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Original poster

Your really annoying ending to a book?!

204 replies

Liltzero · 09/04/2023 15:55

I've just finished reading a book where the plot was a woman investigating the death of her sister, a death which the police thought was suicide, but she thought murder. The ending was maddening! The reader was left not knowing whether our chief character was murdered by the same man who killed her sister or was she rescued in the nick of the time?!

What books have you read with a frustrating or wrong conclusion or non-conclusion?

OP posts:
stayathomer · 09/04/2023 15:57

I read a book I the last few weeks where I thought the ending was perfect and then in the epilogue it was a different person who was actually the killer basically going 'I will strike again, I really fooled them' and it just disappointed me so much. I hate a twist for the sake of a twist!

ChessieFL · 10/04/2023 09:27

Tana French’s In The Woods. Took ages building up a particular plot point only to leave it completely unresolved. That annoyed me so much.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 10/04/2023 09:28

One of the Sue Grafton books, P is for Peril. It pretty much implies who the killer is, but like a lot of people who commented on it, I wondered if some pages wrapping it up had been left out.

LunaNorth · 10/04/2023 09:31

Stephen King’s Under the Dome.

I literally threw it across the kitchen in disgust. King’s endings are notoriously poor, but that one was a doozy.

Kiitos · 10/04/2023 09:35

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers. I was really enjoying it right up to the end, which to be fair, was slightly ambiguous but changed the tone of the whole book. Seemed to me she didn’t like the main character very much 🙁

Sherrystrull · 10/04/2023 09:42

Kiitos · 10/04/2023 09:35

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers. I was really enjoying it right up to the end, which to be fair, was slightly ambiguous but changed the tone of the whole book. Seemed to me she didn’t like the main character very much 🙁

I came on the thread to say the same. Horrible ending.

Original poster
Liltzero · 11/04/2023 09:06

Some book non-recommendations there!
I can't remember the title but I do remember reading a book where I turned the page expecting to read more only to discover that was the end of the book! I actually went into a bookshop to check that my copy wasn't missing a few pages! It wasn't.......

OP posts:
whoami24601 · 11/04/2023 09:15

Another Stephen King for me - Rose Madder. One of the best books I've ever read but the ending was so awful! I'm still cross about it 15 years later!

goingforalovelywalk · 11/04/2023 09:19

Not really on topic but I remember reading a Jodi Picoult book (which I loved) and the movie version ending was totally different. I think they actually missed the point of the book, by changing the movie ending. Hhmmm!

00100001 · 11/04/2023 09:21

LunaNorth · 10/04/2023 09:31

Stephen King’s Under the Dome.

I literally threw it across the kitchen in disgust. King’s endings are notoriously poor, but that one was a doozy.

He's the worst! Not sure why he's so popular when he can't finish a story properly!

iwantawisteriathisyear · 11/04/2023 09:35

I've just finished Stephen King's The Stand. Brilliant book but it just petered out at the end. Over 30 hours of reading for a "and they all lived happily ever after". It was as if he'd just run out of energy.

Knullrufs · 11/04/2023 09:39

I really dislike supernatural horror novels where the resolution is some weak sub Scooby-Doo ‘and I’d have got away with it if it wasn’t for those pesky kids’ reveal.

I also send most Martin Amis novels twirling over my shoulder in the final 10 pages. Terrific novelist, can’t do endings.

Knullrufs · 11/04/2023 09:42

Oh yeah — Dead Attractive Dead Woman syndrome. Why do good-looking women always seem to get murdered in nothing but their underwear? Come on, thriller writers — give us some murdered fellas.

CallipyJean · 11/04/2023 09:46

I love Kate Atkinson but I really hated the end of A God in Ruins. I felt really cheated!

ClarissaExplainsSome · 11/04/2023 09:49

goingforalovelywalk · 11/04/2023 09:19

Not really on topic but I remember reading a Jodi Picoult book (which I loved) and the movie version ending was totally different. I think they actually missed the point of the book, by changing the movie ending. Hhmmm!

My Sisters Keeper? Yes they completely ruined it by changing the ending in the film..

ClarissaExplainsSome · 11/04/2023 09:50

Behind Closed Doors by B.A Paris.. it was a weird book anyway but the ending was slightly ridiculous.

So1invictus · 11/04/2023 09:53

I read it so you don't have to...

Brighton fucking Mermaid.

It was, tbf, shit all the way through, but when one of the mystery main characters coincidentally turns out to be called Sirene (as in mermaid) I just laughed out loud and wondered how this utter dross ever gets to be published. And the other characters going "isn't that a coincidence that someone we've been calling the mermaid for 300 pages turns out to be ta-da called mermaid!"

NB: this isn't a spoiler alert. It's me having taken one for the team by reading the worst book I've read for a very very long time.

Thisisthedawningoftheageofaquarius · 11/04/2023 09:56

the little friend by Donna tarrt - I dislike overly descriptive prose (which this really really was) and ending didn’t resolve. I really hated that book!!!

Original poster
Liltzero · 11/04/2023 12:42

@goingforalovelywalk The example that grinds my gears of film producers changing the end of a book adaptation is 'Echoes by Maeve Binchy'. In the book the final scene is the two main characters walking away holding hands and you are left hopeful as the reader that they are going to resolve their difficulties, in the film no hand holding!

OP posts:
Clawdy · 13/04/2023 20:41

Worst ending to a book ever - Captain Corelli's Mandolin. I was quite pleased when the film changed it, and that usually annoys me!

idontlikementhols · 13/04/2023 20:53

Kiitos · 10/04/2023 09:35

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers. I was really enjoying it right up to the end, which to be fair, was slightly ambiguous but changed the tone of the whole book. Seemed to me she didn’t like the main character very much 🙁

Yes!! Aargh.

TattiePants · 13/04/2023 23:04

Another one agreeing with Small Pleasures, the ending felt part of a completely different story. However that was nowhere near as bad as the ending of Year or Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. I loved the first 250 but the final 50 pages were a complete WTF.

I was also loving 10 Minutes 38 Seconds…. by Elif Shafak until the final section when it turned into a complete farce.

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 13/04/2023 23:05

THE ENDING OF THE BOOK SMALL PLEASURES ARRRRGGH

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 13/04/2023 23:06

And naturally I see I wasn't the first

Not Surprised Grin

LunaNorth · 13/04/2023 23:31

TattiePants · 13/04/2023 23:04

Another one agreeing with Small Pleasures, the ending felt part of a completely different story. However that was nowhere near as bad as the ending of Year or Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. I loved the first 250 but the final 50 pages were a complete WTF.

I was also loving 10 Minutes 38 Seconds…. by Elif Shafak until the final section when it turned into a complete farce.

Agree about Year of Wonders. It felt like the ending to a completely different book.