The End of Her
Fiction
Pamela Dorman Books
July 28, 2020
Hardcover
352
Purchased
In upstate New York, Stephanie and Patrick are adjusting to life with their colicky twin babies. The girls are a handful, but Stephanie doesn't mind being a stay-at-home mom, taking care of them while Patrick does the nine to five to pay the bills.
When a woman from Patrick's past drops in on them unexpectedly, raising questions about his late first wife, Stephanie supports her husband wholeheartedly. She knows the car accident all those many years ago was just that--an accident. But Erica is persistent, and now she's threatening to go to the police.
Patrick is afraid his job--and his reputation--will be at risk if he doesn't put an end to Erica's questioning immediately. And when the police start digging, Stephanie's trust in her husband begins to falter and Patrick is primed to lose everything he loves. As their marriage crumbles, Stephanie feels herself coming unglued, and soon she isn't sure what--or who--to believe. Now the most important thing is to protect her girls, but at what cost?
My review:
This one was a fast read for me, as most thrillers are. There were parts that I really liked, the twists were definitely plentiful at the end, but there was one glaring thing that bothered me so much that it ruined a good chunk of the book. The main characters are parents of twin girls who are eight months old and still have colic. The parents are sleep deprived from walking them for hours every night. I wish that I had counted the number of times it was mentioned how exhausted they were, but seriously it was written at least once per page for the first half of the book! You may be thinking that I'm being pretty rude for suggesting that this would be a legit complaint, but hear me out. The mother is sitting on a huge amount of money she recently inherited, don't you think she could have hired a babysitter/nanny to come over and walk the babies so she could get some sleep? Aaarghh, I was screaming at her to take control of the situation! Needless to say, she didn't take my advice, so her character bugged me throughout the novel. Despite my issues with that, the author does a nice job of setting up the rest of the characters and situations to reach the twisty conclusion. There was a lot of questioning of who to trust, and my advice would be to go with the flow and not trust anyone! The ending was a bit of a stretch in one part, but it did have the jaw dropping effect most thrillers are aiming for.
This one was a fast paced thriller that will keep you entertained and on your toes, as you try to figure out all the moving parts. I'm sure most will not have the same issue with the sleep deprivation as a plot tool, but do me a favor and hire a "baby walker" if you ever find yourself in need of some sleep! LOL
My sister has recommended this author to me, but it does sounds like she can be a bit heavy handed.