Why Does 'Our Kind Of Cruelty' Have A Controversial Ending?

I’ve talked about 'Our Kind of Cruelty' with so many friends, and the ending is always the hot topic. Here’s the thing: it’s controversial because it refuses to play by the rules of the genre. You spend the whole book inside Mike’s head, convinced he’s this master manipulator, only for the rug to be pulled out from under you. The 'twist' isn’t a twist at all—it’s the cold, hard truth that he’s just a sad, deluded guy, and the system barely notices him. No big showdown, no poetic justice. Just... life moving on. That infuriates people who wanted a more dramatic payoff, but I think it’s kind of genius. It mirrors how real-life toxicity often goes unpunished.

The book’s strength is how it messes with your allegiance. You start out weirdly rooting for Mike, or at least fascinated by him, and then the ending forces you to reckon with that. It’s not a comfortable read, and that’s the point. The controversy comes from readers who wanted escapism getting served a slice of harsh reality instead. Personally, I admire the guts it took to end it that way, even if it left me staring at the ceiling for an hour afterward.

The ending of 'Our Kind of Cruelty' hits like a gut punch, and I totally get why it’s so divisive. The book spends its entire runtime building this twisted, obsessive love story between Mike and Verity, where Mike’s delusions feel almost romantic in their intensity—until they very much aren’t. The controversy comes from how the ending subverts expectations. You’re led to believe there’s this grand, dark climax coming, but instead, it just... fizzles. Verity walks away unscathed, and Mike’s punishment feels almost mundane. Some readers wanted blood, a dramatic showdown, but the author chose something quieter and far more unsettling: the banality of evil. It’s a commentary on how society often dismisses male obsession as harmless, and that’s what makes it so uncomfortable. I loved it because it stuck with me for days, but I also see why others felt cheated.

What really gets under your skin is how the book forces you to sit with Mike’s perspective for so long, making his warped logic almost seductive. Then, the ending yanks that away and leaves you realizing how complicit you’ve been in his fantasy. It’s brilliant in a way, but yeah, it’s not satisfying in a traditional thriller sense. No neat resolution, no catharsis—just this lingering unease. That’s the kind of thing that either works for you or ruins the whole book. For me, it elevated the story beyond just another psychological thriller.

The ending of 'Our Kind of Cruelty' is controversial because it denies the reader the visceral satisfaction most psychological thrillers deliver. Mike’s obsession with Verity builds to this fever pitch, and you expect fireworks—revenge, violence, something cinematic. Instead, you get this quiet, almost bureaucratic resolution. He’s arrested, but not for the reasons you think, and Verity just... moves on. It’s anticlimactic in the best and worst ways. Some people hate it because it feels like a betrayal of the tension the book spent pages building. Others, like me, think it’s a bold choice. It’s a reminder that not all monsters get dramatic comeuppances. Sometimes they just fade into the background, and that’s scarier.