Eva Dolan

The story begins with a fire burning in Phil and Gemma Barlow's outside shed. When the blaze dies down the police discover the shed was padlocked shut with someone sleeping inside. DI Dushan Zigic and DS Mel Ferreira of the Hate Crimes Unit believe the dead man was Jaan Stepulov, an alcoholic Estonian immigrant, who had taken over the Barlow's shed and refused to leave. They become chief suspects because they didn't report the fire and even claim that they didn't notice it burning right show more below their bedroom window. Soon Zigic and Ferreira finding additional suspects including a convicted arsonist and member of a far-right movement who has just been released from prison, and a slumlord that's often been accused of exploiting migrants.

DI Zigic has a Serbian background, DS Ferreira is Portuguese, and both have suffered incidents of racism from the community. In an interesting character twist, Ferreira is always on edge, always the “bad cop”. She rolls her own cigarettes and makes snap decisions on guilt based on her own prejudices. Zigic, a family man, is pragmatic and less prone to impulse. The question of immigration and integration is one that is heating up around the world and is skillfully described in this book.

These are fascinating new characters who are original and believable. Long Way Home is that start of a series featuring them and I definitely plan to read another. show less

Ella is young anti-gentrification activist and Molly is a veteran of campaigns from Greenham Common to the present day who is living in a London block. They have joined forces to campaign against the block’s demolition and redevelopment of the area. This Is How It Ends begins at what should be a highpoint for them as they have successfully crowdfunded a book on their campaign, but something terrible happens at the celebration party. The way they deal with this event changes everything.

The show more narrative structure is very interesting. From the point of the event the stories of the two characters are told in alternate chapters. We follow Molly’s into the future and see the consequences of their actions. Ella’s story is told backwards from that night, to see how they reached that point. We learn about both their lives, their involvement in political action and how they became close. Although they are very different characters that they both embody an intriguing mix of toughness and vulnerability. It becomes clear they have been drawn together both by their political interests and a personal need.

I loved the writing and clever structure. It was interesting to see such a rich portrayal of political life, and the different characters each with their motivations. Molly’s backstory, going right back to the 80s, was particularly interesting as she weighed up the sacrifices she’d made.

There’s a great twist at the end which made me want to go back and read it all again. It felt right as it wasn’t only intriguing on a plot level but made me think again about the book’s themes and see everything in a new light.

A longer version of this review appeared on my blog katevane.com/blog show less

The story begins with a fire burning in Phil and Gemma Barlow's outside shed. When the blaze dies down the police discover the shed was padlocked shut with someone sleeping inside. DI Dushan Zigic and DS Mel Ferreira of the Hate Crimes Unit believe the dead man was Jaan Stepulov, an alcoholic Estonian immigrant, who had taken over the Barlow's shed and refused to leave. They become chief suspects because they didn't report the fire and even claim that they didn't notice it burning right show more below their bedroom window. Soon Zigic and Ferreira finding additional suspects including a convicted arsonist and member of a far-right movement who has just been released from prison, and a slumlord that's often been accused of exploiting migrants.

DI Zigic has a Serbian background, DS Ferreira is Portuguese, and both have suffered incidents of racism from the community. In an interesting character twist, Ferreira is always on edge, always the “bad cop”. She rolls her own cigarettes and makes snap decisions on guilt based on her own prejudices. Zigic, a family man, is pragmatic and less prone to impulse. The question of immigration and integration is one that is heating up around the world and is skillfully described in this book.

These are fascinating new characters who are original and believable. Long Way Home is that start of a series featuring them and I definitely plan to read another. show less

For me watching crime thrillers/dramas is much better than reading them. "This is How It Ends" is an exception. It doesn't follow the usual mode of a crime drama - we know who did it at the start - but exactly what? and what is the context? and the motivation? Its not the standard crime format - Inspector Plod with his trusty offsider digging up the facts and confronting the characters in the drama to resolve the puzzle. Here it is done by the characters themselves, and it leads to a show more wonderful exposing of the drama, the characters and their motivations, and delivering surprises at the end.

The story centres on the very bright Ella, a copper's daughter who drops out of the Police Academy and turns activist to support the residents of an apartment block against the gentrification designs of greedy developers, that in Ella's eyes only serve as a repository for laundered money from somewhere else in the world. She is the reason for the death of an unidentified man - was it an accident as she claimed, or murder? She is helped by Molly, a new friend she has made in the quest to save the apartment block, old enough to be her mother, and a veteran of women focussed political activist groups of the past few decades, including Greenham Common.

The story progresses on 3 paths - moving forward from the incident with alternating views from Ella and Molly, and backwards into Ella's past. This structure may be unsettling for some, but that cycle finds a rhythm quickly and is easy to follow. Through the oscillations the drama is filled out, characters defined, contexts developed and motivations revealed, and the puzzle solved. The story becomes more interesting as it unfolds and it reaches a point from where you do not want to put the book down. The story unfolds against the backdrop of rabid property development in the name of urban renewal and the women's political activist movement giving an amazing understanding of urban problems and the impact they have on individuals and relationships, and on the nature of trust.

This book is more than just a crime drama. show less