We Begin at the End

I know this has garnered fabulous reviews. I read widely and a lot. I found this slow, the writing dull and the characters so mired in misery that death seemed a fair option for them all. I saw no beauty in the writing and cared so little I gave up quarter way through. I rarely don’t finish books but ploughing through this was a punishment exercise.

Not for me - at the moment anyway. I could not get to grips with the writing style and found it very slow and at times irritating, The name of one of the main characters 'Walk' really got on my nerves for some reason. Lastly I was not convinced it was a story of an all American township past or present. Perhaps I will try again at a later date, but I have already tried twice and slapped it shut in annoyance both times!

This book has given me sleepless nights. Not because it is gruesome or scary. Not even because I was compelled to read into the small hours to finish it. If anything I took my time, reading it over several evenings in the end because I wanted to savour it. No. This book gave me sleepless nights because when I finally did finish it my mind was so awash with all the things I wanted to say about it, all the words that weren’t going to be enough, that I spent half of the night switching my lights back on so that I could make notes as soon as something came to mind. I am not a person who makes notes. I am a wing it and see kind of reviewer. This is quite the departure for me … This book, perhaps ironically, doesn’t begin at the end at all. Not really. It begins thirty years prior to the main story, focusing the reader on the event which is to prove to be the catalyst for all that is to come. It is a relatively unassuming opener, no quick action, no scenes to make the reader jump or unnecessarily anxious, and yet it still packs a punch, the final lines setting the tone for novel. It is a short but effective chapter which tells you all you need to know about the tone of the book, the pace, and that gives you just the hint of all you are about to experience. This is, when all is said and done, a murder mystery. One of the key characters is killed, the murderer seemingly apparent, but the circumstances clouded by all that has gone one before. In reality, whilst the investigators truly believe they have their man, a slam dunk case with a defendant who will neither confess to the deed, nor defend himself against the charge, as a reader you know that it is not as simple as it appears, a conviction held by town Sheriff , Walk, also best friend of the key suspect, Vincent King. But this book is so much more than just a murder investigation. It is a brilliant portrayal of life in a small American town. Of the residents who make up the community of Cape Haven and how the years have meant things staying the same for some and causing immeasurable damage to others. For a very English guy from Hertfordshire, Chris Whitaker has an amazing ability to create a truly authentic American voice, capturing the very essence of that style which put me very much in mind of authors such as John Hart. A kind of melancholic resignation about what is happening. His ability to put you in the heart of the action, to create such a sense of place, is perfect and as a reader it makes you feel you are there, alongside Walk as he tries his damnedest to get to the truth. If you are looking for a fast action murder mystery, this is absolutely not the book for you. That is not where this particular author excels. What you can expect when you pick this book up is a novel full of such deep emotion and pain that it seeps from every page. And, as I have come to expect ...

I realize that for such a popular book, the chances of this review even being seen are slim to none. However, having struggled to the end of this story, I feel obliged to offer my thoughts to others considering purchasing it. This is an exhausting book to read. Mr. Whitaker is a gifted writer, but frankly I worry about a person who could devote so many hours, days, months of his life to creating a work of such unrelenting darkness. From the first page to the last, the considerable characters (so many I had to create a handwritten chart to keep track of who was related to whom) were exhausted, conflicted, haunted by the past, frightened by the future, and suffering from a horrific assortment of physical and mental afflictions. The author even deliberately guts a possible happy ending by unnecessarily separating, in my view, two of the main characters. There are moments when the people who populate this novel do experience beauty, receive affection, and do the right thing, and that's what got me to the end of this heartbreaker, but if you're looking for an uplifting read, my recommendation is to look elsewhere.