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I agree with @daeus-lamb in that I was expecting something very dark and terrible to happen, too. I knew someone would die, and I feared it would be Daisy who got electrocuted on the roof of Jesse’s house. Nevertheless, I was satisfied with the ending because everything was as it should be—most importantly, Jesse and Earl belonged together and Matt accepted that—and no one I cared about in the book had died.

@taylorclogston wrote, back in The Promise of Jesse Woods forum #1, that in the first chapter “…we’re told what Matt’s character arc will be—Kristin rejects Matt because she doesn’t like how he tries to save people on his own power apart from God.”

I found this prediction helpful as I read through the book. Sure enough, in the last chapter, when all the drama is over, we find Matt explaining to Kristin that he has changed. I would quote from his words, but I can’t find my copy of the book, confound it. But Matt essentially tells her he now realizes he can’t rely on his own power apart from God.

In the narration at the very end, Matt goes so far as to compare his pain in letting go of Jesse to the life she chose, out of love for her, to Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, out of love for us, that our sins may be forgiven. I found this to be a very satisfying way to tie the whole story up.