It Ends Here by Heidi Perks

Description from Goodreads:

"You are one of five strangers whose day will start with the worst phone call imaginable.

Your loved one is in danger.

They are part of a group trapped in a café in a sleepy marina town.

The young barista on the early shift

The bestselling novelist looking for a writing spot

The husband on his way back from a work trip

The influencer mum whose picture-perfect life isn’t the whole truth

The woman starting her birthday with a quiet coffee

As the hours tick by it will soon become clear that one of them has a secret they would kill to keep.

How well do you know the person closest to you?"

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A bit of a mixed bag

I've previously read and enjoyed Now You See Her by Heidi Perks, so I was really looking forward to diving into this one. The premise is definitely a hooker – a gunshot rings out from a café on the Isle of Wight at 7am and there are five people inside. One is the perpetrator and four are the victims but we don't know who is who. It's a great setup for a thriller and it really makes you think about how well you actually know the people closest to you.

The story is told through alternating chapters from different perspectives and I admit to getting a little confused between two of the wives and who their husband was in the café. It starts off really well with a shock reveal that certainly kept me on my toes. I liked that it wasn't just a standard action-packed hostage situation – it's much more character-driven and focuses on the secrets everyone is hiding.

However, I did struggle a bit with the middle section. It felt like it dragged longer than it to and it became quite repetitive. It also seemed a bit far-fetched that no one made any contact with the café for the entire six hours the group was trapped there.

It's a decent read if you're a fan of psychological thrillers and want something with a unique "whodunnit" angle, but it didn't quite hit the high notes I was hoping for. It's a solid 3-star read – it does what it says on the tin but didn't completely blow me away like I'd hoped.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of this book.

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