Title: We Begin at the End

Author: Chris Whitaker

Genres: Mystery, Thriller

Publisher: Zaffre Publishing

ISBN: 1785769626

Goodreads Rating: 4.55

'YOU CAN'T SAVE SOMEONE THAT DOESN'T WANT TO BE SAVED . . .' Thirty years ago, Vincent King became a killer. Now, he's been released from prison and is back in his hometown of Cape Haven, California. Not everyone is pleased to see him. Like Star Radley, his ex-girlfriend, and sister of the girl he killed. Duchess Radley, Star's thirteen-year-old daughter, is part-carer, part-protector to her younger brother, Robin - and to her deeply troubled mother. But in trying to protect Star, Duchess inadvertently sets off a chain of events that will have tragic consequences not only for her family, but also the whole town. Murder, revenge, retribution. How far can we run from the past when the past seems doomed to repeat itself?

After reading a lot of romance novels lately, I was looking forward to reading something different. So ‘We Begin At The End’ came exactly at the right time. I read ‘Tall Oaks’ by Chris Whitaker in 2016, and enjoyed it, so I was excited to read this new book.

‘We Begin At The End’ is a thriller, mystery and you’ll get that right from the start. We read about Vincent King, a guy who became a murderer thirty years ago, and is now released back to society. To the little town he lived in, the town where he became a killer. We also meet Duchess Radley, the thirteen year old kid of Vincent’s high school girlfriend Star. Duchess does whatever it takes to take care of her mother Star and her little brother.

This book was definitely very different than the other books I read lately. And it took me a while to really get into this story. This book starts right in the middle of it. At least that was how it felt like. Vincent King is being released from jail, and right from the start there is something mysterious about him and the thing that made him a murderer all those years ago. Right from the start I found myself wondering and thinking what was really going on. We go from different point of views pretty quickly, and this definitely made this a book interesting but also a bit hard at times. ‘We Begin At The End’ really isn’t a book you can read while tired, because you’ll have to concentrate. I sure had to.

What I loved about this book was the fact that it kept you guessing and thinking right to the end. I kept wondering about what happened all those years ago and what would happen now. The way Chris Whitaker writes is definitely impressive. There is something raw and intense about his writing that makes his characters very real. The characters are flawed, like we all are, and nothing is perfect, the way life rarely is.

I can definitely see that ‘We Begin At The End’ is a thrilling and good written story. But it wasn’t my kind of story. I had trouble concentrating on it at times, and I found the girl Duchess very disturbing and hard to read about.

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Chris Whitaker was born in London and spent ten years working as a financial trader in the city. His debut novel, Tall Oaks, won the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger. Chris’s second novel, All The Wicked Girls, was published in August 2017. He lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and two young sons.

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I received this book from Bonnier Publishing in exchange for my honest review.

Maureen Bakker

Maureen is a mom, wife, nurse, and Ravenclaw living in the Netherlands. She spends her days juggling mom-life, reading, blogging, planning date nights with her husband and working as a nurse. Maureen also is a big Anglophile, loves cooking, Gilmore Girls, Bridgerton and Harry Potter.. Always!  Facebook | Instagram