Summary

“I’ll be dead in three months. Come tell my story.”

So writes Sebastian Trapp, reclusive mystery novelist, to his longtime correspondent Nicky Hunter, an expert in detective fiction. With mere months to live, Trapp invites Nicky to his spectacular San Francisco mansion to help draft his life story… while living alongside his beautiful second wife, Diana; his wayward nephew, Freddyl and his protective daughter, Madeleine. Soon Nicky finds herself caught in an irresistible case of real-life “detective-fever”.

“You and I might even solve an old mystery or two.”

Twenty years earlier – on New Year’s Eve 1999 – Sebastian’s first wife and teenage son vanished from different locations, never to be seen again. Did the perfect crime writer commit the perfect crime? And why has he emerged from seclusion, two decades later, to allow a stranger to dig into his past?

“Life is hard. After all, it kills you.”

As Nicky attempts to weave together the strands of Sebastian’s life, she becomes obsessed with discovering the truth… while Madeleine begins to question what her beloved father might actually know about that long-ago night. And when a corpse appears in the family’s koi pond, both women are shocked to find that the past isn’t gone – it’s just waiting.

Why I chose to read this book
My local Costco doesn’t sell that many books in English anymore but I was in a book-buying mood and picked this one out from the very few available choices. The synopsis was intriguing; the unsolved disappearance of the wife and son of a mystery author. I needed to know how End of Story would end!

Thoughts & Opinions

One word came to mind after reading but a few pages of End of Story: pretentious. Actually, two; utterly pretentious! Don’t get me wrong, I truly admire authors with creative vocabulary, however, End of Story is overly descriptive, with superfluous, unnecessary, vocabulary. It is trying so hard to be something it is not. The linguistic style makes it a heavy read, throws off the flow, and makes for chunky dialogue. Moreover, the author peppers in super short, curt sentences and is heavy-handed with the use of parenthesis. Many characters also “surprise themselves” during dialogue, as if they can’t control what they say. This turn of phrase grew annoying after its second use.  I asked myself if the author was trying to fill a page quota as the book is about 200 pages too long and takes an eternity to get into. The intrigue, however, eventually turns interesting. 

Sebastian, a dying author, has enlisted Nicky, a long-time pen-pal/fan of sorts, to write his memoirs. As a mystery writer, Sebastian is infamous for having lost his wife and son years ago as they inexplicably disappeared. Nicky is hoping to solve this mystery as she works on the memoir. However, this proves more difficult than imagined, as Sebastian is maddeningly elusive and talks in riddles. 

The two main characters, Nicky and Sebastian, are unfortunately unlikeable. I couldn’t stand their personalities and would undeniably cringe in their presence. The only character I enjoyed was Madeleine, Sebastian’s daughter. She was the only one that had some sort of depth to her and her inner musings made me smile. 

Unfortunately, the plot drags on far too long and the use of distracting side characters throws the readers into a million possible paths to solving the enigma. Thanks to this, I was able to guess one of the twists. 

By the way, I learned afterward that the author is a major fraud. For a ride down the rabbit hole, I suggest reading this detailed NYT article. TLDR; A. J. Finn has a penchant for exaggeration, is a compulsive liar and faked an illness, amongst other transgressions.

Check out my other mystery book reviews here:

Agent Running In The Field

Angels Flight

Autopsy

Big Little Lies

Desert Star

Eight Perfect Murders

Finlay Donovan is Killing It 

Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead

Marple: Twelve New Mysteries

The Socialite’s Guide to Murder

The Sorority Murder

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Where The Crawdads Sing

White Elephant