This Is How We End Things - by R J Jacobs (Paperback)

About the Book

"Forest, North Carolina. Under the instruction of enigmatic Professor Joe Lyons, five graduate students are studying the tedious science behind the acts of lying. But discovering the secrets of deception isn't making any of the students more honest though. Instead, it's making it easier for them to guard their own secrets - and they all have something to hide. When a test goes awry and one of them is found dead, the students find themselves trapped by a snowstorm on an abandoned campus with a local detective on the case. As harbored secrets begin to break the surface, the graduates must find out who's lying, who isn't, and who may have been capable of committing murder. It turns out deception is even more dangerous than they thought... A foreboding new dark academia thriller of deception and suspense, This is How it Ends follows the unraveling of a close group of students as they contend with what it means to lie, and be lied to"--

Book Synopsis

"A captivating exploration into the psychology of lying, and a high-stakes, dark-academia thriller full of twists and secrets." --New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda

Riley Sager meets If We Were Villains in a compelling new psychological thriller following a cohort of graduate students studying the psychology of lying--until one of them is discovered dead. But how do you catch a killer who may be an expert in the science of deception?

Campus is empty, a winter storm is blowing in, and someone is lurking in the shadows, waiting for their chance to kill again.

Forest, North Carolina. Under the instruction of enigmatic Professor Joe Lyons, five graduate students are studying the tedious science behind the acts of lying. But discovering the secrets of deception isn't making any of the student's more honest though. Instead, it's making it easier for them to guard their own secrets - and they all have something to hide.

When a test goes awry and one of them is found dead, the students find themselves trapped by a snowstorm on an abandoned campus with a local detective on the case. As harbored secrets begin to break the surface, the graduates must find out who's lying, who isn't, and who may have been capable of committing murder. It turns out deception is even more dangerous than they thought...

A foreboding new dark academia thriller of deception and suspense, This is How We End Things follows the unraveling of a close group of students as they contend with what it means to lie, and be lied to.

Review Quotes

"Readers of this psychological thriller will enjoy sorting through the complex alliances that lead to some surprising plot twists." -- Booklist

"A nail-biting closed-circle mystery...Jacobs keeps readers on their toes, wringing maximum surprise out of the twists and red herrings, and effectively molds his leads into three-dimensional characters. Riley Sager fans will be pleased." -- Publishers Weekly

"Readers won't see the ending coming and will relish the red herrings and twists along the way." -- First Clue

"A tense and tightly-woven tale of danger and deception. This is How We End Things is both a captivating exploration into the psychology of lying, and a high-stakes, dark-academia thriller full of twists and secrets." -- Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author

"Experiments in deception turn deadly in this superb dark academic thriller by RJ Jacobs. With an intriguing cast of characters, all with secrets of their own, ever-ratcheting, pitch-perfect tension, and a killer on the loose, I could not read This is How We End Things fast enough. This is one addictive book." -- Mindy Mejia, bestselling author of Everything You Want Me to Be and To Catch a Storm

"RJ Jacobs delivers a gripping, pacey and compulsive psychological thriller leading readers on a dark and beguiling journey into what it means to lie and be lied to. Addictive and sharp as a knife, you'll want to clear your schedule!" -- Christina McDonald, USA Today bestselling author

"RJ Jacobs' latest thriller has everything lovers of dark academia crave--a charismatic psychology professor, a questionably ethical experiment, and a group of students who can't stop lying. Right from its chilling opening, Jacobs ratchets up the tension and deftly reveals the secrets and true identities of everyone involved on the way to a page-turning climax. This Is How We End Things is a great read." -- Joshua Moehling, author of And There He Kept Her and Where the Dead Sleep