Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Midnight Is the Darkest Hour

Midnight is the Darkest Hour is a book about the fine line between good and evil.

Ruth is the daughter of an extreme minister in coastal Louisiana. She has one friend- Everett, a boy who saved her from rape. She dreams of leaving her small town and going to college.

Everett teaches her to climb trees and savor nature. He is a reader like she is. They read together and talk about books.

When Everett moves out of town, Ruth is forced to stay. He returns after staying away for a year.

A skull is found in the swamp. Ruth and Everett are worried the skull will point to them.

Midnight is the Darkest Hour is told in two timelines- the summers beginning when Ruth was 17 and now.

It is the story of two people making one shady choice after another while they try to avoid the truth coming out. This is the first book I've read where you know the MC committed murder in their past.

As the book goes on, they learn that evil in the most unexpected places. Power in their small town means some people are above the law.

I almost put the book down a couple pages in. Ruth has an obsession with the book Twilight and idolizes Bella. I was not a fan of that character- I found her annoying and weak. I decided to keep reading because I understood why a very sheltered minister's daughter might see something in Bella.

This book is a train wreck. You can't look away. Ruth and Everett continuously make bad decisions. Everett convinces Ruth that committing small crimes is okay because the person is bad. This continues as the crimes get progressively worse.

About half way through the book, the tempo really picked up. It was hard to put the book down.

Ruth and Everett are lovable in the same way you love a stray animal. You can't fault them for their issues because of the damage inflicted on them in the past.

I alternated between reading and listening to the audiobook. The audiobook narrator had a perfect southern accent. Listening to dialog was much better than the Midwestern voice in my head could do.

I recommend this book for anyone who likes reading about moral grey areas, sheltered girls and the bad boy, or southern small towns.

My content warnings- lots of fire and brimstone preaching, murder, attempted rape, child abuse, an unhealthy obsession with Twilight, sacrifice, old fashioned beliefs that women should be obedient, cursing (but appropriate and no F words).

The romance is closed door.

Content Warnings

samisreading's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I was so excited to pick up this book because I have been become such a big fan of Ashley Winstead's.
"Midnight Is the Darkest Hour" follows Ruth Collier, a young woman who has spent her entire life trying to overcome her struggles as the preacher's daughter. In Ruth's small, southern town of Bottom Springs, there is only one thing the citizens fear more than God, and that is the Low Man. When a skull is found in the swamp, the town believes the Low Man is back, and their prime suspect is Ruth's best friend, Everett. Everett has always been an outsider, and never been accepted by the town because of his father, but the townspeople are all the more suspicious of him because of secrets from his past that he is trying to keep hidden.
I was really engaged with this story from the beginning. I am normally not a fan of stories set in the deep south, but this one really hooked me. I was fascinated by the hypocrisy of the townspeople because they seem to preach being good, God-fearing people, but then they are so quick to turn on someone who is different than themselves. Ruth's father is a tyrant and has used his position as a church leader to break Ruth into submission for her entire life. Ruth has spent her adult years trying to discern who she is outside of church, and if she is a good person. This book exemplifies religious trauma.
I really enjoyed and appreciated Ruth's and Everett's friendship. They were both such misfits, and I think they really complement each other well. Through all of their hardships, they have remained close, and I really loved seeing their story arch.
One of my few gripes with this story is the reference to "Twilight". When Ruth is young, she steals and hides a copy of "Twilight" from the library. She finds such comfort in the story and the characters, and she dreams of having a romance like the one depicted between Bella and Edward. I think this was a nice touch, and really helps to highlight this idea that teenaged girls are often ridiculed for their "immature" interests. People are often so quick to dismiss things, like an interest in "Twilight" as dumb, because a teenaged girl loves it. My critique is the other used this as a plot point continually, and at one point a character tells Ruth that life can be like "Twilight", and I laughed out loud. Perhaps that was part of the point the author was trying to make, but it completely took me out of the story.
The greater mystery of what was going on, and who the Low Man really was, was captivating, and I did not see it coming. I felt like the mystery had layers, and I really enjoyed seeing all of the reveals come through.
This is probably my least favorite of Ashley Winstead's thrillers, but I still very much enjoyed it, and I would recommend!

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meeklovestoread's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The Queen strikes again! Honestly, I was pretty nervous about this book. I had read this author's other two thrillers and enjoyed both of them. One of them was even a five-star, however, as I was reading this the writing felt different (I was reading as an audio read along with the physical copy in hand and the voice actor was Southern; after I got adjusted the southern accent just added to the atmosphere, I recommend the audio of this book if you're interested). From what I noticed it seems that Ashely changes her writing to match how her character would view their circumstances so it really puts you in their head (but this is just an assumption; I could just be reading into things). But anyway I'm not gonna lie it took me a while to get into this book (not too long though, probably around the 25% mark), but once I was in it. I was IN IT! It was soooo good! I was eating it up and was loving every minute of it. I always hear people talk about getting "immersed into a world" when they read and I had trouble relating because I don't think I've ever felt that, but with THIS book as soon as I started reading it with each sitting it felt like I was in their world every time. There weren't that many descriptions in this book, however, I feel like the dialogue and the course of events that took place in this book really set up the atmosphere and the tone of this book. I applaud Ms. Winstead because that's not an easy task to convey the overall setting of your book through dialogue. I really enjoyed my reading experience with this book and most importantly I enjoyed Everett. He's highkey a psychopath, but I loved him. He's become one of my favorite thriller book boyfriends (I don't condone his actions at all; he is a fictional character and I enjoyed reading about him and the way he was towards Ruth, that's all). I loved Ruth and Everett. They're literally soulmates. I also enjoyed Ruth's journey through self-discovery and finding her voice (however radical that it was😅). Now I understand that this is one of those books where you either like it or you hate it and I could completely get someone giving this book 2 stars, but I don't know I really enjoyed it! It actually reminds me of another book "The History of Wild Places" by Shea Ernshaw, they both contain the same vibes, but I love this one more! Can't wait to read more Ashley Winstead books. She's becoming an auto-read auhtour for me!

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cuddlygryphon's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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sarahmcg's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Loved this atmospheric, mystery/thriller from Ashley Winstead. I’ve really enjoyed all of her novels! This book gave Where the Crawdads Sing vibes but… darker… with a lot of Twilight references 🤔 I loved seeing Ruth’s character arc, especially seeing the contrast between past & present. And you’ve gotta love a morally grey MMC 😏

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