Gosh...I seriously just love, love, love everything written by Simone St. James. I love her strong female protagonists, the horrific imagery she presents in certain scenes that have actually given me nightmares before, the wee bit of romance she throws in...just everything. She provides a perfect blend of historical drama/romance with suspense and horror.
I must say though, compared to her other works, this one is my least favorite. It's not bad, I just liked her others better.
In The Other Side of Midnight we meet Ellie Winter, a legit psychic medium who specializes in finding lost things. She used to help families communicate with their departed relatives; but she doesn't do that anymore and based on some of the things she sees, I don't blame her one bit. Ellie's mother used to have the gift but as she got older she began losing her powers and instead Ellie would hide behind a curtain to summon the dead for her mother. It was after her mother lost her powers that they were 'tested' by a couple of researchers to determine if they truly were legit or not. Her cancer stricken mother was exhausted and had lost her touch so she went along with everyone believing they were fake. One particular researcher, James Hawley, caught Ellie's attention and vice versa. He always knew there was something about her, and he was pretty sure they missed something big. Of course, he becomes her love interest. What kind of story would I read without at least a little love blossoming around?? Prior to James testing Ellie and her mother, she had met him on one previous occasion by her friend Gloria, who was the only other legit psychic she had ever met. Gloria and Ellie used to be kind of like besties...partying, smoking, staying out at all times of the night...which for women of the 1920's was becoming popular but still not something you should do. And, Ellie had her mother waiting at home to worry about. It was under Gloria's influence that Ellie and her mother were tested...and publicly announced in an article as frauds. Thus ending the friendship of Gloria and Ellie.
Cut to roughly 3 years after the incident and a man shows up at Ellie's house for a session to find his sister's lost locket, which Ellie knows is a lie; but she doesn't know what he's there hoping to learn or prove so she kindly asks him to leave. He doesn't leave before she tells him what he's truly looking for...lost toy soldiers from his childhood...thus proving her psychic ability is legit. She still asks him to leave but as she's in her back garden after a long hard day of psychic-ness, she sees him standing there. He introduces himself as George Sutter...Gloria's brother...and he drops the bomb on her that Gloria was murdered the previous night. He also tells her a note was left for him, by Gloria, the day she was murdered that simple said "Tell Ellie Winter to find me." Now Ellie is thrust into an investigation to find out who killed Gloria, but she has no idea who all of the players are. George seems to keep getting information that is and is not in the reports from Scotland Yard so he obviously has some sort of higher up pull. Turns out he's an agent for MI5 and he actually wanted to recruit Gloria but Gloria's powers were actually starting to dwindle. She couldn't do as many sessions anymore so she wasn't making money. An old beau of hers told her about a wealthy couple who wanted to contact their son who had died in the war, and since she was hard up for money, she agreed even though all of the conditions were not her normal protocol. She went to the home of the client which was the first time she had ever done that and she didn't go through the scheduling with her assistant which never happened. Things were just off about the whole thing. Her old beau needed money too because he was selling drugs and was in a tight spot.
During the investigation, people keep turning up missing. First Gloria turns up dead, then her assistant goes missing, and then a fake psychic Ramona ends up dead the same day Ellie was going to pay her a second visit. Ellie is almost caught by the killer on that occasion; but Ramona's ghost provides her with a warning that he's still inside and she needs to get the hell out of there. Ellie knows she's next on the list...and there's no telling who else might be before or after her.
Through this long and winding trip through Gloria's life and Ellie's past and the past friendship they shared we learn who the killer is; but honestly, I felt it was so far out of left field. The killer was just someone I didn't even think about and honestly seemed a little far fetched with absolutely no back story. Like, I thought it might be George, the brother, but it wasn't. I'm honestly just kind of eh when it comes to the end. I thought for sure it would make me gasp in surprise but it didn't. Instead, I was just kind of like...uhhhh...well alright then...whatever you say. I don't know...I just feel like it was a 'I'm not sure how I want this story to end so I'm just going to throw this out there and hope it sticks'. I just didn't really like the ending. It was going along great and then to me it was a dud...
I will not let this deter me from reading her future works though. I have never been disappointed by St. James and honestly it was just the ending that fell flat for me here. I have always thoroughly enjoyed her other works so I'm chalking this one up to "just not my cup of tea". On to the next...
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