A young woman and her husband travel around Europe to celebrate their first year of marriage—a year that the woman has no memory of—in this searing novel of intimacy and deceit.
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. This is where we meet Gina and Duncan, a young 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 is keeping secrets from her.
Just what is Duncan hiding and how far will he go to keep their pasts at bay? As the pair hop borders across Europe, their former lives threatening to catch up with them while the truth grows more elusive, we witness how love can lead us astray, and what it means to lose oneself in love
The End of Getting Lost is a tightrope act of deception and an elegant exploration of love and marriage—as well as our cherished illusions of both. With notes of Patricia Highsmith, Caroline Kepnes, and Lauren Groff, Robin Kirman has spun a delicious tale of deceit, redemption, and the fight to keep love alive—no matter the costs.
What’s it about (in a nutshell):
In The End of Getting Lost by Robin Kirman, Gina Reinhold and Duncan Lowy, an artistic couple spends an extended honeymoon traveling around Europe, visiting old and new sites. But it is quickly apparent that something is amiss, and Duncan is holding something back. Does true love require escaping from reality?
What I Enjoyed:
I loved the period the book takes place in – 1996—a time before it was common to have cell phones and social media – when a couple could travel to a remote corner of the world and disappear. Today, that’s barely possible unless you were to disconnect, but then that would send up red flags.
I also enjoyed the exploration of the complexities of marriage and how the layers are peeled back one at a time in Gina and Duncan’s relationship. In real life, marriage is not a “they met, fell in love, and lived happily ever after” story. Instead, it is full of struggles brought on by a combination of personalities, emotions, and scars from the past. Marriages, even the best, are messy at times, and that is explored in such an eye-opening manner in this story.
The suspense is seeded through the story starting very early, which held my attention firmly in the book. It is told through both Gina’s and Duncan’s perspectives in alternating chapters and goes back and forth in time from their childhoods, through their courtship, and ending with the present (1996). These stops provide the pieces the reader needs to understand what is happening and why.
What I Wish:
I wish that there was more story leading up to the conclusion that is directly related to the end. I loved the ending, and I saw it coming from about halfway, but I was looking forward to the details being revealed. But they never were. The story just flew to the end, and I went back, sure that I missed those pieces that I was looking forward to reading.
Characters:
I can’t say that I liked the characters. You get to know Gina and Duncan pretty well, but I never reached that level where I could fully sympathize or relate. And the support characters do not have enough to their development to provide that kind of connection.
Gina is a dancer that performs internationally. She hit her head in an accident and can’t remember the last six months.
Duncan is a composer trying to make a name for himself in the music world.
They met at Yale and enjoy collaborating on dance productions more than anything else as a couple.
Reminds Me Of:
In the description of the novel, it is compared to works by Patricia Highsmith, Carolina Kepnes, and Lauren Groff. I have not read any of these authors, and the level of analysis is more significant than I have ever experienced in a modern-day novel.
To Read or Not to Read:
If you are looking for a suspenseful read that will envelop you with its atmospheric world and hold you in its grip with its thrilling plot, The End of Getting Lost is just what you are looking for.
Tessa Talks Books 
great authentic review.
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Thank you!
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Sounds interesting 💕
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It was oddly interesting.
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This sounds intriguing. I especially like the idea of the time period being set before cell phones and social media. Although, truthfully, I had a cell phone in 1996. It was one of those big clunky things, with a flip out bottom and an antenna you had to raise. In my industry (real estate) many people had them at that time, and I knew others who had them as well.
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That’s the only people I remember having those big cell phones – real estate agents. But it wasn’t long after that they became smaller and much more common. I got my first one in 1999. I remember because my husband got it for me and took our daughter with him – she was two. She threw one of her very rare temper tantrums while at the store and somehow got caught up in the hanger things on the wall. It still cracks me up imagining it. 😂😂😂
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😂😂
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I remember 1996 well, and I can totally understand how this could happen. It sure sounds intriguing.
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It couldn’t happen as much today but back then – totally.
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Hard to imagine a time without cell phones, but I remember. Mae’s right – I had one of those big clunky ones that weighed down my purse, lol. I’d be so disappointed if I’d waited for the details to be revealed and they were skipped over.
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Yeah, that was very weird to me. I watched an author event but she never said anything to help fill in the gap. I guess the intent was to leave it open to the imagination but I didn’t care for that.
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It sounds like an intriguing book, Tessa, but perhaps a little rushed at the end? I would have liked the details too, especially if I was waiting for them. And just an FYI, we had your enchilada chicken soup! It was fabulous. I’m having the leftovers for lunch today. 🙂
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Yay!!!!!
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I am old enough to know about a life without cell phones, and the eighties were a time where there was no social media in any form and I am glad we were able to grow up without it. The book sounds interesting.
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It was such a different world without these things.
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