IT ENDS HERE by Heidi Perks

5* Utterly engrossing, and without the faux-gloss of Big City tales. Well narrated; with plausible characters, main and peripheral; a sad underlying reveal; and justice done for one, leaving me a little sad for the person in prison at the end. 

I got an email from the publisher offering me this book, and having read one by this author before, I simply said yes and dove in blurb unread. Which was the best possible way to have read it. 

It's done in the unidentified voice of the person who's lured all the others to the café to get to a trith in their shared past and deliver their long-held-back justice. It's impossible to tell if they're male or female, as all the persons that've been identified as present could be the one holding the gun. Which ends up going off, fatally, at the start of the tale. And going off once more at the end. 

Their nearest and dearest are brought in to try and shed light on a possible connection between them. The cops are a bit slow to respond, but start to pick up clues. The nearest and dearest end up with reveals about their loved ones that make them wonder how well they knew them, if at all. Some of the hostages end up being slightly more remorseful than others. A couple try to spin things. The co-biggest baddie, a truly horrible person, got the ultimate just desserts. The other co-biggest baddie got off too lightly for me who wanted to see justice done, but I felt they'd be in a hell of their own making. The tale was a masterpiece of dovetailing, bloody good writing, preparation, plotting and execution. Couldn't fault this at all, and felt really sorry for the perpetrator of the meet-up. 

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Penguin Random House for my reading pleasure.

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