The Beauty of the End by Debbie Howells

From the acclaimed author of The Bones of You comes a haunting and heartbreaking new psychological thriller about a man thrust into the middle of a murder investigation, forced to confront the secrets of his ex-lover's past.

3.0 out of 5 stars -- Perhaps when someone lives intensely and feels extremes of emotion, she burns out before her time. Or perhaps one can flame out from the weight of secrets, evasions and outright lies.

Time shifting psychological drama full of basically unlikable characters and a very thin mystery that was entirely predictable. The premise -- April lies comatose in a hospital bed after an attempted suicide while being the only suspect in the stabbing death of her stepfather. Noah is a burnt out lawyer turned writer living in alcoholic seclusion -- he adored April but she had dumped him on what was to be their wedding day -- without any explanation. When their mutual friend, Will, calls Noah about April, Noah decides to return to his lost love and clear her name. In between visits to the hospital, Noah tries to sift through the few details he can find about April's life. Apparently there was a LOT that Noah never knew.

I read this author's previous book and so was interested to delve into this one based on the publisher's synopsis. I found the jumps back and forth in time a bit jarring as Noah relives his adolescent crush on April and then time apart and then the ensuing years when the relationship they had finally budded into an upcoming marriage. All the while thinking that Noah was a thick headed dolt who was blinded by his perception of April as a goddess and thus he never confronted her when he should have and thus he was not privy to truth. He saw what he wanted to see: April was perfect.
In between Noah's narrative is another voice, that of a teenage girl named Ella who is seeing a therapist because she has discovered a secret. Lots of secrets in this novel. Anyway, this did not have any suspense and is not a thriller and if you are easily irritated when only hints are dangled for the longest time when you already know where it's going and just want to get there already...then this might not be for you either. I didn't experience any surprises though there were several attempts to create what some might call twists. I would say my overriding emotion the further I got into the book was irritation. Evaluation -- it was OK.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the e-book ARC to review.