This Is How It Ends: The most critically acclaimed crime thriller of 2018

Product Information

Tyler. The perpetrator. My god, what a one-dimensional character he is. Dare I say, murderers are always complex people. We read crime novels, mysteries, we watch mystery shows because it's the motivation of such an act that fascinates us. Some of my favorite book series in the world are murder mysteries because they are so addictingly macabre in their portrayal of the psychology behind such an act. Bruno has travelled to Ireland from America to try and find distant cousins there, a journey he had promised to make over thirty years ago. He is also trying to escape from the global financial crisis, having been a direct victim of it, losing his job in finance with Lehman Brothers. Addie is temporarily staying with her father Hugh, a surgeon nearing retirement, whilst he recovers from two broken wrists. It becomes evident that Hugh is also in the midst of being sued due to certain actions at work. Her sister Della and husband Simon live nearby with their four daughters. Addie is single, work for her as an architect seems to have dried up, and her most beloved companion in life is her loyal dog, Lola. Della and Addie lost their mother when they were young children. N'Duka, Amanad (September 8, 2017). "Camille Guaty Joins 'Nappily Ever After'; 'Boy Erased' Adds Madelyn Cline; Mark O'Brien Cast In 'How It Ends' ". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Archived from the original on September 9, 2017 . Retrieved January 25, 2017. The story starts out with the shooter almost right off the bat. There are a few little things going on with the POV's talking about what they are doing at the moment, the moment before it all goes downhill. While this book is foremost about the journey Bruno and Addie make together, both Hugh and Della have some issues of their own to come to terms with. Especially Hugh having to confront his past, his reluctance to talk about it, “snobbery, pure snobbery” and his heartbreaking confrontation with karma were very well executed.

I liked that the book didn't take a while to build up the plot. The pacing was really fast, which is one reason why I read through this so fast. I was honestly also terrified the entire book because the shooter was just so unpredictable and I didn't know what was going to happen.

Bruno is an Irish-American in search of his roots. He's conveniently fresh off a Lehman Brothers layoff with no ties other than two ex-wives. He's also supposed to be 50, which I found slightly unbelievable as his naiveté made him seem much younger and more immature, even if he is in a mid-life crisis. He also doesn't act like an American abroad (speaking from one who has lived abroad for 13 years). Addie is supposed to be 38 and fresh out of a relationship that nearly resulted in a baby; she also seems far younger than her years. Both were cliched, which may have been viable if they were in their early 20s but I had a difficult time believing they were post-35 with life experience. This novel frustrated me immensely, mostly because MacMahon is obviously a very talented writer but even her skill could not overcome the shortcomings in the plot.

In 54 minutes, four students must confront their greatest hopes, and darkest fears, as they come face-to-face with the boy with the gun. where do i even begin with this? in my opinion, the biggest (but not only) problem of this book is that it takes a senseless tragedy and uses it as a ploy for people to read the book. it shows the reader that school shootings are a thing, but the news does that in real life. what we need is more than the crime itself. In the end, while this book definitely had its gripping moments, I was hoping for more -- a deeper connection with these characters and a story with moral, psychological, and emotional complexity. This is ABSOLUTELY NOT a good portrayal of diversity, it's more of a offending reference of "otherness" and bland identity than anything else. And ye Gods, I'm angry at the portrayal here.Yet, when Addie does meet Bruno she instantly knows that she is looking at the start of a love affair. What she doesn’t know is that she is also looking at the start of a complete life change. It may not be Bruno who causes all the changes in the lives of Addie and her family; he does somehow appear to be at the centre of them. Over the course of less then a year everything will change for Addie, Hugh, Della – Addie’s sister – and Bruno. And even with tragedy facing all of them, most of those changes are far from bad. And that, I think, is okay. Because this is a book that ends on a note that you should absolutely, 100% not be okay with. The police storm up the stairs and enter the classroom where Sylvia and Fareed are hiding. Sylvia walks out in the hallway to see Tyler and Tomás lying dead on the floor and Autumn writhing in pain and clutching her brother’s hand. Despite her grief for her brother, Sylvia knows she must stay strong and calm for Autumn, and she soothes her girlfriend as paramedics load her into an ambulance.

The convenient framing device of the first Obama election felt forced, as did the peppering of doctor-speak to legitimize the father and brother-in-law characters. As someone married to a doctor and who lived in Britain during the Obama election, these were particularly eye-rolling moments; it felt more like MacMahon was pushing a political agenda than giving us character insight. What I think would have really made this book great is if it had not only focused on the 4 MCs, but also the shooter. There is some musing on the nature of his evil, but I felt like it was underdeveloped. There was a great opportunity there to consider how a teenager could turn into this evil monster that comes to murder his peers in cold blood. I love when books explore that uncomfortable notion that the division between good and evil is not so stark, and here was an opportunity to do so in a realistic, and unfortunately plausible, setting. Stream It Or Skip It: 'Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man And The Pool' On Netflix, The Comedian Wades Into The Depths Of His Mortality Hugh is eccentric to the point of NOT wanting anything to do with the American cousin and strangely enough only gets to meet him at Christmas time, well after Addie and Bruno have fallen into each others arms.Documentaries and articles on the subject of school shootings often reveal that the shooters were bullied, victimized or simply unloved and ignored. They are usually consumed by sadness and anger that eventually explodes. This is quite a simplistic explanation and yet Tyler isn't even offered that. He is simply an evil shooter. It makes me feel very sad that he isn't given more humanity. Initially, I thought so too, that's why I requested it as a galley. I was pumped over this book, something similar to my initial excitement to Katie Stout's "Hello, I Love You" (and we know how that experience turned out.)