From the author of the “blackly funny” (John Connolly, New York Times bestselling author) The Other People, a gripping book-within-a-book thriller exploring the disappearance of a famous author through the pages of his coded espionage novel. Perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz and Janice Hallett.

Ten years ago, a bestselling, critically acclaimed literary author disappeared without a trace…and without a final novel. In recent days, that missing manuscript has surfaced, but strangely enough, it’s not another genius work of literary fiction, but an espionage novel full of all-too-stereotypical spycraft and James Bond-like twists.

His former publisher has asked the author’s best friend—and fellow author named C.B. Everett—to annotate the novel with details from real life to give the strange novel context within his larger oeuvre. But as C.B. reads, he finds the espionage thriller is filled with references to events and people who feel a little too familiar, and soon he’s wondering if the novel might in fact be a key to his missing friend’s disappearance. There’s text and subtext aplenty, and C.B. is determined to learn once and for all what happened to his friend through solving the mystery woven into the pages. But the final chapter may hold secrets darker and more threatening than anyone anticipated.

An unputdownable, twisty thriller, The Final Chapter asks us: how well do we really know our closest friends? And how well do we know ourselves?