*Note: This book was an advanced reader’s copy from Net Galley. It will be published on February 21, 2023, and is available for pre-order on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Ends-at-Midnight-Harriet-Tyce/dp/1728263840/
*****5 stars
This was a hard book to put down.. I loved the way the author didn’t reveal the victims until the end of the story and how she featured triple twists to wrap up things. I didn’t guess who-done-it or who the victims were, which is a rarity for me.
This book starts on New Year’s Eve in Scotland (hogmanay as it’s called there). Two people, a man and a woman, are found impaled on fence stakes outside a house at which a party has taken place. Readers are priivvy to the dying thoughts of the victims throughout the book as it alternates from that time backwards.
Sylvie, a lawyer, is the main character. When she learns her best friend, Tess, has an inoperable brain tumor, she agrees to inform Tess’ husband and also help Tess locate a childhood friend whom Tess wants to make amends with for something they both did to her back in their school days.
As the plot moves forward to New Year’s Eve when Tess plans to renew her vows with her husband at a house where Sylvie’s boyfriend, a caterer, will be arranging the food, Sylvie has flashbacks to the event she’s tried to erase from her mind for twenty years.
The title of the book is appropriate, as the final scenes of the story take place as New Year’s Eve turns into New Year’s Day. My only criticism of the book is that the characters aren’t too likable, but the ending more than makes up for that. I recommend this to fans of Gone Girl and other dark fiction tales.
Ruff Drafts 