We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker

☆☆☆☆☆
ebook, 325 pages
Expected publication: March 9th 2021 by Henry Holt & Company
About the Book:
Duchess Day Radley is a thirteen-year-old self-proclaimed “outlaw.” Rules are for other people, the cowards. At school, she is the distant one, the child the other kids make fun of—her clothes are torn, her hair never properly fixed. But let them throw their sticks, because she’ll throw stones. Duchess might be a badass, but she’s really just trying to survive. She is the fierce protector of her five-year-old brother, Robin. She is the parent to her mother, Star, a single mom incapable of taking care of herself, let alone her two kids. Walk has never left the coastal California town where he and Star grew up. He’s the chief of police, trying to keep Cape Haven, with its beautiful bluffs overlooking the sea, not only safe, but safe from becoming a cookie-cutter tourist destination for the rich. But he’s still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. And he’s in overdrive protecting Duchess and Robin as Star slip slides deeper into self-destruction. Now, thirty years later, Vincent is being released. As soon as he steps one foot back into his childhood town, trouble arrives. It shows up on Walk’s and Duchess’s doorsteps, and they will be unable to do anything but usher it in, arms wide closed.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing … sink or swim like that. Most people just tread water, and that’s enough. Because when you’re sinking, you’re pulling us down with you.

I know this book isn't out until March BUT the synopsis made me want to read it right away. I found the book thoroughly engrossing and devoured it in a day of suspenseful, terrifying reading. Chris Whitaker skillfully captures the gamut of the characters' emotions as they struggle through events for which no one could be prepared. From the blurb of this book, I thought I had good idea of the subject material. Only in the broadest sense of human conduct unbecoming was I correct. This author kept me guessing until the end, and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey.

She chose memories of her mother with great care, seeking only the diamonds amongst a mountain of coal.

This is the first book of this author I have read, but it will certainly not be the last. I love his writing style. I loved the character development. But most of all I loved how smoothly the story flowed. I urge those who are thinking of reading this story to do so now.

Thank you NetGalley, Henry Holt & Company and Chris Whitaker for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

#WeBeginattheEnd #NetGalley