After the End by Clare Mackintosh #bookreview #fiction

Title: After the End

Author: Clare Mackintosh

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Publication Date: June 25, 2019

Page Count: 400

My rating: 3 stars

About the book:

From New York Times bestselling author Clare Mackintosh, a deeply moving and page-turning novel about an impossible choice—and the two paths fate could take.

Max and Pip are the strongest couple you know. They’re best friends, lovers—unshakable. But then their son gets sick and the doctors put the question of his survival into their hands. For the first time, Max and Pip can’t agree. They each want a different future for their son.

What if they could have both?

A gripping and propulsive exploration of love, marriage, parenthood, and the road not taken, After the End brings one unforgettable family from unimaginable loss to a surprising, satisfying, and redemptive ending and the life they are fated to find. With the emotional power of Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper, Mackintosh helps us to see that sometimes the end is just another beginning.

A lot of folks are calling After the End by Clare Mackintosh a mystery or a thriller but I didn’t get either vibe from this one but maybe more perhaps just general fiction or a tad drama. The story is one in which parents are caring for a sick child, not searching for a missing one.

Max and Pip are a young married couple that  thought they had everything going for. Very much in love and with a wonderful son things were good until one day they were’t. These parents get the most devastating news when they find Dylan has a brain tumor.

As with any parent out there Max and Pip only want what is best for their son but after the terminal prognosis they are given a choice on Dylan’s care and the couple cannot agree on what would be the best decision. When Max and Pip come to a stale mate the court is brought in to  be the deciding factor.

I have previously read a few of Clare Mackintosh’s thrillers and had really enjoyed them so awesome writing was to be expected as usual. The thing with this one is it is a completely depressing subject and hard to “love”. It also didn’t help that the second half tackles the what if of both choices and becomes somewhat repetitive. I do think this was worth the read as it’s certainly thought provoking but readers need to beware of the sad and heavy subject matter.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via Edelweiss.

Find this book online: 

Goodreads  /   Amazon

About the author:

CLARE MACKINTOSH is an award-winning New York Times and international bestselling author. She spent twelve years on the police force in England and has written for the Guardian, Good Housekeeping, and other publications. A columnist for Cotswold Life, she is the founder of Chipping Norton Literary Festival and lives in North Wales with her family. She is the author of I See Youand I Let You Go.