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I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

"What had the potential to be a real, "edge of your seat" thriller instead turned into a confusing, blurred, reality distorted mind trip that left me feeling irritated and wondering aloud, "What the Hell did I just read?"

2 Stars

Pros: Reid has a definite knack for making you feel cold and alone, he has the creepiness factor set to 11. 

Cons: The dialogue between the protagonist and Jake eventually turned into what felt like the author trying to convince the reader that they were smart and well spoken, arrogance in its most obnoxious form/What started out as a promising thriller, ended on an unexplained, hard to decipher, fever dream IE Wallace's Infinite Jest and I was left wondering what the Hell did I just read? 

Full Review: 

A young couple who are just starting their relationship are going to his parents house. The girl (as of unnamed through the whole book) is eager to see where he grew up and what his parents are like. He's intelligent, eloquent, funny. But at the same time, she's never been very good at relationships, for the most part she prefers to be alone. But she's decided to give meeting Jakes' parents a shot, in hopes that it'll be pleasant. 

They get there and instead she's faced with a tense, awkward situation, wherein Jake is withdrawn and his parents seem nice enough but there's an underlying stress to the whole thing. While wandering around the house, she finds the basement and overhears the parents talking through the vent. She hears them say something about him leaving work and other vague things. She's pretty sure they're talking about Jake but she has no knowledge of him having left his job. 

She goes to his room to try and find him and finds a photograph of a girl. Jake's father finds her and thanks her for coming tonight, that this is good for him, she is goof for Jake. They leave, though the mother wishes they would stay and as they're driving, they stop by a Dairy Queen for a cold drink. One of the girls at the counter whispers to the girl that she's afraid for her, and the protagonist has no idea what to make of this situation. 

She and Jake drive to an old high school to dispose of their now empty Dairy Queen cups. It's snowing out, the weather is getting worse and the girl just wants to get home, already dealing with a burgeoning migraine. They eventually start fooling around but the moment is broken when Jakes claims that someone is watching them from inside the school. He goes out to confront the man and disappears inside the school. The girl eventually follows and what happens next is a mess of confusion, terror and what I'm pretty sure was supposed to be a break with reality but honestly, I don't even know what the Hell I was reading by that point. 

Interspersed between the chapters are conversations between what the reader assumes are police officers, who are investigating what appears to be the scene of a suicide. The ending of the book, where everything seems to blur into one messed up hallucination, left me feeling confused, irritated and honestly all I could say was, "What did I just read?" 

The beginning was good, it definitely had some eerie moments that left me hopeful that something interesting and dark would happen. But the end was just a big old mess of disappointment. 

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