It Ends at Midnight - Harriet Tyce

Harriet Tyce's novel - It Ends at Midnight - actually opens with the ending.

'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."

It Ends at Midnight opens with a good hook, guaranteed to catch and keep your attention. While we know there will be a murder, we don't know who, where or why. Tyce uses a now and then timeframe to tell her tale.

Sylvia is the lead character. She is a solicitor and aspires be more in her professional life and and have more in her personal life. But there's something in her past that she has hidden for years. If it is exposed, she could lose everything she has or wants. I admit, I didn't like Sylvia at all. Although, she makes for a good unreliable protagonist. She has selective memories from her past and she drinks until she blacks out. She's got a desperate air about her. One that leads her into some iffy situations. She does not see things the way the reader can. Someone is neatly walking her down the garden path. And I still couldn't like her. Her naivety seems to be at odds, given her profession life. She makes some serious choices that you just know are going to turn out badly - both then and now.

Also along for the walk are a number of red herrings for the reader to take note of. Tyce gives us a number of 'suspects' to choose from. My first guess was proved right  in the end. 

What was not mentioned in the synopsis of the book is the sexual content of the plot. Gentle readers, take note that there are many triggers in this novel. Read an excerpt of excerpt of It Ends at Midnight