This was a fairly enjoyable, albeit somewhat predictable, mystery/suspense novel. I generally like this genre, and i think that's why i rated it even 3 stars, because the nature of the mystery keeps you interested, but i wouldn't say this was the best book of its kind i've read. The author really worked hard at casting suspicion on every single character in the book at one point or another, and it also seemed to go on and on without much happening except the detective interviewing people and you not really learning a whole lot. I also totally forgot about the opening chapter extremely quickly, but by the time the book was concluding i remembered how the book opened and should've paid more attention to it in relation to the rest of the story. All in all, i didn't hate what i read here, but i wouldn't be excited to read it again and i'm probably not going to recommend it to my friends. If you find yourself reading it already though, it's fine to keep reading... it's not a total waste of your time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I tend to love thrillers that throw a little bit of psychology in the mix, so I was excited to read "This Is How We End Things." I enjoyed the fast pace of the story, and it was written from the perspectives of multiple characters, including characters being investigated, and those doing the investigating. It was a fun, fast read, even if there were a few things some of the characters did that required a little suspension of disbelief to believe they'd do. Overall, I enjoyed it.

This is How We End Things by R.J. Jacobs

Billed as a psychological thriller focused on a group of graduate students, I would describe this more as a slow burn psychologial police procedural/thriller-lite. The action didn't really pick up for me until the last 20%, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy the rest of the story. The premise held a lot of potential, and I liked the alternating points of view as well as the cast of characters. I would have liked more focus on the academic piece of the story though, as it could have helped to bring some more substance to the actual mystery vs the police procedure.

Ultimately it was a fine story but not quite was I was expecting.

Thank you to #NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Landmark for a free copy of This is How We End Things by R. J. Jacobs. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I really enjoyed how this psychological thriller takes place in an academic type setting with psychology students. The vibes were definitely there. There are multiple points of view having you guessing who is REALLY the bad guy here. I would recommend this for fans of in my dreams I hold a knife or the silent patient.

3.5 stars from me I enjoyed the premise but didn’t love the execution of the story as much as I’d hoped to.

This was a classic locked-room mystery; it’s listed as a psychological thriller in the synopsis, but I’d call this a mystery that was suspenseful, but not really a thriller. That being said, it was still a good read!

The story is of a group of psychology students who are conducting an experiment on deception and lying. Their methods are slightly unethical, but they are gaining valuable information about the human mind, and how to catch people in lies. Maybe it could even help police when they are questioning a subject? We actually find out in this book, as one of the students in the group was murdered while spending a late night at the university. Nobody in the group liked her, but none of them would kill her, right?

That question becomes a lot more important when right after that, the professor running this group and its program is also murdered. All of the students spend a lot of time and have a lot of late nights at the university. They were all there at various times the night the student was killed. What are their alibis for the night their professor was also murdered?

I really liked how this was dealing with the psychology of lying, because you soon realize these students are literally experts on the subject. They all know ways to tell if a person is lying, and that knowledge could come in handy if you want to tell a few lies yourself. Even the police start second-guessing themselves and their years of intuition while trying to solve this case.

The only thing that bummed me out was that I immediately knew who the killer was, but it was still fun to read how everything came about, and why. The writing in this was great, and while I don’t normally gravitate to straight mystery books, I liked this one. 3.5 stars, rounded up!

(Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, R.J. Jacobs, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on September 12, 2023.)

I found This is How We End Things to be a gripping thriller where I wasn't always able to see who was 'good' and who was the villain. Integrating the idea of what is ethical and what isn't when it comes to research made it even more interesting.

Talk about a fast-paced read! I could not put this down (also, I’m on a 5 hour car ride) and the plot kept me guessing in the best way! I did figure out who the killer was, but really enjoyed the way it was all wrapped up and the details were filled in. The characters were all distinct, I had no problem keeping track of them or their POVs, but they definitely seemed like characters and not real people necessarily (we just didn’t get to know them quite well enough). But I liked how their backgrounds were all eventually revealed. The writing was functional and super fast paced, but I was missing the emotional connection I need to feel truly breathless when reading a thriller. I was propelled by curiosity, in this case. Which isn’t a bad thing!

Is this the author’s debut? It seemed like a first novel because there were just some newbie-like things going on (like forcing the title of the book into the dialogue when it didn’t really fit/make sense).

Overall, solid 4/5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

This is How We End Things by R.J Jacobs is a psychological thriller following a group of graduate students who have been studying the science behind lying. However, one of them turns up dead and a snowstorm is coming in fast. Everyone has something to hide, but which one is capable of murder?

I rated this a 3.5 rounded up, I enjoyed it, but it did take a bit at the beginning for me to become invested. I wished we had the graduate students' POV a bit more since for the majority of the book we had the cop's POV. I did figure out the murderer at around the 50% mark, but I think that added to the suspense because I was screaming at my Kindle.

Check this book out if you like:
-Deceptive characters
-A who dun it mystery that can be solved
-Being filled with suspense

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the arc!

This book had strong promise. Unfortunately, I quickly changed my mind after I was about halfway through it. I was almost thinking it would be along the lines of THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt since it seemed to focus on a group of college students. However, that isn't what happened. Instead, most of the book follows a police investigator named Larson as she integrates the students about two murders.

The chapters that do focus on the students and are told from their point of views are just conversations they have with each other about the murders. While everyone is a suspect, there's no deep dive into the psyche to show us who might be guilty or why. And the one student who the author draws your attention to is an outsider, but even he gets the same bland treatment. There's this awesome premise set up with a tight cast and I wanted to almost think everyone was guilty at some point. I wanted to keep guessing and be surprised, but the book just fell flat in that sense.

Now, that being said, I did grow interested in Detective Larson. We do get minor glimpses into her past. The novel would have been even better had there been more. Since the hype and even the book blurb is all about the students, the reader's focus is drawn to them when Larson is much more interesting. One minor complaint is the professor in the book is named Lyons. The two names almost sounding alike got on my nerves at times.

The book picks up the pace in the last twenty percent as the winter storm blows in and Larson finally pieces the puzzle together thanks to some vague clues left by the professor and a young daughter of one of the students. It's an intense ending that really turned this into a cookie cutter detective novel with a satisfying conclusion. And it's the reason I am giving this four stars. However, the blurb should be changed and this should really be marketed as a detective novel.

“This is How We End Things” is a psychological thriller by R. J. Jacobs. I had really high hopes for this book - academia, graduate students, psychology department - sign me up. This book started out very slowly for me - and it didn’t help that there were a number of characters who were difficult for me to keep separate. Over time it became easier to keep people separate - and I liked the introduction of the two police people. Like others, I quickly figured out who had done it. I really liked the gripping beginning and wish that that storyline had continued in the book opposed to just being the opening. I wanted to like this book more than I did.

I like to think of myself as a thriller connoisseur. I read them so much, that most of the time I can figure out the twists pretty early on. But, THIS ONE HAD ME STUMPED up until the end.

Just, bravo Mr. Jacobs. This was my first book from this author, and it definitely will not be my last. I loved the different POVs of the characters, and the action at the end had me on the edge of my seat! This was so well written, and HELLO NC REPRESENTATION!!! You love to see it. Chapel Hill, Charlotte, and a ton of other places in NC are mentioned - as well as the entire book taking place in what I can only imagine was a make believe Appalachian State-esque university.

This is a must read this fall! Publishing in September!

Thank you @netgalley and @bookmarked for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The premise gave me dark academia vibes, which was very promising. Unfortunately, in the end the story itself was nothing special and I didn't care about the characters at all. Not a book for me, but hopefully others will like it.

The red herrings in this book had red herrings.

It sounded like an interesting premise and even the prologue sets up a mysterious story but then the author uses their arm to swipe everything off the table.

There are a lot of characters for a novel of this size and unfortunately none of them have much of a backstory. The lack of character development is forgivable to an extent but the dialogue is pretty cringey. There were multiple instances where I had to put the book down and actually said outloud 'people don't talk like that.'

Without even trying you could easily name about 3 or 4 characters which serve absolutely no purpose other than to seem suspicious in one of the several thousand attempted twists or misdirects.

I'm very thankful to Netgalley, Sourcebooks and R.J. Jacobs for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review but this one didn't quite do it for me.

I enjoyed every single minute of this psychological thriller! The prologue had me completely hooked. A brutal murder occurs in the science department, and the only suspects are those with dark secrets and troubled pasts. This is a fast paced dark academia novel! I am eager to read more from this author. Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC!

A psychological thriller set on a campus (the climax during a snowstorm) - a group of students and teacher are conducting tests that have ruled someone up. One person is murdered - and then another. All of them look guilty - detective Larsen finds herself in plenty of danger as she tries to unravel who is the murderer.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read an early copy of this - unfortunately I found it very hard to get into, you're following a group of students and I struggled to distinguish them.

I loved the concept, but never really got invested and was just kind of reading to read.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this one. It got me hooked early on and kept me wanting to read it. A wonderful escape after a work day.

Many thanks to NetGalley, R.J Jacobs, and SOURCEBOOKS for the ARC!

I enjoyed this quick, easy read about a grad program research project gone wrong during a snowstorm. Tempers flare and the body count continues to rise as a detective races against time and nature to find the killer before it's too late.

Laura's Review

DNF

I’m always looking to fill a The-Secret-History-sized hole in my chest, so I was very excited to read this one after seeing the comparison. So far I’m yet to find a “dupe” that lives up to the hype and sadly this also wasn’t the one for me.

A key appeal of The Secret History for me is Donna Tart’s beautiful writing that leaves so much room for question and nuance. While not bad, I didn’t connect with the writing style of this book in the same way and found that it was often telling the reader how they should be feeling about a character or a scenario, which is something I particularly don’t enjoy.

I struggled to connect with any of the characters and found their leaps in emotion often confusing or surprising. To me, this kind of seemed like a “dice roll” of popular “dark academia” themes and the end result lacked cohesion. In the end, I didn’t find the plot, characters or writing compelling enough to persevere. Sadly not the book for me.

Bridget's Review

Thrillers and mysteries aren’t really my thing (except for a good old-fashioned Nancy Drew with a cover from the ‘80s), so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I found the constant “You could trust her… or could you????” at what seemed like the end of each chapter a bit exhausting, but I didn’t guess the plot twist - although, I must admit, while I was reading, I didn’t have many theories.

✨This is How We End Things by R.J. Jacobs✨

Genre: Mystery
Pages: 300
Pub Date: Sept 12

📚 Forest, North Carolina. Under the instruction of enigmatic Professor Joe Lyons, five graduate students are studying the tedious science behind the acts of lying. But discovering the secrets of deception isn't making any of the student's more honest though. Instead, it's making it easier for them to guard their own secrets – and they all have something to hide.

When a test goes awry and one of them is found dead, the students find themselves trapped by a snowstorm on an abandoned campus with a local detective on the case. As harbored secrets begin to break the surface, the graduates must find out who's lying, who isn't, and who may have been capable of committing murder. It turns out deception is even more dangerous than they thought…

📝A dark academia murder mystery with a bunch of psychology grad students studying deception…sign me up 💁🏻‍♀️

The story is fast-paced and told from the perspectives of the grad students and local law enforcement.

I would have liked the experiment to be incorporated a little bit more, but otherwise this is a solid summer read!

💫Thank you @netgalley and @bookmarked for my ARC💫