“I’m thinking of ending things. Once this thought arrives, it stays. It sticks. It lingers. It’s always there. Always.” This is one of many thought-provoking quotes from Iain Reid’s debut book I’m Thinking of Ending Things. The novel follows the relationship between Jake and the narrator. Jake invites the narrator, who doesn’t offer her name, to meet his parents and see the farm he used to live on. The meaning of the title soon become clear, because the narrator is continually thinking about whether or not she should end things. When they arrive, the family dinner is awkward, like always. However, it things become very strange when pieces of Jake’s past begin to surface.

After the visit they begin to head home, but a storm causes them to pull over by an empty high school. Jake goes inside, leaving the narrator alone in the car. She later on goes inside to check on him, and her feelings of unease to turn into terror. Flashbacks to violent acts that previously happened in the high school make the reader wonder what is going to happen to the young couple.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is a psychological thriller. It is short, yet suspenseful. The feeling of impending doom follows the reader throughout. The novel is quick and gets to the point, leaving the reader in suspense on every single page. I’m Thinking of Ending Things is Iain Reid’s first book; hopefully it is the first of.