i’m the type of person who’s rarely disappointed by the endings of these kinds of stories. a lot of the time, people find them a bit abrupt, but i usually try to see the positives in most of what i read here. that said, for a story as good as this one, i wish the last two chapters had been stretched into maybe four.
for example, the scene where the main antagonist essentially becomes immobile and brain-dead didn’t get much emphasis—it felt like a quick way to wrap things up. i wish we’d seen him spiral more over the realization that he ruined his own life, pushed away one of the few people who truly cared about him, and hurt that person deeply. showing him reflecting on his actions would have made his downfall more satisfying. instead, it felt like it was swept under the rug.
i also wish we’d gotten more of them together afterward—maybe a flash-forward or something beyond just them moving in together, since they’d already been living together. while i’m glad everything was forgiven between them, the ending just didn’t sit right with me.
overall though, i really enjoyed the story. it was such a good read—entertaining, beautifully drawn, and the intimate scenes were great. it’s just that the ending felt underwhelming. if the final two chapters had been expanded into four, i think it would have been much better. still, it is what it is.
Mad Place