Spoiler alert: Spoilers for Colleen Hoover’s Verity follow. Verity is one of Colleen Hoover’s most talked-about books — ever since the novel was first released in December 2018. And with Verity coming out in theaters on Oct. 2, fans are still in a whirlwind of what ending to believe. If you’ve read Colleen Hoover’s novel, or if your TikTok FYP is flooded with Verity content, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It all comes down to the big question: Are you team manuscript or team letter?Â
The deeply twisted plot of the Verity novel is centered around a writer named Verity who is injured in an accident. In order to finish her thrilling novel, she hires struggling writer Lowen. Little does Lowen know that she’ll uncover Verity’s darkest thoughts, secrets, and actions that are sprinkled throughout her manuscript. After developing a relationship with Verity’s husband, Jeremy, and confiding in him to uncover the truth of Verity’s gruesome tale, the two confront Verity. In the end, Jeremy kills Verity, as he believes that what the manuscript said about the murder of their two daughters was the truth. But later, Lowen uncovers a letter written by Verity explaining that the whole manuscript was just an exercise to fully submerge into a villain character. Of course, Lowen never showed Jeremy.Â
After reading the book myself in 2022, I was definitely team manuscript because just like other fans believe, to me, the evidence was just too clear. But now that I reread the book with the letter in mind, I’m starting to think that I had it all wrong. Even Colleen Hoover herself explained to E! in September 2026 that she found herself feeling more sorry for Verity since filming the movie, since she always had this perspective that Verity was purely evil in the book. But with director Michael Showalter’s magic, I guess we’re in for a new perspective of Verity in the film.Â
What was in the Verity Manuscript?Â
When Lowen was hired to finish the thriller that Verity could no longer write, she found an autobiographical-appearing manuscript on Verity’s desk. The manuscript depicted Verity as a disturbed mother who intentionally killed her daughters, and described the horrifying acts in detail. Lowen found this before Verity died, making her believe that Verity was dangerous and that Verity’s husband, Jeremy, needed to know the full truth. Here’s where readers get confused. They don’t know if this manuscript is supposed to be a confession, or just convincing fiction. After all, Verity was a successful writer, so maybe this story was just over the top. But Lowen and Jeremy were committed to the idea that this was a true confession. Honestly, looking back at it, I was probably team manuscript because the dialogue between Lowen and Jeremy was persuading me.Â
What was in the Verity letter?Â
After Verity dies, Lowen finds a letter written by Verity for Jeremy. In the letter, she claimed that the manuscript wasn’t real at all, and was just her way of getting into the villain mindset. This was Lowen’s big “oops” moment, causing her to question whether she completely misunderstood Verity. Once again, readers were conflicted on whether to believe Verity’s explanation, or if this was just one final way for Verity to manipulate Jeremy. If it was the latter, Verity failed in her attempt, since Lowen destroyed the letter before Jeremy could see it.Â
Colleen Hoover’s Point of ViewÂ
Sitting down with TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager for an episode of her Open Book with Jenna podcast, Colleen Hoover laid out her position on the ending both as a reader and author. As an author, she said, “I was in Lowen’s head when I wrote it … and I walked away from it kind of feeling like Lowen felt.” This caused her to be conflicted in the end on what to believe, too. But as a reader, she explicitly said, “I’m team manuscript.”
Fans, however, are still all over the board. Team letter fans are saying that when Lowen found the manuscript at the beginning of the book, instead of asking, “What is that?” he asked, “Where’d you find this?” indicating that he may have hid himself to use later against Verity. But team manuscript fans don’t find this evidence very compelling.Â
With the divide between team manuscript and team letter being the central feud in Verity, I guess we’ll just have to see how it plays out in the movie adaptation to find out the truth.