Just Could Not Find The Ending Credible
592431
This book had great promise, some very interesting legal issues and kept me awake reading Friday night. The ending just blew it for me..not very credible on multiple accounts. The convenient suicide with little or no scrutiny and my incredulity with the idea of a "killer gene". I believe people make decisions right or wrong through free will. A heinous murderer's son with a con artist mother could still serve be a good and admirable person.
119589
I actually enjoyed the author's writing style, but after reading all three books in the series, I was left with a terrible ending.  I don't know why I find the ending so anti-climatic, but it left me wondering why all the betrayals throughout the books.  If all of the characters fell for these simple manipulations, then they weren't as intelligent as the books suggested they were.

I felt as though the author was winging it until the very end and decided not to think it through.  I was very disappointed.
985028
The premise for this story at first glance is quite appealing. A male escort meets his client and sparks fly. When the escort shows up for his all important job interview, he finds that his trick from the previous evening turns out to be his future boss, a closeted executive at a publishing company, it seems that there could be a problem.

And this is when the real problem with the story happens. The characters become less defined and the whole plot seems to disintegrate. Perhaps something is lost in the UK/US translation. Maybe it's because I couldn't identify with the characters all that well. Maybe it's just me.

I thought the ending was mishandled, that the timeline was too rushed. Maybe the whole story seemed a bit implausible. Maybe the graphic sex scenes were a bit over the top.

But don't trust me. Try it out and see for yourself if you like it. It just didn't do it for me.
3632820
While the author wants the reader to side with her case (spoiler alert, hence the open ending) I just did not buy her reasoning.  As fiction, it was okay.  She kept my attention, leaving me wishing she had offered a better ending.  It is "Death Wish" without a resolution.  Some things the main character did repulsed me; I felt she could use her talents in better ways.
3274482
The story was fairly good and for the most part realistic but the resolution and ending felt pretty far fetched and I felt let down by it.
1086942
I find it interesting that so many people think the author intended the ending as it is. In my opinion from reading the book, the hype surrounding it and the author's comments is that PKD just gave up. Many times a great and fascinating idea comes forth and is developed well but then the problem arises as to how to continue or to end it. Some authors just give up, quit and say that the ending is what it is to be thought provoking when in fact that is pure fiction. Some authors cannot decide which way to take the ending, knowing that unless it is a spectacular ending it will be strongly criticized especially if the story up to the ending is very strong. So they take the easy way out and leave the reader hanging by claiming it is up to the reader to decide where the story goes, talk about fiction!
Overall this is a ridiculous story and entirely predictable. The "films" were thrown in to entice the reader to continue reading expecting a result or a meaning when there was none forthcoming. If I wanted to read a story where I decide the ending then I might as well write it myself.
4722684
Ridiculous story line. And that ending,really?
3448148
The idea o f timelines was reasonable but going back and visiting them over and over was confusing. There didn't seem to have book ending where some of the bad guys died or disappeared.
1280841
I enjoyed reading this long, rambling mystery novel, until I got to the end.

Susan Hill created a cast of well-drawn, likable (mostly) characters who live in and around the pretty cathedral town of Lafferton. I cared about the characters, got absorbed in their stories and was looking forward to seeing how their stories would play out. The eponymous Simon Serrailler of the subtitle is little more than a minor supporting character, but that didn't really bother me. The crime and the ensuing investigation evolved slowly, but there were plenty of other storylines to follow, so I didn't mind that. I figured out the identity of the killer pretty early on in the book, but I was still interested to see how it would all play out.

The biggest problem with this book is that it is ultimately unsatisfying, with many storylines left unresolved, including the pretty major one of motive. Yes, we get a glimpse into the mind of the killer throughout the novel, through the tapes he leaves behind, but so much is left unsaid, obviously because Susan Hill didn't want to give too much away too soon. But it feels false. If these tapes are supposed to be his confession, what is the point of the way that he skirts around issues without actually naming them? For instance, when he is relaying his discovery of his destiny, he talks about how 'I knew this was my destiny, this was what I was supposed to do with my life' (paraphrasing here), without once explicitly saying what it is he is actually talking about. At that point in the novel, it is obvious to blind freddy who the killer is, so not to name his chosen profession felt fake. At the end of the novel, we finally find out who these tapes are meant for, but that revelation makes absolutely no sense and no attempt is made to explain it. Maybe I missed something obvious, but that was a major issue for me with the ending. I could forgive the author's surprising decision about the fate of our main protagonist, if the motive had been properly explained and resolved.

I know other reviewers have written off the unsatisfactory ending by saying, "oh well, that's real life," but that's not why we read fiction.
1417300
I needed to see this story to the end but I am not quite sure I like the ending.  I can't quite see it being realistic.
2852559
Enjoyed it, but for me, the end was terrible. It's as though they didn't know how to end it, so there's zero payoff here. Disappointing
1263112
You definitely want to read to the end, but when you finish, you're left dissatisfied. The conclusion doesn't seem to fit for character consistency.
3389203
I liked the character development until the end of the novel.  The ending was too pat and not believable. I do not think the characters could have reconciled their differences that easily.
918866
I loved this book until the ending.  I just didn't think it was at all believable.
2841079
The book was very compelling until the ending, which was contrived and unrealistic.  It's like the author got tired of the story so she just put down random ideas to finish.  One husband became an alcoholic, but there is no reason to suspect that's going to happen - why wasn't some indication given or explanation provided?  I could hardly put down the book until the end, then almost tossed it out the window.
1638045
Medically not very realistic, did not like the ending, emotionally void.
4477987
I always say ending a story is the hardest part of writing a novel! The premise of the book was plausible and compelling, but the author lost her way will hard-to-believe and outlandish plot twists. It seemed to me that Scottoline lost interest and focus. The writing even seemed more amateurish at the end. Hard to take!