novelist with a crime in his own past and having main characters who love books and quote them often also intrigued me. The flips between different POVs and timelines with unreliable narrators gave me a disjointed feel that no doubt Nicky felt herself at the time too. I did not see those twists coming but I think that’s because there was little to no indication of them throughout the story so it wasn’t possible to pick up on clues and solve it myself. It also felt drawn out and could have been shorter while making the same points which is ironic since there is a mention of not making books go on too long.

Favourite Quote:
“Life is a thriller. The ending is fatal and the conclusion is final.”

A good premise and I liked the narrator however the novel itself felt quite drawn out. Would have preferred a shorter book which moved a little faster.

2⭐️⭐️



✨oh man.. this is tough.
I mean every reader has some preferences but for me this one was a flop.
I’m by no means of an expert of writing a book but this one felt like just mixes of utter words.
I tried so hard to listen through the audiobook but to be honest I gave up. Dnf.


✨ Thankyou for the opportunity to have this copy for a honest review.



❤️ shaye.readss

I had this on audiobook. The premise of a dying author in a lavish Victorian San Francisco mansion re telling the story of his life to his penpal and author Nicky Hunter sounded intriguing. Sebastian Trapp is the successful crime author, who also happens to be the source of his own mystery, his wife and son disappear on New Year’s Eve 25 years ago..

I found the first half of the book very slow going and was trying to be overly clever. I did guess at least one of the twists but didn’t feel like I got the pay off I was expecting having invested in the time listening. I really wanted to like this book but unfortunately it wasn’t for me.

The blurb sounds great doesn't it? If only the book measured up to it...

I was profoundly disappointed with this novel and couldn't really engage with any of the characters (except perhaps with the French bulldog named Watson).

The setting was marvellous, a lavish mansion in San Francisco, California.

I found the plot confusing and overly complicated. There were a LOT of characters, perhaps too many.

Sebastian Trapp, a reclusive novelist made wealthy by a long-running detective series and deemed notorious by personal tragedy. Now Sebastian is dying and enlists his penpal and crime enthusiast Nicky Hunter to write his life story.

The protagonist, Nicky Hunter, is a fan of crime fiction. She knows Trapp’s novels inside out, as well as the works of Agatha Christie and many other mystery authors. I enjoyed the literary references sprinkled throughout the novel. As Nicky starts digging into the Trapp's past, she uncovers much more than she bargained for. When death strikes again, in the present day, she finds herself in the middle of a classic whodunit.

Though I wanted to love this novel, sadly I found I just could not. The pacing was slow for the first half of the book, the dialogue seemed contrived and did not flow naturally.

The ending is a total surprise, but by that time I felt that I had earned it.

Sorry I couldn't be more positive, but this novel was just not for me.

2.5 stars rounded up

I think I admire what the author was trying to do here but also haven't got a clue what that attempt was, either. This completely confounded me but there were sparks of genius peeking through, when I did manage to garner some sort of understanding from this novel. For the most part, however, it went straight over my head!

*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.