Worst Ever Ending to a Book

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by rhadin

The endings I dislike most are those that tell you the story, which wasn't great to begin with, will continue in the second book of the series. The author should have given up long before thinking about a sequel!

According to some authors and publishers I've talked to, the real problem is that the author has just written a very long book, and the economics of dead tree books is such that it's too long to economically print in a single book, and the publisher makes the author split it into two books. Unfortunately, this also means that even if the author has submitted the entire work to the publisher, it will still take about two years to see both parts in print if there's a hardcover/trade edition and mass-market PB, because the publisher wants to milk the more expensive edition for at least 6-9 months before releasing the MMPB of the first half and then wait a bit before releasing the second half in hardcover/trade.

Of course, this doesn't seem to explain why some publishers are able to make money by publishing big honking omnibus editions, maybe they're paying a lot less in royalties.

[Mickey330]

The one I hated was the ending to a Nicholas Sparks book, Message in a Bottle. I've put the spoiler parts inside the tag - but suffice it to say I heartily disliked it ... enough to sneer at every Nicholas Sparks novel since.

Spoiler:

The whole book is based on this women recovering from her husband dying. She is in incredible pain and suffering and the first half of the book details her clawing her way back to happiness again. She meets another man and the remainder of the book details how she convinces herself it's okay to love again. She is happy, fulfilled and has passed through the terrible suffering of losing a loved one. She grew as a person and now is starting a new life with this new man. Happily ever after, right?. NOT. At the very end of the book, Sparks kills HIM ! What the heck? All that just to start over again! Srsly? First book I ever threw across the room. Hateful thing.

But, then again, it was Nicholas Sparks. What was I thinking?!

Marilyn

P.S. Still talk bad about that book to this day...

[wayrad]

Originally Posted by rhadin

I have to admit I'm a big Weber fan but when he deviates from the Harrington universe or the Safehold series, he tends to fall a bit flat. I, too, found the ending (and even the premise) of Out of the Dark to be one of the worst endings because it shows thaqt he is thinking of more in the series rather than burying it and getting back to the universes in which he is king.

A series? Seriously? I was thinking maybe it was just that he was trying to make a novel out of a premise that might - might, I say - have worked in a short story. A series...oh dear...

[WilliamVitka]

Originally Posted by mrsquash

Several Stephen King novels had REALLY bad endings...

I'm seconding this because, man, King really deus ex machinas himself into some terrible endings.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by WilliamVitka

I'm seconding this because, man, King really deus ex machinas himself into some terrible endings.

Thirding.

I began the Dark Tower series when The Gunslinger as serialized in F&SF in 1978, so by the time the last book came out, I'd spent something like 28 years waiting for it.

I should have been warned by how bad the two books leading up to it were, but the last one was just bad, bad, bad. One deus ex machina after another, and an absolute cheat of an ending.

I haven't read a King book since, I felt so disappointed and cheated. I used to love him, but I don't trust him as an author anymore.

[G J Lau]

I won't say it's the worst ever, but the ending to Dennis Lehane's newest novel, Moonlight Mile, was not credible. What really surprised me was the ending to Loren Estleman's latest novel, The Left-Handed Dollar. Again, the ending made no sense at all in terms of the characters. I had some doubts about the ending I crafted for my novel, but after these two books, I'm thinking maybe mine isn't so crazy after all.

[gmw]

Interesting thread.

In crime/mystery novels I feel that there is a sort of agreement with the writer. The reader does their best to follow all the details and try to solve the crime with the hero and the writer will try their best to misdirect your attention and lead you astray - but they must never cheat ... but sometimes they do, even the likes of Agatha Christie occasionally cheated (I'm thinking here particularly of "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd", it was very well done but I still felt cheated).

I see a number of accusations that Stephen King used deus ex machina, and I suppose he did in some cases, but mostly I think they had been enough part of the longer storyline to be acceptable at the end. However someone like Raymond Feist seems unable able to finish a book without such a god, sometimes quite literally - which was a shame because I quite like a lot of his books ... all the way through to the last few pages.

[SlowRain]

I actually don't mind a deus ex machina, provided its absence would have enhanced the writer's themes all the more. It's an excellent way to give the reader a warm, fuzzy feeling, yet the writer is acknowledging that the real ending would have been far scarier. I enjoy them when they are used properly.

Additionally, I didn't mind the ending to Perdido Street Station as I thought it fit with what Miéville was getting at. However, I was somewhat disappointed with some of what went on earlier in the novel.

[Anarel]

I hated the ending to the Godspeaker Trilogy by Karen Miller, Hammer of God in particular.

Hekat's whole society was based on a cruel scorpion god's desires, but when the battle was over and her son went back to their lands of Mijak to try and change things for the better we don't get to see that process.

Zandakar was just one person, one kind-hearted person very newly made head of a civilization that had thrived on blood and domination for centuries! But instead of ending the novel while showing us the process of that change, it ends with the princess Rhian of the far more boring lands of the not-England, Ethera.

[bookfanmd]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I have one friend at work who never forgave me entirely for recommending Shutter Island to her. She absolutely hated the way it ended.

A friend at work recommended Atonement to me and I still haven't forgiven her. Horrible, Horrible book where the end negated the last 2/3 of what I'd read. It reminded me of the end of the the TV series Roseanne where you found out a large part of the series was in her imagination.

[bookfanmd]

Originally Posted by Mickey330

The one I hated was the ending to a Nicholas Sparks book, Message in a Bottle. I've put the spoiler parts inside the tag - but suffice it to say I heartily disliked it ... enough to sneer at every Nicholas Sparks novel since.

But, then again, it was Nicholas Sparks. What was I thinking?!

Marilyn

P.S. Still talk bad about that book to this day...

I agree!!! That was the first and only Nicholas Sparks book I've ever read and I won't watch any movies based on his books either. Only Atonement was a greater disappointment.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by bookfanmd

A friend at work recommended Atonement to me and I still haven't forgiven her. Horrible, Horrible book where the end negated the last 2/3 of what I'd read. It reminded me of the end of the the TV series Roseanne where you found out a large part of the series was in her imagination.

And another one by Ian McEwan that I hated the ending of was "Amsterdam". Previous to this I had always been a big fan, but this one destroyed any respect I had for him. The denouement, when the friends enact their promises to each other, is frankly ridiculous, and asks for a suspension of disbelief above and beyond what all but the most accommodating of readers could manage.

[bookfanmd]

Originally Posted by orlok

And another one by Ian McEwan that I hated the ending of was "Amsterdam". Previous to this I had always been a big fan, but this one destroyed any respect I had for him. The denouement, when the friends enact their promises to each other, is frankly ridiculous, and asks for a suspension of disbelief above and beyond what all but the most accommodating of readers could manage.

Thanks for the head's up. I can't see attempting to read another of his books though, it's been over 2 years since Atonement and I still get ticked off when I think of that book.

[megthered]

The worst ending for me was "My sisters keeper" and also "Handle with Care" both Jodi Picoult. Can't say how it ends but I saw it coming and read to the end hoping I was wrong. I was so disgusted with it I haven't read any more of her books.

[megthered]

Oh, that is horrible. I have never read any of his books and now I will stay far away!