Delphine "Delphi" works at a famous theme park in California. She has left her home following a trauma and prefers to work in the dark, maintaining the illusions of the park rides as a fixer. An unfortunate death however causes the park to begin to shutter it's doors. As she continues to work in the shadows, she watches as friends and colleagues are laid off day by day.
Arianne Reiche builds tension slowly and surely as Delphi begins to suspect there is more to the park then the joyous illusions it provides. As Delphi moves deeper into the story the reader can hear the warning clang - similar to the noise before a very scary ride begins. If you like thrillers with sci-fi, horror with magic or just love theme parks, At the End Of Every Day is for you!
#Atria

AT the end of the day, all we, readers, want is a good story. So, when one comes along combining all sorts of things I enjoy reading about like amusement parks and cults and general weirdness, I’m all for it. Especially when it draws comparisons to such luminaries of weird as VanderMeer. Naturally, I requested this one off Netgalley and made it my first read of March.
And sure enough, it began very strongly, but then over time, it seemed to sag some under the weight of its own weirdness. Something about the way it meandered, the density of the narrative. Something…
Objectively, this book is original, creative, imaginative. All that. Seriously. Subjectively, it ended up slightly dragging and reading longer than the page count presupposed.
So, something of a mixed bag, but interesting enough for readers to check out for themselves and draw their own conclusions. Thanks Netgalley.

Something about the shiny surface of theme parks makes me deeply suspicious. I love theme park lore about how things cynically “never go wrong” at these seemingly magical places. Arianna Reiche captures this sense of unease perfectly in her debut novel, At the End of Every Day.

Delphi works at such a theme park, only referred to as “The Park”. Unfortunately, a celebrity died after a large-scale launch of a new ride, and The Park’s fortunes have tanked so badly that The Park is closing for good. Delphi and her boyfriend play a big part in this operation, but as the park’s final day approaches, Delphi begins to experience strange things. But Delphi is also harboring a secret, a childhood injury that forces her to constantly wear gloves.

Interspersed with strange letters between an apparently estranged pair of siblings, speaking about cults, AI bots, and escalating disasters in California. No spoilers, but when these two narratives come together, it is incredibly effective.

The descriptions of underground tunnels and strange rooms successfully create a great sense of unease in the reader. The whole novel is deeply unsettling and disorienting, which reflects the askew plot perfectly. Do we have an unreliable narrator; is this all in Delphi’s head? There are lots of threads in this novel, but the patient, attentive reader will be rewarded.

Fans of the uncanny will love At the End of Every Day, as will fans of dark theme park lore. A fantastic debut, and one that will stay with me long after the gates close.

Stunning, wild, disorienting, with prose so completely original that I couldn't help but love it. The main character was pretty cool too. Fans of all kinds of weird fiction will want to pick this one up.

Heart pounding thriller that left me on the edge of my seat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.