Review The End of Getting Lost

I thought this was a thriller, but it turned out to be something completely different. What was it? Will you like it? Find out in my Review of The End of Getting Lost

The End of Getting Lost by Robin Kirman

To be published on February 15, 2022 by Simon & Schuster.

Synopsis: The year is 1996—a time before cell phones, status updates, and location tags—when you could still travel to a remote corner of the world and disappear, if you chose to do so. This is where we meet Gina Reinhold and Duncan Lowy, a young artistic couple madly in love, traveling around Europe on a romantic adventure. It’s a time both thrilling and dizzying for Gina, whose memories are hazy following a head injury—and the growing sense that the man at her side, her one companion on this strange continent, is keeping secrets from her. Just what is Duncan hiding and how far will he go to keep their pasts at bay?

Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review. This post contains affiliate links.

Review of The End of Getting Lost

I went into The End of Getting Lost expecting a high-stakes, twisty amnesia thriller in the vein of Before I Go To Sleep. But The End of Getting Lost was WAY different than I expected.

I didn’t hate it, but just be forewarned that The End of Getting Lost is NOT a thriller. I think it would even be a stretch to call it psychological suspense. Romantic suspense, maybe?

To me, The End of Getting Lost read like something written in the first half of the twentieth century. Yes, it’s supposed to take place in the 1990s, but it felt to me more like a mildly suspenseful romantic mystery a la Daphne DuMaurier or Victoria Holt. To me, it all had an old-fashioned feel that seemed more 1950s than 1990s.

Will you like The End of Getting Lost?

First, off, if plots that resolve around misunderstandings that could be cleared up with a conversation drive you crazy, this might not be the book for you.

All the events of the book kick off with one dramatic scene that sends one character on the run without even taking to the other. And when I thought about it, I realized that even by the end of the book these two never had a straightforward conversation.

The End of Getting Lost also needs to take place in a time before cell phones in order for the plot to work. Smartphones (even an early 2000s era flip phone) would have completely ruined the plot, which basically consists of a couple traveling across Europe, each keeping secrets from the other. Misdelivered letters, missed phone calls, and hasty departures keep these two from knowing what the other is up to. 

The other aspect of the book that might be off putting is its omniscient/distant third person point of view.

This kind of narration can feel very old-fashioned to a modern reader. There are a lot of flashbacks and internal rumination. Most of the dramatic incidents in the book take place in the past. Many of them are only revealed to the reader through flashbacks and the other is never really described at all.

What Did I Like About the Book?

Sometimes thrillers can be stressful, and I found the slower pace of this one soothing. The stakes are low – it’s really just a relationship story – and the travelogue was fun. I don’t mind a book with a retro sort of feel.

If reading spoilers will help you decide, check out my Goodreads review, where I have hidden plot spoilers. I’m not doing a discussion post on this one unless I get requests!

Looking for other low-tension mysteries? Check out The Maid here!