I have been meaning to read Chris Whitaker’s We Begin at the End since I read All the Colors of the Dark last year. Better late than never. I’ve had a hankering for another slow burn, character driven mystery ever since reading Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods, and this novel was exactly what I needed.  

We Begin at the End begins in the small coastal California town of Cape Haven in the 1970s with the death of seven-year-old Sissy Radley, which reverberates through the decades that follow. The events of the novel primarily take place in the early 2000s and are told from two perspectives. The first is Walk, who was a teenager when Sissy died, and is currently the police chief of Cape Haven. His best friend is Vincent King, who is about to be released after serving thirty years in prison, initially for Sissy’s death. The second perspective is that of thirteen-year-old Duchess Radley, the daughter of Star Radley, who is the older sister of Sissy and dated Vincent before he went to prison. Duchess is the primary caregiver of her five-year-old brother, Robin, and a fierce protector of Star, who has addiction issues and is mixed up with a shady character named Darke. After Star is beaten by presumably Darke, Duchess decides to take matters into her own hands and retaliate against Darke. This leads to Star’s murder and Duchess and Robin being sent to Montana to live with their grandfather, with Darke hot on their trail. Meanwhile, after Vincent confesses to killing Star, Walk begins investigating Darke because he believes that his friend is innocent in Star’s death.

Writing the foregoing paragraph was like riding an emotional rollercoaster. How can you not be hooked on a plot like that? Before I jump into my thoughts on the two protagonists, I want to comment on Whitaker’s writing style. We Begin at the End is written in mostly short paragraphs, but Whitaker is able to convey so much meaning and emotion in these paragraphs that it creates a vivid picture of the story.

My favourite character is Walk, a man who, initially, is resistant to change is his small hometown and likes the routine of his plodding life. But he is fiercely dedicated to his friends, Star and Vincent, as well as Duchess and Robin. Star’s murder gives Walk purpose in life just as he can see the end of his life coming with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. He never had much to do as a police officer in a sleepy town, and it’s not like he suddenly comes in hot with guns blazing, but he steps up and does the detective work and puts himself in danger to exonerate his friend and protect Star’s children.

Duchess is a complex character that I am not sure that I like, but she is most certainly compelling. As I read We Begin at the End, I had a hard time believing that Duchess is supposed to be thirteen years old (And the cover of the book does not help. I thought that was supposed to be Duchess, but she looks like a woman.). Duchess has an incredible chip on her shoulder for a child as well as a ton of anger and attitude that makes her behave like a little shit towards other people, especially the adults in her life who are trying to help her. It was annoying to read at first, but I was going through my own emotional turmoil while reading this novel that was making me feel incredibly angry, and I realized could empathize with why Duchess was acting out and why she needed her own private place to let out her anger by screaming. But it’s her impulsive behaviour that I have a harder time reconciling. She knows that her actions are going to have consequences, bad ones, but she still acts upon her impulsiveness. It’s her impulsive actions that got her mother killed and later hurt her brother. And I am not convinced that by the end of the novel she has learned to reign in her impulsive feelings.

I was able to figure out early on while reading this novel what happened the night that Star was killed, but Whitaker still managed to throw in a couple of surprises that had me exclaiming out loud. I definitely recommend this book for all you mystery lovers out there.