The End of Her, by Shari Lapena {Book Review}

Perhaps the man you married is not who he claims to…. Perhaps he has a dark secret, and you need to question everything about your life together. In The End of Her, this is exactly the scenario that befalls Stephanie when Erica Voss enters their lives….

What is The End of Her about?

It starts with a shocking accusation…

Stephanie and Patrick are recently married, with new-born twins. While Stephanie struggles with the disorienting effects of sleep deprivation, there’s one thing she knows for certain – she has everything she ever wanted.

Then a woman from his past arrives and makes a shocking accusation about his first wife. He always claimed her death was an accident – but she says it was murder.

He insists he’s innocent, that this is nothing but a blackmail attempt. But is Patrick telling the truth? Or has Stephanie made a terrible mistake?

My Thoughts

I’ve wanted to read a Shari Lapena book since forever, so I was really excited about getting my hands on this one. We meet Stephanie and Patrick, new parents to twins…sleep deprived, but happy. Until somebody from Patrick’s past shows up and makes crazy accusations against Patrick.

This book for the most part is a ‘he said, she said’ situation. As I was reading….there were really no clues to decipher who was telling the truth and who the unreliable narrator was going to be between Patrick and Erica. The End of Her was a really quick read with short chapters and a very uncomplicated writing style. I never really felt like there was any suspense or danger in this book, so I’m not sure I’d classify it as a thriller….it’s leans more towards Family Drama, with a dash of thriller.

Erica was an absolutely awful character with no conscience or regard for anybody. Patrick, you kind of weren’t sure what to expect from him…. is he the good guy or is he the man that got away with murder? Stephanie….oh boy…I just wanted to tell her I’d babysit so that she could have a few hours of sleep. The babies not sleeping and the colic…..I really felt for her!

Some critique?

The book was really repetitive. There were so many scenarios, theories and thoughts that were repeated over and over and over again. On the plus side, you could skim and read this book much faster. 

My Rating

The End of Her has a Goodreads rating of 3.87. I’m rating this book 3.25 stars. I like my thrillers a bit more twisted and dark….though the ending does give us a bit of dark (and also leaves us with a mystery), most of the book was quite toned down. If you don’t like violent thrillers or you’re looking for a fast read to get you out of a reading slump, this book definitely is a good choice. I motored through it so fast, because I needed to get to the ending. The writing also lends itself to being able to speed read this one.

The End of Her is available at all leading book retailers and retails for around R275.

Disclaimer: The End of Her was sent to me by Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review.