Where You End

This grew on me as I got towards the end, but it's certainly a slow build. The cult is gross, but the one twin lying to the other raises interesting questions. If you could protect the person you most love from the things/memories that most hurt them, would you?

The cover of Abbott Kahler's debut novel, Where You End, is what initially caught my eye. For some reason, those bunnies don't look cuddly at all to me. I read the publisher's description and that sealed the deal.

"When Kat Bird wakes up from a coma, she sees her mirror image: Jude, her twin sister. Jude’s face and name are the only memories Kat has from before her accident. As Kat tries to make sense of things, she believes Jude will provide all the answers to her most pressing questions: Who am I? Where am I? What actually happened?"

Amnesia is always a great way to give a book an unreliable character. And adding a twin to the mix ensures it will take time to find answers. I wanted to know the answers too.

Kahler tells her tale in a show more now and then timeline, from the time the girls were young, and up to the date of Kat's awakening.

Their relationship is peculiar. They even have their own language. But, there's much more to these sisters. As their younger years are exposed I initially was intrigued. But as it continued, I became uncomfortable. Without providing spoilers, I could see what direction the past might be headed and what that might entail. It came close to actual events that took place in our near past.

The story started to become a bit repetitive and a bit muddy. I started to lose the desire to pick up the book. I did finish it, but it was just an okay read for me. This could be a case of the wrong reader for the right book. show less

A thriller with twins, amnesia, present-tense narration, and back-and-forth storylines.

This was OK for me--good, not great. I wanted to keep reading, and the story became agreeably weird for a while, but then things got icky. I'm being vague because I'm trying not to reveal spoilers. I guessed most of the twists, and the writing was rather clunky (with some pretty glaring errors--are publishers not spending money on proofreaders anymore?). I was hoping for more of a payoff, to be honest, but for what it was, it was fine.

This book took a long time to develop for me but ultimately I liked it. The novel centers on a set of identical twins (girls/women - Kat and Jude) who as young girls are placed in a camp/school where the kids there are taught something known as "The Plan" at the behest of their mother. Fast forward to a tragic car accident where Kat suffers a severe case of amnesia, AS Kat unravels her past she discovers some traumatic events that she and her sister shared that led to the car accident.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed reading this one. I wanted like one of those thrillers that has you on the edge of your seat and I don't think this gave me what I wanted. In fact, I am pretty sure I put this one down like four times to read something else. I managed to get through it and it felt like it took forever. Over 90 percent of the book has absolutely nothing of interest happening. We find out that Kat was in an accident and then Jude begins to tell her about their past. You can tell pretty early on that Jude isn't telling the truth completely.

Kat ends up in this relationship where she is being violent and this dude is just like oh yeah it's fine. I like how weird you are. I honestly got annoyed with this part show more because it really took up a lot of the story for no reason. It felt like the story dragged on to be honest. It took Kat a long time to start to suspect Jude might not be telling the truth despite all the evidence that she was clearly lying to her. Eventually when she learns Jude has lied she takes off to uncover the truth for herself; which considering she has absolutely no memory of anything doesn't seem safe.

At the same time most of Jude's POV is giving us insight into the past and what happened in the years before the accident. The story of them starts at like eleven and we learn about this enviroment that they are put into that is kind of cultish and which led to some severe psychological trauma for them. Jude's POV eventually ends up in the present and we see her trying to fix things with Kat. Kat learns the truth of what happened to them and the night of her accident. I have to admit that this was supposed to be some big reveal but it honestly it was exactly what you would have suspected.

Overall I just felt like the pacing was off in this one. It did pick up speed at the last like 10 percent, but then it rushed the important parts and drug out the one's that weren't as important. I just felt extremely disappointed with this one. It had a lot of potential but it fell flat. It wasn't super engaging and I honestly considered not finishing the story. It also felt kind of light on the psychological thriller part for most of the book. However, it isn't terrible. It was just not something I enjoyed. show less

I listened to this a few months ago, so it's pretty foggy. I remember thinking that the cover doesn't reflect the story. There are a set of mirror twins and one was in an accident and has no memory and is relying on her twin to tell her the truth. SPOILER: I remember in the end, the twin is not bad and is on her side, but just didn't disclose her whole past to try to protect her. There were cults, and they had murdered the bad people in the cult. The one who lost her memory was the one that did the murder, I believe, so the other twin was trying to save her from that. The one who lost her memory went to live with her mom, who she doesn't realize was bad. I gave this 3.5 stars because if the twin with the memory had just filled her in, show more it wouldn't have been such a big deal. And I think they do go back and murder the guy (who they attempted but didn't happen.) And I think they murdered the mom too? I want to say the were raped/taken advantage of when they were younger in this cult. I remember enjoying it, but a general middle of the road thriller. show less

All I can say is this was a very strange psychological thriller with two mirror twins and a past that is creepy. I was glad to get to the end.