They Both Die in the end is a heart filled novel about two teenage boys who help each other live their last day to the fullest. Mateo and Rufus both get a call from Death cast at midnight announcing that they will die today. Mateo and Rufus connect through a last friend app that is used to help people find someone to spend their last day with. Throughout the book Mateo and Rufus go on adventures with each other trying to live the life they never got to. With both knowing they were going to die, they tried to do things out of their comfort zone. In the end both boys realize they might be better friends than they thought. This book was an emotional roller coaster. 

The author explained the characters in a way that made me feel connected to them. Rufus lives in a foster home due to his parents and sister dying when he was younger. He has always felt guilty for their death even though it wasn’t his fault. He was in the car when they died and was the only one that survived. Although I don’t know how that feels I believe some people can associate parts of their life with this book. The author has written it in such a beautiful way, I feel I have known these characters my whole life. Even knowing they would die in the end I believed that after they met, they would survive. 

One of the interesting qualities of this book is that all the characters are so different. Especially the main two, they are complete opposites. Mateo is an introverted bookworm that only leaves his house to visit his dad. While on the other hand Rufus is outgoing and loves doing dangerous things. When they first meet, they are skeptical. After a while they figure out that they can help each other. The contrast between these guys makes the book that much better. Rufus keeps everyone on their toes and Mateo makes sure that they stay as safe as they can. Some of the characters traits don’t fit them and I wish the author would have worked on that more.   

To me this is an amazing book. The quality of the writing is astonishing, and I wish that the author would write more books such as this one. Overall, one of the best books I have read lately.