It’s Hogmanay in Edinburgh, just about the biggest party of the year in Scotland. Thousands of people are ringing in the new year. Sylvie and her friends wouldn’t miss it. It’s a tradition. But one Hogmanay back when they were young ended in tragedy. Someone died that year. And someone went to prison for it.

Since then, Sylvie has tried to put that horrible time behind her. She has worked feverishly toward her goal and now is about to reach it. She has just won a tricky case in the Royal Courts of Justice, which will certainly look good on her application to become a Crown Court judge. It will be submitted soon. But tonight, waiting at home, is her chef boyfriend Gareth, fixing a victory dinner for them. Life is definitely good.

"Nothing is as it seems in a Harriet Tyce thriller. She creates a thorny problem and plots it in an atmospheric setting... She then shreds everything you thought you knew into tiny pieces and reassembles them into a grand, shocking conclusion that will leave your head swimming."

With all that’s been going on, Sylvie wants to share her good news. She thinks Gareth might be “the one” and is dying to tell someone. It’s been ages since she saw her best friend, Tess. A while ago, there was a little tension between them, but Sylvie is ready to put that behind them. Tess always had a slightly annoying way about her that Sylvie usually overlooked, so it’s time to rekindle their friendship and catch up on each other’s lives.

But when they get together, Tess has news of her own that sends Sylvie reeling. Sylvie had already heard that Tess and Marcus split up. That wasn’t the worst of it, though. With this latest bombshell, Sylvie feels the need to do all she can to get the couple back together. Maybe, Tess says, they could even renew their vows. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Anything for her friend, Sylvie decides. She promises to speak to Marcus.

However, when Tess goes on to make another request, Sylvie basically says, “Anything for you, Tess, but not that.” Tess is talking about their Linda problem. It began one Hogmanay. There was a celebration, of course. Sylvie and Tess may have had too much to drink. There was a party. Something happened. They told what they saw, but they may not have seen exactly what they said. They tried to convince themselves that what they told everyone was true. They didn’t care much for Linda anyway. It appeared that she was trying to steal Sylvie’s boyfriend, which didn’t go over very well. Linda, though, ended up with the really short end of the stick.

So if Tess wants to fix the Linda problem now, Sylvie won’t go along with it. After all, what would that do to her career? And what good would it do anyway? How can she make Tess forget about the whole idea? To make it worse, Gareth has been brought into the secrets. Will Sylvie lose him too? How did her life go from terrific to terrible so quickly?

The answers to all of these questions will utterly amaze you. Nothing is as it seems in a Harriet Tyce thriller. She creates a thorny problem and plots it in an atmospheric setting (here on a dark night meant for great festivities). She then shreds everything you thought you knew into tiny pieces and reassembles them into a grand, shocking conclusion that will leave your head swimming.