The End of Her by Shari Lapena

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?

Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books | Genre: Mystery/Thriller  | Source: Publisher  | Rating: 2

This was my pull from the TBR jar for May and it wasn’t a favorite of mine, which was a bit of a disappointment as I’ve heard great things about Shari Lapena’s writing.

While Stephanie and Patrick adjust to life as parents to colicky twins, their lives are rocked when a person from Patrick’s pasts shows up and demands payment for her silence. Although there’s seemingly no proof that Patrick killed his last wife and unborn child that doesn’t stop Erica threatening to go to the police. Although Stephanie wants to support her husband, the fact he’s never mentioned he was previously married, let alone the fact his wife died, has her questioning if she even knows her husband. As Erica blows through their lives—and the lives of others—, leaving a path of destruction, Patrick realizes he’s in jeopardy of losing everything and Stephanie must figure out how to protect her twins.

While this was a quick read (two sittings) it wasn’t the best book that I’ve read and, honestly, felt like a waste of time.

I had so many questions.

-In the age of Google/Social Media, how did Stephanie not know about Patrick’s past marriage or the death of his wife? Didn’t she look him up before she married him?

-They spent so much time complaining about the sleep deprivation but never once thought of hiring the nanny even though they had the money to do so.

-Erica is blackmailing an alarming amount of people, why didn’t anyone go to cops? Yes, they had secrets but Erica definitely wasn’t on the straight and narrow so I’m fairly sure the cops could have sorted out what was going on.  

-Do they not carry out any type of forensic testing? At all?

It was a little hard to get past all the above and throw in the fact the entire middle of the book was just Stephanie complaining and going back and forth about did he or didn’t he murder his wife. Honestly, the guy was pretty shady, how did she not pick up on that? Then there was the trial, which was basically a waste of time, which perfectly sums up this book.

Let’s not forget the outrageous ending, which sealed the fate of this one for me.

Overall, I’m really hard-pressed to recommend this one, and feel like a 2.5 is a bit too high of a rating (I’ll probably rate it down to a 2) but it was a quick read and while it’s not my cup of tea, I do feel that certain readers will enjoy this one.