Book Review: "Tell Me How This Ends" by Jo Leevers

Now, I am a big fan of the BBC Radio 2 Book Club and admittedly, I have to catch up on what they are reading. One of the books they have covered is called Tell Me How This Ends by Jo Leevers. A book which is brilliantly structured with some really great characters, it is honestly one of the best thriller fiction novels I have read this year (sorry to the Dexter series, but you don't really come that close, no matter how beautifully sardonic you are). Jo Leever's writing style brings out individual voices in a way that when you do read the book, is actually a massive achievement. It makes you really feel like you're reading converging stories rather than one writer writing in a few different tones. Leevers has done something quite incredible here.

This book is about Henrietta who lives in London and wants to put herself into a new job. She has a loyal dog named Dave and constantly thinks about what she wants to do by reading the personals and adverts in the newspapers. One day she finds an advert asking for someone to come and write a life story. Life stories are spoken by people who are dying who wish to leave a book for their loved ones. The name of the person who wishes for someone to pen her life story is 66-year-old Annie, a woman who's sister Kathleen went missing (presumed drowned) in the 1970s. As Henrietta starts to get into her story, Annie begins talking about the night that Kathleen disappeared and what really happened that night. As things start to crawl out from the woodwork, we will also learn about Henrietta and her buried secrets as Kathleen is dragged to the forefront. But make no mistake, this is really the life story of Annie.

Jo Leevers's first achievement is not just being able to create characters who have very individual voices, but the fact that she can also create a compelling storyline through the nonchronological structuring. This structuring technique includes things like flashbacks whilst Annie is telling her story and cliffhangers that cut off at the end of chapters relative to one particular character. The back and forth style of this pushes the reader further into the narrative as they seek to not only find out what really happened to Kath, but also why Annie has been so silent about it for this long. When the reader learns about a fateful accident then they start to unravel a whole new world of stories - something that the author adds in masterfully to turn the narrative askew slightly.

Another thing the author does well is creating the two different worlds we are living in. One of these worlds is the present in which Henrietta exists in London with her dog. She eats vegan scones and secretly leaves the crumbs for awaiting pigeons. She makes her way to and from work and she also has this weird personality that feels almost isolated from the rest of the bustling capital city. The other world we have is the one in which Kath is still around and Annie also exists in the 1970s. It is a world of oddities in which the girls are dressed the same and tensions arise when one suddenly doesn't want to conform anymore. This should be a really telling time for the reader and makes for some excellent hinting. As the author skirts around the main issue, if you're really looking closely you will find the answer. However, the author does well to hide the secrets.

In conclusion, as we all know by now that this is a great read that you will hardly be able to put down - I do want to say one thing. I had this book for a pretty long time before reading it and I was admittedly caught up in my nonfiction books, but if you're going to read anything recent from the BBC Radio 2 Book Club then I suggest you read this one. It is one of those books that gets you hooked immediately whilst also delivering tension at each point in the novel, even when you may think that everything is solved, that doesn't mean it always is.