Oh my goodness what a nail biter there at the end! I did NOT see that coming at all! I highly recommend this one if you want a fast paced twisted thriller!

Sylvia is working her way up to being a Judge. She has worked hard and made all the correct political manipulations. She has even found her a new man. Her life is finally moving forward. But, then her life goes off the rails. She is accused of something she did not do and all her aspirations and dreams come crashing down!

I had a difficult time connecting to the characters in this one. It took a while for me to really get into this story. But, I am glad I hung in there. There is a big twist to this tale. I did kind of figure it out, but not before I guessed wrong first.

Need a murder mystery with a fabulous setting and a twisty ending you will not forget…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley & Highbridge for providing an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Poor, unreliable narrator Sylvie. Her career is going smoothly and she seems a lock to become a judge, she has a semi-serious boyfriend who owns his own catering business, life is good! But we know terrible things are about to happen because the book opens with a fox (you read that right) finding a blood meal in the street after two people are impaled on an iron fence after a fall from a roof.

Sylvie is not very likable, and her "best friend" Tess isn't much better. Over the course of the book we learn that the two have had a rivalry more than a friendship since their teens, and got into all sorts of trouble with sex and drugs, culminating with an acquaintance being found guilty of the British equivalent of manslaughter in the death of Sylvie's boyfriend. In the current day, Tess is diagnosed with a brain tumor, but Sylvie doesn't entirely believe her, as she faked a pregnancy years ago to get her fiancé not to back out of the wedding, then faked a miscarriage. Meanwhile Tess is in charge of a trail where she is acting as judge in circuit court, and it's bringing back lots of memories and feelings about that time when she perjured herself in the trial of her boyfriend's death ...

At first I was reminded of Nicci French's books, which tend to have unlikable female characters doing morally gray things and feeling hard done by, but the downer tempo is just so relentless and it doesn't let up for the whole of the book. Tyce's writing isn't bad, but it is a tad overblown at times as she strains to create tension. It's hard to feel bad for Sylvie since even though she's an intelligent, accomplished barrister, she's a complete wet rag when it comes to Tess and her requests. It's as if the woman isn't aware she can tell anyone "no."

The twist is hardly even a twist, and all it does it make you wonder why it didn't get wrapped up sooner, unless it all HAD TO happen on Hogmanay (which, if it did, why not tell us that?).

The voice acting was more than capable, and the use of several actors and judicious use of accents made it easy to tell everyone apart.

This was close to a DNF for me, and I will not be seeking out any of Tyce's future work.

An excellent mystery that starts out with the discovery of two impaled bodies in Edinburg. Told in a past and present entwined narration style. Two great friends that are drawn closer because of the need of one of the ladies. There are several great plot twists before the climatic discovery of the bodies. This audiobook was kindly given to me for my unbiased review consideration by #NetGalley and #HighBridgeAudio. It was expertly narrated by George Weightman, Lucy Paterson, and Samara MacLaren.

3.25 stars, rounded down.

I have mixed emotions about this one. This is a twisty thriller with duel timelines and multiple points of view, which is normally my favorite set up to a book! Throw in an unreliable narrator and I'm set. However, this one just didn't do it for me. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I didn't like any of the characters. I love myself an unreliable narrator, however, Sylvie just didn't do it for me. I can't even pinpoint what I didn't like about her other than I hated how she handled her relationships, especially with Tess. Super toxic best friend relationship? No thank you.

I struggled to get through it at times but held on to the hope that there would be a huge twist at the end. And there was a twist......but I saw it coming a mile away. I wasn't quite sure of the specific details, so I did enjoy learning them, but I definitely saw what was coming and was disappointed that Sylvie didn't (might also be why I didn't like her haha).

Overall it was a decent thriller with a decent twist, however if you pay attention, you're sure to get the twist.

With all of this said, I LOVED the narrators! I thought they were the best part of the book. They brought a lot of suspense in and held my attention when the plot started losing it. If you're wanting to read this one, I HIGHLY recommend listening rather than reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It Ends at Midnight by Harriet Tyce is a thriller about two friends - Tess and Sylvie - and a manipulative and toxic friendship. I think a lot of people will really enjoy this book and there were a lot of moments that I really liked. But to me it felt like I didn't know what it was about for a long time. Maybe the blurb for the book didn't match the actual book. The overall story and the twists are pretty interesting. I just didn't relate to this book as much as I hoped I would. The narrator is nice and does a great job contributing to the story.

3 stars

A twisty domestic thriller with unlikeable characters and a frustrating ending. There are moments of intense emotion and scenarios that made me consider moral dilemmas, however, so there is some depth to the story.

[What I liked:]

•There is a sense of dread and suspense throughout most of the book, and it creates an eerie atmosphere for the story.

•There are a few clever twists and red herrings that kept me guessing, so the plot wasn’t boring.

•The moral and strategic dilemmas the MC faces during the court case involving the teenage boys was the most interesting part of the whole book.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•All the MC cares about is work, and a friend she doesn’t actually like but feels obligated to. She needs to create boundaries and stand up for herself but all throughout keeps making excuses not too, and that made me annoyed with her.

•The best friend character is legitimately awful, which is I guess kind of the point. But I dislike how she gets pretty much everything she wants all the time, even in the end.

•The ending is over the top gory, implausible, & melodramatic. I also dislike the very last bit where one character summarizes the events of the MC’s life and her beliefs and turns the whole narrative on its head. It wasn’t fleshed out enough and doesn’t fit with all the information in the book up until that point, so it felt cheap and out of place.

CW: murder, suicide, infidelity, infertility, bullying, substance abuse, cancer

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Harriet Tyce is a must-read author for me as her novels transfix and keep you superglued to the narrative. With a fascinating dose of unreliable narrator, some disconcerting cast members, uncomfortable realities of teenage life and toxic friendships, this book has it all. Tess and Sylvie have been best friends since six form in Edinburgh. She is now a successful lawyer hoping to move up. One night out with her friend, Tess, she shares with her a medical diagnosis that makes her head spin. She asks Sylvie to please tell husband Marcus that has moved out of their home. We get flash backs from the past during their school days when something bad happened, the girls lied about, and the present where Sylvie is framed for something she didn't do. Two people die, a man and a woman at midnight, on the evening Tess and Marcus renew their vows. Who are they and why did it happen? Tremendously well written and plotted, the suspense is set to high, the twists in plentiful supply. Very highly recommended.

This suspense thriller starts off with such an eerie scene that immediately drew me into the story and I had to know what happened. The narrators did an incredible job giving voice to the unreliability of the characters and adding another layer of mystery. It's twisty and full of mind games and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Sylvie and Tess have been friends since their school days. Sylvie's life is going well...a successful barrister, she is on the right path to become a judge. She's got a new relationship too but things aren't going as well for Tess. She hasn't been well lately and her doctor suspects she has a brain tumour. She asks Sylvie to help with a couple of things. First to tell her estranged husband about her illness and second to contact a student from their schooldays--a woman who was convicted of a crime based on evidence from Sylvie and Tess.

As a reader/listener, I didn't find the characters likeable but the plot is gripping as the book speeds towards a dramatic confrontation on New Year's Eve. There are a few twists and turns in the book and it's ultimately I rewarding read.

Anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers or legal dramas will want to read it. I enjoyed the narration of the audiobook by George Weightman, Lucy Paterson, and Samara MacLaren.

I will recommend this one to library patrons who enjoy thrillers and books that surprise the reader.

I listened to the audiobook version of this story. I am glad I did as the narrators did a fantastic job. They held my attention, creating suspense, drama and even a little humour through their voices only. Sometimes when there are dual timelines an audiobook is a little hard to follow. That was not true in this instance at all. The book wove nicely between the two time periods, never leaving me wondering where or when I was. This was a fast-paced drama, with many opportunities for twists and turns. While I was not surprised by the ending, I did feel it could have gone a couple of different ways. The opening gripped me immediately, and I wanted to find out who the killer was right away. Unfortunately, I was not held throughout the story. There were definitely moments, but the story did drag occasionally. The fast-paced ending, with its multiple twists and turns added a lot to the story for me. I had some difficulty liking any of the characters. Sylvie was a doormat and Tess was manipulative and hard to believe. Everyone needed to become a little stronger in their beliefs in them self, and show a little more compassion for the other people in the story.

There are many elements in this book that I enjoy in my thrillers…unreliable narrator, past flashbacks, multi timelines, a female MC that is ruling in a man’s career, frayed friendships and a shaky relationship.

Given all those things, I wanted to love this book so much and I read it to the very end hoping that it would be an exciting end. However, the story was boring and predictable. Plus it didn’t keep me in suspense as it took me longer than normal to read this type of book.

If you are newer to the genre and enjoy the above elements in a story, give this one a go. For me though, it was a miss. 2.5 stars

The narration on this audiobook was good, but not great.

I did not love this book. It was very slow moving and took me a while to sort out the characters. It was also very slow moving.

This was an intriguing read. I wasn’t sure what to expect at first. There were so many threads. I didn’t know where it was going or where it would end up but it was fun getting there. I liked the flashbacks and trying to figure out what happened there. They were some wild girls.

I liked how her job made her think of the past and make her make some revelations about herself.

I felt like i had this ALL figured out. And while i had some of it guessed, some still surprised me. Overall, i enjoyed this one.

Sylvie is aiming to become a judge of the Crown Court and is presiding over a case that may just prove she has what it takes. But when she begins hearing some of the evidence presented, it gives her flashbacks to part of her past that she longs to forget. On top of this, her best friend has just received some life-changing news and is demanding that Sylvie help her make peace with their old secret. Despite not wanting to dredge up the past, Sylvie knows she’ll do what her friend asks, even if it means potentially exposing a painful and dangerous past.

I enjoyed the author’s writing style overall. There was a good balance between the past and present timelines that worked together to reveal information at an engaging pace. While the work did have a bit of a slow start, I was still interested in getting to know the characters and curious to see where it was all going, so I was never bored. But the ending of the work was almost too quickly paced with a myriad of twists thrown in, making it feel too rush and sometimes even a little forced.

Sylvie was a difficult protagonist to like. She’s on her way to becoming a judge so I assumed she was relatively intelligent, but she made some inexplicably bad choices that made it seem as if she didn’t know how to think critically. I did like that despite being an adult, her submissive and placating behavior towards Tess hadn’t changed – it was a good representation of how sometimes toxic teenage relationships can carry on into adulthood. But honestly, none of the characters were that engaging, which made it difficult to become fully immersed in their story or tribulations.

This slow burn suspenseful mystery was entertaining overall despite me guessing the big reveal long before it happened. My thanks to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It Ends at Midnight is a twisty novel with dual timelines and multiple points of view- which happen to be my favorite tropes. I wanted to like this more, but I found that I couldn't really connect with any of the characters. While the story was interesting, it was a bit predictable. I would definitely like to read more from this author, but this one was unfortunately not for me.

okay. i will be honest. i struggled with this one at first. some of the details seemed insignificant at first and made it feel like it was dragging slightly, but when it all came together in the end i was MINDBLOWN. the twist ending was so far out there in the best way and i never would have guessed it. this one ended up being so great and i would highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was full of unlikeable and unreliable characters which made this book all the more thrilling. This one had me guessing throughout and was so twisted. This was a great read.

I was so excited for this thriller, but there is way too much setup. After reading nearly 60% of the book, the main mystery had yet to really get going. This felt a bit disappointing given the exciting synopsis about this book. it seems that I should love Harriet Tyce books given the descriptions, but something just falls short for me and leaves me feeling slightly underwhelmed. 3 stars ⭐️. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced copy for review.

In-depth thriller that makes you not trust anyone! Each character is flawed in their own way and each has their own secrets. Just as you make an assumption the author directs you another way. Well done in character development! This is my first Harriet Tyce read and I am hooked!, This well written psychological thriller set in London and Edinburgh involving toxic friendship between 2 women with secrets, and lies from their past.

I did feel it is a bit of a slow burn for the first few chapters as the reader or listener is learning the characters and while the ending was wild it was slightly predictable in a way. I also did not appreciate the age and antics of the characters in their youth; however, that is a personal opinion. The description of scenes, actions and emotions is top notch!

I enjoyed the audiobook and felt the narrators did a wonderful job of bringing the characters to life.

Many thanks to NetGalley for sharing the audiobook with me in exchange my honest opinions.