Harriet tyce does it again with another amazing book. Can not wait to read more by her. This book has you wanting to know more and more with each page read.

Opening with a very dramatic scene, we find out that someone is injured and may have come to serious harm while the fireworks for New Year are going of in the sky above Edinburgh.

We are then taken back to meet the main players of the story. Sylvie and Tess are old friends, having been best friends at school and only really drifting apart when Sylvie moved south to start her legal career, which is currently on the up. With a much longed for promotion within reach, she is so close to getting where she has always wanted to be. But when Tess calls her with some tragic news, all her plans, and possibly her whole future could be in serious jeopardy. Is she willing to put it all on the line to help out her friend?

I really like this kind of story, the dramatic but vague opening, then going back and following the build up to see if you can work out who and what has happened. This one throws on many a twist and definitely kept me guessing for a while!

A better title might have been toxic manipulation. Two main characters were unlikeable and a sex scene I found too unpleasant made this a book I was quite glad to finish. At least it was a quick read but just not for me.

It's New Year's Eve and there's a lavish party being held in the posh area of Edinburgh - then, 2 bodies are impaled on railings below the event. Who are they? And, what happened?

What follows is a gripping, psychological thriller about 2 friends who are in a dysfunctional relationship with a dark history. Sylvie is a legal profession with a judgeship in her sights. Tess is her childhood friend, who is in a difficult marriage and who has recently been diagnosed with a serious medical condition. Tess then asks Sylvie to do her a massive favour and the favour brings up old wounds and issues. It's really well written and had me gripped as, it's not until the end of the book that much is revealed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Headline, Wildfire for the opportunity to preview and congratulations to Harriet Tyce on this excellent read.

Oh, this was sooo good! I’d not read one of Harriet’s books before, but I absolutely devoured this.

The story begins with two people having fallen to their death and been impaled on some railings. The clever bit is we don’t know who or why. Thus begins the story to find out, which is essentially about two friends, Sylvie and Tess and their long standing friendship, which is not what it seems. Sylvie is now a successful barrister and part time judge and Tess asks to meet with her as she has some news. This sets off a dark, unnerving tale of toxic friends, past secrets and chilling revelations.

I loved the smooth writing style and brilliant characterisation. The underlying sense of unease throughout also gripped me and I honestly couldn’t put this down, especially towards the end as the New Years Eve celebration, the climax of the story, grew closer.

The fact that the author has a strong legal background shone through here in the extremely realistic courtroom scenes and legal details.

I can only say, you must read this book! I’m now off to read Harriet Tyce’s other books. Highly recommended.

Thanks to the author Harriet Tyce, publishers Headline and Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Having read both Blood Orange and The Lies You Told I was expecting great things from this tale, It Ends At Midnight by author Harriet Tyce.

Set in London and Edinburgh, the story involves friends since school Sylvie Monroe, a barrister and part-time district judge, and Tess. Sylvie is hoping to become a Crown Court Judge. Tess has a brain tumour, her marriage to her husband, Marcus, a successful QC and part-time judge, is in tatters and they've parted. Tess wants Sylvie's help but the requests Tess has made put Sylvie in a quandary, both professionally and personally, though she agrees...

This is an engrossing dark tale of toxic relationships, guilt, lies, vulnerability and retribution. There's a large dollop of mystery, too that kept me turning the pages. Tremendously well written and plotted, the suspense is set to high, the twists in plentiful supply. Very highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Headline, Wildfire via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

It ends st midnight by Harriet Tyce.
It's New Year's Eve and the stage is set for a lavish party in one of Edinburgh's best postcodes. It's a moment for old friends to set the past to rights - and move on.The night sky is alive with fireworks and the champagne is flowing. But the celebration fails to materialise.Because someone at this party is going to die tonight.Midnight approaches and the countdown begins - but it seems one of the guests doesn't want a resolution.They want revenge.
A good read with good characters. Likeable story. 3*.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

HT has returned with a dark, psychological thriller that tells us the story of two tragedies.

As expected her writing is exceptional and the narrative is compelling. Through the book we follow 2 different timelines. The parallel unraveling of the stories builds the suspense and mystery and connects past and present, making the book a page turner.

The main character felt a lot more developed, which is understandable since it’s the narrator of the story, but I would have liked to have an overall perspective of the rest too and not only get aspects of them that are important to the plot.

However, the downside of this book for me was it’s ending. It felt abrupt and not well plotted. All the tension that builds up goes downhill suddenly, like the ending was produced in haste. I didn’t like it and it left me really unsatisfied.

This is my first book by Harriet Tyce but it will not be my last!

It Ends At Midnight is full of secrets, lies. twists and turns and I loved it. I devoured it in one sitting and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

Having loved Blood Orange but not enjoying Harriet Tyce’s second book quite as much, I was looking forward to It Ends at Midnight. And I have to say that it’s my favourite book of hers so far! I just couldn’t put it down! A toxic tale of friendship, jealousy and mistrust, it kept me guessing throughout the shocking and dramatic narrative.
Sylvie and Tess have been friends since their schooldays in Edinburgh but straight away I wondered why they still kept up with a friendship that was full of toxicity and lies! When Tess tells Sylvie she wants to renew her marriage vows back in Edinburgh as she’s discovered she’s ill, the stage is set for someone to die and we know from the start that a very grisly discovery is made just after midnight on New Years Eve….
I loved the duel timeline here that flashed back to the women during their last few months of school. There are some disturbing scenes that made me feel very uncomfortable mainly because of how realistically relationships are described. It was utterly chilling in places during those flashbacks and I even began to dread them, scared to see how much further things went and how they related to the events on New Years Eve.
It Ends at Midnight has to be one of the best books I’ve read this year so far. A compelling read full of unlikable characters and unreliable narrators-5 stars all the way!

This is a great read.
The book begins with the discovery of two people found dead after falling from a rooftop and becoming impaled on some railings.
We then head back a bit to find out how they ended up there.
Sylvie is successful in her career and is happy with Gareth after being together for several months.
She’s about to tell her best friend Tess about him when she gives her some bad news and asks for her help.
Sylvie will do anything for her friend but she’s asking her to dig into their past and contact someone who they have wronged, and she’s understandably hesitant.
This sets a number of events in motion which eventually lead to the party and the deaths of two people.
This is a gripping psychological thriller that definitely had me hooked.
Thanks to Headline and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

🎉🎉 Happy Publication Day 🎉🎉 It Ends At Midnight by Harriet Tyce

I haven’t read this author before but, having just finished this book, that is something I must rectify.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’m not going to repeat the blurb, you are just as capable as I am at reading it, but I will say that this is a very dark & atmospheric psychological thriller exploring a longstanding toxic relationship between two women.

Set in London & Edinburgh with the legal profession to the fore, this is a great read. I love psychological thrillers but there were some twists which caught me out & I can’t wait to read the previous books to see if it was a fluke or a continuing trait.

If you are new to this genre, then you’re in for a treat & if you’re not, then see if you get caught out too. Recommended.

This book personifies tragedy! This is the first book I have read by this order but it won’t be the last (at least one other is already on my tbr pile).

It ends at midnight is dark, chilling and a true thriller. The book starts with 2 deaths but we have to wait to find out who they are and why they died.

The narrators are unreliable and we try to piece together the truth and who is lying. Tess and Sylvie were school friends whose school career ended in tragedy.

Who should Sylvie trust? Who should the reader trust? Is Sylvie being set up by her old friend? An old enemy? Or is life just throwing more tragedy her way? All will slowly and enticingly be revealed.

So... we start in Edinburgh with two people impaled on iron railings. We then go back in time to see exactly how we got to that point and meet Tess and Sylvie. Two people who have been friends (off and on) for many many years. Since school. Tess has just had some bad news health wise and is starting to try and put her house in order. But Tess and Sylvie have a secret. Something they did back at school. Someone they wronged. The guilt of which has stayed with them throughout. But now Tess is facing her mortality, she feels it's time to right the wrong.
Can of worms much...? And that's the premise of the book in a nutshell. But it is so much more than that. As you will find out if you read it!
Tess and Sylvie's relationship is toxic. Bound forever by what they did as children, held together by their lies and the guilt. We learn in flashback exactly what they did as well as the the circumstances that lead up to that fateful night. The dual timeline works very well, with the past being injected at exactly the right time to complement, explain, and facilitate the present.
Characterisation is a bit tricky to describe. I had my spidey senses piqued by a certain person but none of that here - spoilers. But what I can say generally is that all the characters, main and extra, have been well described and all act their parts perfectly. All also easy to connect with - both positive and negative.
The plotting is well done and ably executed and, although a bit OTT in places and not wholly convincing in others, it did hit the ground running and held my attention nicely throughout. I did guess some things quite early but that is probably more due to the sheer volume of this genre book rather than anything the author did wrong. And nothing that marred my enjoyment either.
All in all, a cracking read by what is now one of my go-to authors. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

4.5 stars

I was reading way way WAY past midnight as I could NOT put it down.

Don’t be fooled by the blurb. The lavish party mentioned is only a small, but important, part of the narrative. This is a twisty tale taking place in and around Edinburgh’s new town beginning in the late 80s and climaxing in present day (2019 in actual fact, as a clever line in the text indicates).

It pulls no punches either. Within a few pages we have a character impaled on metal railings – we don’t know who, or why, until much much later but the scene is frequently returned to through the story.

Flitting between timelines effortlessly building the story of Sylvie and Tess, childhood friends with a terrible secret that Tess now wants redemption from and forgiveness for, having recently been diagnosed with cancer. Or has she…

There are times where it turns dark and seedy (around halfway is a major turning point for Sylvie) and you could be forgiven for not liking the characters – as their past reveals drunken debauchery and overindulgence. But that’s the sign of a good book – characters you warm to then have to think again about.

Overall this had an added dimension for me, taking place in an area I’ve lived in all my life and worked in for the best part of 35 years. There’s streets I’ve roamed, bars I’ve frequented and the chaos of Princes Street and The Tron I’ve experienced. A very satisfying and highly recommended read.

My thanks to the publisher #headlinebooks and net galley for my ARC.

I finally got around to reading Blood Orange last year and absolutely loved how messed up and gripping it was, so I was very excited to read another book by Harriet Tyce. And although It Ends At Midnight isn't quite as dark, it had me gripped just as much with its questionable characters and fast-paced mystery.

It Ends At Midnight starts as any good thriller should: with two dead bodies, impaled on a cast-iron railing. And then it follows with one of my favourite thriller tripes: you don't know who these bodies belong to until right at the end.

I love when a book does this! Because even though I'm quite good at guessing twists (as I did with the main one in this book), I'm always more drawn in by a book when you have to guess not only why somebody has died, but who it is that has died in the first place.

There was so much about It Ends At Midnight that had me on tenterhooks. Is Sylvie trustworthy? Or is she trying to protect herself? Is Tess just a pathological liar? And why are the two even friends anyway? What is it that they are hiding?

Tyce is a brilliant writer and I easily engaged with her characters. The tense build-up had me gripped and the quick pace had me racing to get to the end, desperate for answers. But while I found the majority of this book wildly entertaining, I felt that the end was wrapped up far too quickly.

The scene regarding the reveal of who dies had me on the edge of my seat, but it all happened so quickly that I had to re-read it to understand who the second body belonged to. For me, their deaths felt rushed over, lacking the shocking finale that I was craving and not having the impact that everything else was building up to.

But other than that, I had a lot of fun with this book and I definitely recommend it if you're looking for a high-energy psychological thriller full of suspense.

Harriet Tyce has knocked it out the park with her new book, It Ends at Midnight, a story of the friendship between two women held together by rivalry, lies and secrets.

Sylvie Munro is a successful barrister with a rising career. She is a part time Youth Court judge, and is hopeful of securing a huge new judicial role in the Crown Court. She’s fortunate to have a loving and attentive boyfriend in Gareth, a caterer with his own Edinburgh business, so the two have the best of both worlds. They don’t live together, but they spend quality time together whenever they can.

Tess has been Sylvie’s friend since school in Edinburgh and now both live in London and Tess is married to Marcus, a barrister in Sylvie’s Chambers.

The book opens on an Edinburgh Hogmanay with a beautifully grisly impaling as two bodies are bleeding to death side by side on cast iron railings. Who they are we do not know, but as we follow the crime scene forensic team, we understand that this is a very gory scene indeed.

What follows is a dual timeline story, looking back at Sylvie and Tess’s school days and the foundation of their friendship and allowing us to understand what lies behind the ties that bind them. In the present day, we are on the cusp of finding out just how easy it is to make a successful career come off the rails.

Sylvie hasn’t seen Tess for a while and if she’s honest with herself, it’s because she is reluctant to introduce her to Gareth. But she’s promised Gareth she’ll introduce him to her friends and she knows it’s time to tell Tess that she is seeing someone and that it is a meaningful relationship.

So when Tess asks Sylvie to meet for drinks, she agrees, not knowing the bombshell Tess is about to drop. Tess’s marriage has been in trouble for some time but now Tess wants to rope Sylvie in to getting Marcus to agree to a renewal of vows ceremony in Edinburgh, recreating her original wedding complete with the original dress and the bridesmaid’s dress that Sylvie hated then and loathes now. Tess also wants to right a past wrong and though Sylvie knows to her core that they should let these particular sleeping dogs lie, she can’t help feeling compelled to let Tess have her way.

Tess knows just how to manipulate Sylvie and now Sylvie can’t refuse her oldest friend, so she agrees. And so the scene is set for a return to Edinburgh and the exposing of the secrets that have underscored their friendship all these years.

At the same time, Sylvie has to cope with the fact that someone is intent on destroying her career and Harriet Tyce gives us no shortage of potential candidates. All this is beautifully explored in an atmosphere that reeks of toxicity and manipulation. From the outset it is not clear who is manipulating whom and who you can rely on, if anyone, to give you an accurate view of the facts.

I love a crime book where you spend lots of time second guessing the characters and their motives and for readers of lots of crime half the fun comes from recognising some of the set ups. All of this, adds to the enjoyment of a book that is beautifully compelling and absolutely choc full of malice and poison.

Harriet Tyce’s legal background adds lots of fascinating colour and detail to Sylvie’s life and I really enjoyed the courtroom scenes.

Verdict: Really well paced, fantastic plotting and oozing toxicity, It Ends at Midnight is a terrific psychological thriller that I really enjoyed. I was sure I knew where it was going, but in the end I was completely wrong footed. What fun! A real page–turner from Harriet Tyce.

This was an intriguing thriller that starts with 2 bodies impaled on some railings but you don't find out who they are right away and I have to say I didn't guess it either! The mere fact of wanting to find out who the bodies are kept me gripped for the rest of the book. The characters were pretty unlikeable for the most part which doesn't bother me as for me it just adds an extra layer to the storyline. It had some good twists and I absolutely flew through it finishing in a day. Would definitely recommend if you like easy to read thrillers

As we all know, legal thrillers are my absolute favourite and Harriet Tyce is up there with them.
In this novel, we are introduced to Sylvie, a high flying criminal barrister, who is keen and ambitious, with her eyes set on becoming a Crown Court Judge.
Over drinks one evening, her best friend, Tessa, delivers some shocking news. As a result of the bad news, Tessa starts looking to the past and her actions that she regrets. She is ready to put things right. But putting things right, will come at a cost for Sylvie.
Strange things begin to happen to Sylvie. Eventually, one night she is delivered a blow that puts everything in her world and what she has worked for, at risk.
Through short snappy chapters, we live through Sylvie's struggles and her fight for justice.
Harriet Tyce is legally qualified and this clearly shows. Her books are so accurate with the legal terminology and an accurate representation of the legal world. I really enjoyed this book. Without too many spoilers,the ending did feel somewhat disappointing, but it cannot always be a happy ending.

I received an E-ARC copy with a request for my honest review.

This book starts with two bodies impaled on the railings outside a building in Edinburgh on New Year’s Day, leaving the police to investigate the scene for any evidence they may find.

A jump backwards in time follows Sylvie a Deputy District Judge who is trying to move up in her career.

Suddenly her friend Tess makes an announcement of bad news which turns their lives upside down. Asking for Sylvie’s help she wants to do right the wrongs they have made in their past.

Even though Sylvie knows how much this could affect her career prospects she agrees to help.

What secret is lurking in their past? Whose bodies are found after a devastating New Year’s Eve?

This book kept me wondering throughout whose bodies had been found and what had led up to that moment.

This story has a constant tension running between the characters which from the point of view the story is told makes you get really angry and suspicious at points.

Plenty of secrets of the characters past are discovered and revealed, leaving you unsure of who out of them are actually who they say to be.

Overall, a thriller full of secrets which leads to a devastating night at midnight on New Year’s Eve.