Loved the dual narrative and dual timeline. Despite this the story is still easy to follow and keep up with.
You really get sucked in by both the story and characters in this novel. It’s elegant and clever and I really enjoyed it.

This book veers slightly from Eva Chase's previous books in that although there is a dual timeline, the historical accounts go back twenty years to the late 90s. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the themes and the characters. There's so much to absorb with the ideas of loss, family, identity, class, first-love etc. What I particularly enjoyed was the presentation of three strong female characters who struggle with the balance of their own needs and identity with the expectations people place on them, and how this brings conflict and regrets.
A gripping and reflective story that reveals its secrets.

This story is totally immersive. There’s a dual narrative and dual timeline but they work well and keep the plot moving with small details revealed to explain what’s going on. Maggie is left in London in 1998 to bring up her younger brother, Kit, after their mother walks out, She’s working in Paris in2016 when a phone call out of the blue turns life upside down.

Eve Chase has an excellent eye for detail and description, so locations are lively and vibrant. She also has the ability to create characters that bounce; they’re tangible and it’s easy to become involved with their story. And she knows what makes people tick; this means she understands the dynamics of relationships and conflicts. This is a story to get lost in. It’s elegant and clever and I really enjoyed it.

Its 1998, Maggie has woken up and her mother has not returned. Whilst eagerly waiting her mothers return and caring for her younger brother, she meets Wolf. Fast forward to 2019, Maggie receives a phone call from Wolf, that will change all their lives. Family secrets are revealed and more mysteries are unearthed.

This is my second Eve Chase novel, previously reading The Glass House (which I totally adored!). So I had high expectations for this book and it did not disappoint. It was beautifully written, with two different timelines weaving together and interlinking the storyline. The characters were brilliant and I made a real connection with each of them, quickly understanding each characters individual personalities. I had so many mixed emotions throughout this book, it really took me on a journey and made the characters and storyline come to life. As well as many suspenseful and mysterious moments, it was also filled with lots of heartfelt ones - I loved this side of the story! Another brilliant read from a brilliant author!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this book.

In 2019 Maggie Foale is living in Paris when a phone call bringing a voice from her past warns her that her life may change. The scene slides to 1998 and the Notting Hill area of London where Maggie lives with her mother and step brother Kit. Maggie's mother goes out one night and does not return. Hoping agains hope that her mother will reappear, seventeen year old Maggie takes on the responsibility for her lively brother. He wildly skates along the road on his skateboard only to be saved from falling under a van by Wolf, the nephew of an antique dealer, with a shop nearby. Wolf slips into Maggie and Kit's lives and Maggie puts off the decision to call the police to find her mother. Back to 2019 and the clock is ticking as the old house Maggie's family lived in is being refurbished and builders are digging in the garden. What secrets will they reveal?
The story is told between the two timelines of 2019 and 1998, both from Maggie and Kit's point of view. The characters are really well developed and I loved all of them from the impossible Dee Dee to the caring Maggie, to the wild and exuberant Kit and even the Dee Dee's society loving friends. The struggles of Kit and Maggie are realistically and emotively told, from their highs to lows and back again.
The language and the descriptions are excellent — "the air so cold and sharp it's like breathing in tiny fragments of glass" is just one of the many analogies I enjoyed.
This is a very well planned and executed book, with the slow reveal of detail just enough in each chapter to keep the reader turning the pages. The pacing is good, the characters are all memorable and the plot enjoyably twisty.
An excellent read. With thanks to Netgalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for an early copy in return for an honest review.

This book is told from Maggie and her little brother Kit's point of view. Alternating from 1998 when their mother Dee Dee walked out of their family home and goes missing, to 2019 when human remains are found on their childhood property.
This book was beautifully written. I absolutely adored Maggie, from her mothering ways with her little brother to her first love with Wolf. It touches perfectly on family secrets, loves gained and lost and total heartbreak. The story carries you long nicely until about 50% and then wham!. Somany shocking secrets and twists revealed I didn't see coming, but neatly tied up at the end.
Would highly recommend this book and will definitely be looking into more books by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley, Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House and Eve Chase for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Midnight Hour was utterly enchanting. What a beautifully evocative and captivating novel that takes you on a voyage of many mysteries! I was on the edge of my seat until the very end, and Chase writes in such a way that unravels each unexpected twist and turn with true mastery.

Firstly - this book is a true love letter to Notting Hill through the years, and having grown up in West London myself, this stirred true nostalgia. I found myself highlighting so many evocative descriptions, that had me truly engrossed in the setting of each scene.

Secondly - the characterisation was brilliant, and the way in which Chase explores complicated family dynamics is both thorough and deeply relatable. I also adored the way she perfectly captures the intoxication and innocence of first love, and how it can stay with us throughout the years.

This book was unputdownable and I will be recommending it far and wide - and see it becoming a book club favourite!

A very special thank you to Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House, Eve Chase and Netgalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my review.

So enjoyed this book. A real mixture of characters with such different backgrounds but all essential to the full picture.
For our protagonists, it also contains mystery, lies and cover ups in their past. Best of all, there’s love, even when it’s painful which it so often is when it’s real.
As so often happens when you think you’ve worked out the plot, there can be surprises and this book was no different. There were several along the way.
This book is efinitely one to read if you enjoy a vibrant story.

A nice mix of thriller and romance that will keep you guessing until the end. Rich characters and scenery this isn’t to be missed

I’ve never read any of Eve Chase’s previous novels, but based on this I’ll be searching out her other ones. There haven’t been many books this year (especially on kindle) that have grabbed me from the first pages, but this was one of them. I didn’t want to put it down, and it was only the inconvenience of having to a) sleep and b) collect my husband from the station that made me.

The twists in it meant that every time I thought I’d definitely knew what had happened, it shifted again as the whole thing unfolded. There were times when Maggie was a little too caught up in an “oh my god everything is terrible” cycle, but having lived with those secrets for 20 years I can understand how she was crumbling - and fair play to her she faced her fears head on, however terrifying they were.

It was written beautifully, I was there in Paris, at the Old Rectory, in Notting Hill, without descriptions detracting from the plot. I really enjoyed this, and it’ll probably go on my Best Books of 2024 shelf.

A real page turner, I was invested from the 1st few pages, who was under the patio, who had done it, what had happened to wolf, where was he, who was Kit’s dad, where did the mum disappear to, who was the man who gave Kit the football and the anticipation of would they or wouldn’t they end up together, I stayed up to the early hours to finish this story.

This book set in Notting Hill is full of mystery, secrets and family relationship turmoils. I was captivated at the very start following the story of a mother who goes missing. Maggie and her little brother Kit try to figure out what has happened. There are many things that happen along the way over those few days. 20 years later Maggie, who is living in Paris gets a phone call to say her old house in Notting Hill is having its basement renovated and she is terrified of what may be unearthed!
The characters were written beautifully and kept me gripped throughout.

I love Eve Chase and her story telling so I knew going into this that I would love this one.

I was not disappointed, it was absolutely fabulous. Eve writes with passion and creativity and this one did not miss, The characters were fabulous, and there was multiple plot twists that kept you on your heels (no surprise given the author)

This was a brilliant title, and the way the book unravelled was absolutely brilliant.

This is the third book that I've read by Eve Chase and just like the other two I have enjoyed it. This one follows Maggie and her brother Kit. Told in past and present the story follows the siblings and unravels what happened to their mother.

This book is very much in the vain of Kate Morton books. Family secrets, a bit of a mystery and twists and turns. One twist I did guess but didn't see another coming at all.

This story did hold my interest all the way although I would say there was nothing that had been done before with the plot.

The book I read was an arc so thank you to the publisher via Netgalley. It was very annoying though as there were lots of random numbers everywhere and it took a while to get used to them being there so I could eventually ignore them.

I was so looking forward to reading The Midnight Hour- I have loved all of Eve Chase’s family sagas. However the random numbers throughout the text have made this novel impossible to read. I did persevere in the hope I’d adapt to it but as I have an eye condition that affects my focus this was just too challenging for me,
I’m so sad not to have the opportunity to read this digital ARC and look forward to reading it when it’s published. The three star rating in no way reflects the quality of the novel but it’s difficult to rate on the basis of the difficulties with the text.
Many thanks for the opportunity to read and review.

I enjoyed this story set in the late 1990s and then twenty years later. The characters were relatable and the momentum of the story carried me along. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

I’m May 2019, author Maggie Parker is living in Paris writing under the pseudonym Margaret Foale. She receives a phone call and it’s one she has been dreading. Backtrack to Notting Hill (London) in 1998 and Maggie’s beautiful widowed model mother Dee Dee is getting ready for a night out, leaving her in charge of her younger brother, Kit. When she doesn’t return by the midnight hour as promised, Maggie is unsure of what to do. However, a chance and very fortuitous meeting with Wolf not only opens her eyes to a previously unknown world but also delays any decision making.

This is absolutely fabulous in very possible way. It’s beautifully written with originality and creativity encompassing a multilayered story. It’s part suspenseful mystery, part love story, an novel of friendship and family secrets which is very cleverly told via the dual timelines. Fabulous characters bestride the pages from golden Kit to loyal Maggie to gruff Gav Out Back to the colourful Aunt Cora with all portrayed in full technicolour. You ponder at the secrets which are so intriguing, you feel the same sense of doom that Maggie does with some characters making you feel unsettled and wondering what’s afoot. The mystery of Dee Dee continues to puzzle but it stultifies Maggie with tension which oozes from her pores.

There are so many aspects of the book that are well done but I love that the film ‘Notting Hill’ is being made in the 1998 timeline which adds its own distinctive flavour! I also enjoy the antiques element with the inclusion of some fascinating objects and great scenes at Gav’s Out Back.

The storytelling navigates multiple twists with the author dropping in little teasers which ignite the page, sending my brain into overdrive. Sometimes these are dirty great information bombs that send my jaw to the floor! A few of the reveals are so good, some scenes are sad, occasionally horrifying as it builds to the ending you hope for. An outstanding book and one I can highly recommend.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Penguin Michael Joseph for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Fair play to everyone that's managed to read this with all the typesetting issues. There's a number on every line but sometimes at the beginning, sometimes at the end and sometimes in the middle of the word! It's so disjointed and totally distracts so I've had to give up. I'm so disappointed as I love Eve Chase and I’m sure it’s brilliant.

I loved this book! When I requested it on NetGalley it was purely based on the front cover and I was definitely not expecting the story inside at all. It had me hooked from the beginning and I loved how the author drip-fed us the information and kept me guessing.

Eve Chase writes beautiful, evocative prose and the cast of characters in this novel were vividly brought to life, with the Notting Hill and Paris backdrops feeling very real. I felt, however, that there wasn't a great deal to the plot - the story was carried by its location and its characters, and it felt like not a lot was happening - it took me a long time to engage with the story.

Some of this I think was down to the review copy I was reading, which had line numbers scattered throughout the text, making it sometimes quite difficult to read, which was a shame as it detracted somewhat from what I think would have been another really good book.