The Night It Ended

From the outside looking in Dr. Madeline Pine has the perfect life, a beautiful family and a successful mental health practice. She specializes in the female criminal mind. A few days before Christmas Madeline Pine is pursued by private investigator Matt, who is hired to investigate a death at a boarding school for girls in Upstate New York.  Madeline at first hesitates given that a year prior a case she was entangled in last year nearly destroyed her and now her husband and daughter are no longer speaking to her. Madeline then changes her mind when Matt tells her that Charley Ridley was the victim who was found barefoot and in pajamas at the bottom of an icy ravine on campus. The police ruled it an accident but Matt doesn’t believe it was an accident. If that were Madeline’s daughter she would want to figure out what happened and why. Madeline arrives and immediately she knows something is off and everyone has secrets. Some of those secrets people would kill to protect… The Night It Ended is Katie Garners debut novel and if you enjoy mysteries you are in for a treat.

Pros & Cons

 I also love the characters of Madeline and Matt and the chemistry they had even if it’s not a romance you knew they had chemistry. I love the setting that it’s at a boarding school for girls in Upstate New York. I can picture the dark atmosphere. It played like a movie in my head. The twist was amazing and I did not see it coming. It also flipped to the time before when Madeline was doing her previous case that destroyed her life pretty much. The only gripe I really had with this book is it seemed a bit too long and should have been shorter in my opinion.

Overall

Overall I enjoyed The Night It Ended. I know it was described as dark academia meets Gillian Flynn, but I think it was better than Gillian Flynn. If you are into mystery/thrillers I recommend it. If you don’t have netgalley or don’t have an early copy, pre-order the book so you can get it on June 27^th. Thank you so much Leah Morse for the early copy. Katie Garner I would love to do a Q&A with you if you are available.