Book Review Wednesday: Middle of the Night by Riley Sager

I've read all of Riley Sager's books and I don't think there has been one that I didn't love; even the ones that everyone else didn't love like The House Across the Lake, I appreciated. I'm always excited whenever Sager releases a new book and it immediately gets added to my TBR. That was no different with his latest novel 'Middle of the Night'. 

I was going to pre-order or pick the book up from my library but then I saw it was available as an add on for Book of the Month and decided that was a better solution. It matches all my other Riley Sager books so that's always a plus.

I had purposely stayed away from any reviews or think pieces about the book so my opinion wouldn't be clouded, and I succeeded. I flew through the book and my thoughts were interesting... 

Publisher's Summary

The worst thing to ever happen on Hemlock Circle occurred in Ethan Marsh’s backyard. One July night, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend and neighbor, Billy, fell asleep in a tent set up on a manicured lawn in a quiet, quaint New Jersey cul-de-sac. In the morning, Ethan woke up alone. During the night, someone had sliced the tent open with a knife and taken Billy. He was never seen again.

Thirty years later, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home. Plagued by bad dreams and insomnia, he begins to notice strange things happening in the middle of the night. Someone seems to be roaming the cul-de-sac at odd hours, and signs of Billy’s presence keep appearing in Ethan’s backyard. Is someone playing a cruel prank? Or has Billy, long thought to be dead, somehow returned to Hemlock Circle?

The mysterious occurrences prompt Ethan to investigate what really happened that night, a quest that reunites him with former friends and neighbors and leads him into the woods that surround Hemlock Circle. Woods where Billy claimed ghosts roamed and where a mysterious institute does clandestine research on a crumbling estate.  

The closer Ethan gets to the truth, the more he realizes that no place—be it quiet forest or suburban street—is completely safe. And that the past has a way of haunting the present.

My Thoughts

This book was scary; I could not read it at night and it truly sent chills up my spine at times. It was eerie and had an air of supernatural that was unsettling in the best ways. 

Ethan was an interesting character; he was complex, interesting, sad and flawed. I didn't find him irritating and really wanted him to find peace with Billy's disappearance. 

Hemlock Circle seemed like a very interesting place to live and I found it incredibly intriguing; I would love another novel set in this town, on this block. There was more to the stories that felt unfinished; I would love to read more. 

The novel goes back and forth between different timelines and perspectives, really adding to the creepiness of the story as well as the confusing, twisted nature that the story followed. At any given point you were unsure of where the story was going, who was responsible for Billy's disappearance and what was actually going on at the institute that's just a few steps past Hemlock Circle. 

Everyone was a suspect at one point and it made the entire book a lot more exciting; the possibilities were endless and you truly were stumped on trying to figure out exactly what happened to Billy. 

Was Ethan responsible? What about his mother? His neighbors? Was Billy's ghost really haunting his best friend? What was happening? It was so exciting and odd, and knowing Riley Sager's past, supernatural ghosts were not off the table. 

The writing was crisp, clean and all his cards were close to his chest which I always like in my thrillers. The pace was excellent, there weren't too many unnecessary details and everyone had a purpose. 

There were a lot of twists that I didn't see coming, that had nothing to do with Billy or the main plot points which are always welcome. It added multiple layers to the story and character development.

All of this being said, the climax was a let down. It was definitely a less tragic ending than what you might've originally thought and I would say this is one of the few thrillers that had a really happy ending where everyone won, but it was less than exciting. I was not expecting that sort of ending and it made the entire book feel kind of pointless, even though I know that's not true.

I really enjoyed Middle of the Night but the ending didn't live up to the hype that the majority of the book promised. It is October so if you want to scare yourself silly, definitely indulge in this novel but know that the ending will be very unexpected.

What are you reading this week?
xoxo
B