We Begin at the End: The multi-award-winning thriller from the bestselling author of ALL THE COLOURS OF THE DARK
Chris Whitaker's award-laden thriller opens with a simple, brutal fact: thirty years ago, Vincent King took a life. Now, freed from prison, he's returned to Cape Haven, California, the small coastal town where it all happened. His arrival is not welcome, least of all by Star Radley, the ex-girlfriend whose sister he killed. At the heart of the story, though, is Star's thirteen-year-old daughter, Duchess. Fierce, loyal, and carrying far more than any child should, she acts as carer and guardian to her younger brother Robin and to her mother, whose troubles run deep. When Duchess tries to shield her family from the fallout of Vincent's return, she unwittingly triggers a sequence of events with devastating consequences for everyone in town. What makes this novel so striking is Whitaker's ability to write characters who feel genuinely lived-in. Duchess, in particular, is extraordinary: stubborn, heartbreaking, and utterly compelling. The prose is precise and quietly beautiful, and the pacing draws you forward with the kind of steady, mounting dread that good crime fiction does best. It's a story about cycles of violence, the weight of guilt, and what it costs to protect the people you love. Readers and fellow authors alike have responded with rare warmth. A.J. Finn called it 'an instant classic', Louise Penny declared it a book to read and re-read, and M.W. Craven named it one of his all-time favourites. It went on to win the CWA Gold Dagger, the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and the Ned Kelly International Award. The praise is justified. This is crime fiction with genuine emotional depth, the sort of book that stays with you long after the final page.
- Author: Chris Whitaker
- Publisher: Zaffre
- Genre: Mystery
- ISBN: 978-1785769412
- Pages: 386 pages