A thriller about a closed door dark academia study in the Psychology Department of a university during a snowstorm, you say? Hell yeah! And that excitement is exactly the problem with this book.

I went into this one with high expectations. I wanted to love it... Unfortunately, it was more of a train wreck. I felt like it was all over the place and rather disjointed. And I found it incredibly difficult to connect with any of the characters. The secrets and/or twists were predictable or underwhelming. The audiobook narrator did a fine job. But overall, it just didn't work for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, HighBridge Audio and the author for an ALC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Rating: 1.5 stars ✨

Learning about the social psychology of lying through ethically questionable studies in the world of dark academia should have set up the perfect premise for This Is How We End Things. I've always been fascinated by the idea of why people lie but I was disappointed with what I heard here. Psychological assessments didn't translate well into an audio format and the plot barely skimmed the surface of the psychology behind lying and deception. It failed to truly dive into the core of human nature even though it was written by a psychologist. Instead, I was led into a boring investigation where nothing really happened until the end.

The third person narration took away from the atmosphere of the story and there were too many changing points of view. None of the characters were likable or trustworthy with everyone hiding secrets that were mostly anticlimactic. I had figured out the identity of the killer well before the reveal and the motivation seemed incongruous to the story. There was no sense of urgency or danger moving the story forward and the snowstorm that should have created elements of a locked room mystery almost seemed like it never actually happened.

The only reason for the extra half of a star was the narrator, Chelsea Stephens. Her voice was easy to listen to up to 2x speed and I would definitely listen to her audiobooks in the future. She perfectly captured the individual voices and personalities of very different characters throughout. Unfortunately, she wasn't enough to change my opinion about the story itself. I listened until the end but I often found myself distracted and regret the decision not to stop earlier.

* Special thanks to HighBridge Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this ALC. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Available September 12, 2023. *

A university professor is conducting a secretive, psychological study about lying. His five graduate students are helping him conduct the provocative research, and when one of the tests goes badly, one of the students is killed. But this is only the first murder, as a very clever, very dangerous sociopath is out to make sure that the truth about them never comes out.

Normally any cop/murder books bore me because that just isn't my thing because like looking at murder victims and solving murders is their job and job stuff is so boring. It just is.
But this was pretty good. All the narrators were amazing. I kept getting attached to people.
I'd listen to more of these.

A thriller centred around academics studying deceit and a murder mystery - I HAD to read this book!
The book is set on campus, there is an epic snowstorm and it’s deserted when the novel hits its crescendo so the setting gets 5 stars easily!
The group we focus on are all potentially hiding things and it’s hard to know who to trust.
There are psychological reports dotted throughout the novel for a change of pace, which I felt were well researched, this adds to the profile of the sociopath murderer we as readers are trying to identify. The narrator keeps these distinct from the rest of the story.
The book keeps you guessing as to who done it and the pace is fast so you end up not being able to stop listening. This is exactly what you want from a thriller.
The audio was enjoyable and I easily listened to it on 2x. The narrators voice is quite soothing to listen to and makes the setting of the book so much more immersive.
The ethics of the researchers are questionable. I would say that the characters themselves are not very likeable, this could be intentional and maybe if I reread now knowing who is the sociopath I may look at them differently.
Overall a good thriller that I think will be popular.
3.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Thank you to NetGalley and Highbridge Audio for an Audio-ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

An intriguing and captivating read! While it was a departure from my usual dark genre, I found myself pleasantly surprised by the unexpected twists and turns in the plot. The complexity of the characters left me a bit lost at times, but that only added to the overall mystery and allure of the story.

It's a book that keeps you guessing, and that element of surprise is what makes it a great read for anyone looking to break away from their typical literary choices. Highly recommended!

Okay, so this one was all over the place. It read like a sequel, and I was really confused by all of the sidequests and murder-lites, if you will, distracting the reader with alternate plot lines that felt important at first, but never really resonated with anything dire. I am still really thankful to Highbridge Audio, R.J. Jacobs, Netgalley, and Sourcebooks for granting me advanced audio and digital access before this twisty thriller hits shelves on September 12, 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. As this one started off I was kind of bored. But it quickly pulled me in. Great book. Took me a while to figure out what was going on but I did have my guesses as to who was the guilty person at the end and I was right. However the reason I did not figure out. This one will keep you wondering till almost the end. Starts of so so but totally worth sticking it out.
Narrator was great as well. I also read the written version of this audiobook too.