The Midnight Clock

By Author / Illustrator

Jamie Costello

Genre

Suspense & Thrillers

Age range(s)

14+

Publisher

Little, Brown Books

ISBN

9780349003924

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

07-03-2024

Synopsis

Millie has seven days to save Annie Driscoll from a terrible fate.
Millie doesn't know how or why she has been brought into Annie's life.
But she's sure of one thing: Annie has already been dead for 68 years.

Struggling to come to terms with her uprooted life, Millie is living with her father and his new girlfriend in a building which used to house the most famous women's prison in the UK. The only remnants of that place is the old prison clock in the hall - a clock that has long been silent.

When the clock begins to strike again one night, Millie meets a young, terrified woman in a cell. Annie cannot see her, but Millie realises that she may be the key to changing Annie's fate - a fate that was sealed in 1955. But is there enough time for justice to be done?

The Midnight Clock is an immersive, imaginative novel for young adults in which past and present collide.

'A marvellously exciting - and thought-provoking - time-travelling murder mystery. Smart, funny, moving, atmospheric - I laughed a lot, cried once, could not stop reading, and now actually believe in time travel' Simon Mason. 'This book is equal parts tension, explosive drama, and heart. I loved it' Ben Oliver

Download Extract

Reviews

The Midnight Clock is compulsive reading! 16-year-old Millie is having to live with her father in his new flat which used to house an infamous women's prison. When the former prison clock begins to strike, Millie finds herself back in 1955, witnessing the final few days of a young woman's life before she is hung for murder. What follows is an exciting blend of time travel and deepening intrigue as Millie becomes caught up in family dramas to stop young Annie Driscoll being hung.

I believe that this story will have wide appeal. It is a book for fans of crime fiction, and for those interested in the social history of the 1950s. The imaginative time travel works. There are shades of Tom's Midnight Garden as the clock propels Millie between decades, but this is firmly a novel for teens.

As I read, I was concerned about there being a satisfying ending – I needn't have worried. It is both clever and unexpected. A superb novel.

400 pages / Reviewed by Rachel Bolton