From bestselling nonfiction author Abbott Kahler comes a spellbinding fiction debut: an unusual form of amnesia upends the lives of identical twins, forcing them to face the indelible, dangerous shadow of the past.
Child abuse, murder, sexual abuse of minors (off-page references).
An ABA Indie Next Pick for Jan 2024!
When Kat Bird wakes up from a coma, she sees her mirror image: Jude, her twin sister. Jude’s face and name are the only memories Kat has from before her accident. As Kat tries to make sense of things, she believes Jude will provide all the answers to her most pressing questions:
Who am I?
Where am I?
What actually happened?
Amid this tragedy, Jude sees an irresistible opportunity: she can give her sister a brand-new past, one worlds away from the lives they actually led. She spins tales of an idyllic childhood, exotic travels, and a bright future.
But if everything was so perfect, who are the mysterious people following Kat? And what explains her uncontrollable flashes of violent anger, which begin to jeopardize a sweet new romance?
Duped by the one person she trusted, Kat must try to untangle fact from fiction. Yet as she pulls at the threads of Jude’s elaborate tapestry, she has no idea of the catastrophe she’s inviting. At stake is not just the twins’ relationship, but their very survival.
Intensely creepy and beautifully written, Abbott Kahler’s Where You End is an unforgettable tale of intrigue, revenge, and the quest for redemption.
Don't just take our word for it...
“A vividly written, deeply layered novel about the intersection of sisterhood, memory, and trauma. Abbott Kahler is a powerful storyteller, and this book kept me in its grasp until the final page.”
– Sarah Pekkanen, New York Times bestselling author of Gone Tonight
“A genuinely startling tale of love and revenge, Where You End’s ingenious structure and breakneck pace had me feverishly turning pages. But it’s Abbott Kahler’s sharp-witted and intrepid heroines, portrayed with such depth and compassion, who elevate this haunting inquiry into the indelible power of memory. Heads up, Indies: this fiction debut is a handselling book lover’s dream.”
– Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Never Have I Ever and Mother May
“Where You End is haunting, suspenseful and beautifully written—a modern-day gothic that explores the peculiar bond between twin sisters and the twisted power of cults; the mysteries of memory and the ineluctable pull of the past. It unnerves and beguiles in ways reminiscent of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks”—but it’s a true original.”
– Margaret Talbot, New Yorker staff writer and author of The Entertainer
Taste the very first page
Kat: Now
The Night of the Accident
March 1983
It was just like me to go ahead and die, leaving her behind. That’s what I’d hear her say, if I could hear her at all. Foolish, careless, typical. Expected, even. Another instance in which she was forced to clean up my mess, tend to my mistakes. Her guillotine voice would curse me in the sweetest tones. She would softly rake her bloody fingernails against my lifeless arm. She would say all the right things to lure me back, and keep all the wrong things to herself.
On that night we left the old neighborhood just as the rain began to fall. I ran first—I’ve always gone first—leading her back the way we came: through a colony of dusty relics, across a lush runway of grass, down a street where the homes are crowded with ghosts. I was not right. There was a pulsing inside my head, the tempo and weight…
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