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karaokestar's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Any easy and fast read if you want a mystery/thriller - the protagonist Ethan moves into his childhood home and starts to piece together what happened to his childhood best friend who disappeared 30 years ago…
I really enjoyed the book. It even spooked me a bit. Would recommend for people who like mysteries/thrillers/whodunits.
I really enjoyed the book. It even spooked me a bit. Would recommend for people who like mysteries/thrillers/whodunits.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, and Murder
Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent
sohare1981's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying and Stalking
Minor: Drug use, Terminal illness, Violence, Dementia, and Murder
sierrabowers's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
2.5
Finished reading: November 5th 2024
"In my experience, men who say they want the truth end up wishing they had settled for the lie."
I guess it was too much to ask to actually enjoy two Riley Sager books in a row... His books can go both ways for me, and unfortunately Middle Of The Night turned out to be a bit of a dud for me. Don't get me wrong, the premise itself is more than solid and this story had SO much potential. I was hoping for a creepy thriller/horror read with a paranormal twist, but instead I got a total snoozefest... Oh yes, you read that right: I was utterly bored during most of the story, and I'm still not sure how I even made it to the end to be honest. There is SO much repetition going on; I've lost count of the times it was mentioned that Billy went missing. In the middle of the night. Sure, main character Ethan has no personality whatsoever... But Billy was kidnapped! In the middle of the night! And Ethan is traumatized even 30 years later! Sigh. On top of this, there were so many random POV switches and flashbacks, and it not only slowed down the pace but also halted any possible building up of suspense. To make things even worse, the so-called twists were both very easy to guess and underwhelming in general. That said, I can't say that I really cared about what happened to Billy by the time it was finally revealed... Which probably had a lot to do with the fact that the characters are basically cardboard cutouts and they struggle to win your sympathy. All in all Middle Of The Night turned out to be a surprisingly slow-paced, dull and tedious story that never managed to grab my attention. With its lackluster ending and constant repetitions, this is probably one of my least favorite Riley Sager books so far.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
sweetteaandfiction's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager is going to haunt me long past when I finished the book. The way that the supernatural and living work together to unearth the truth of a 30 year old disappearance of a neighborhood boy in tight knit community.
PROS:
⚾️The baseballs
⛺️Backyard camping
⚾️Ghost hunting
⛺️”weird” kids
⚾️People stepping up to take care of each other
⛺️All the layers to the events of the night Billy went missing
⚾️The Institute
CONS:
⛺️How the loss of Billy tore his family apart and messed with his mother’s sanity.
⚾️The fact it took 30 years before there was accountability
⛺️Relationships getting destroyed by other people’s lies
⚾️All the pain people went through and caused because we didn’t know the truth.
⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️ out of five baseballs tossed over the fence on a hot summer day
PROS:
⚾️The baseballs
⛺️Backyard camping
⚾️Ghost hunting
⛺️”weird” kids
⚾️People stepping up to take care of each other
⛺️All the layers to the events of the night Billy went missing
⚾️The Institute
CONS:
⛺️How the loss of Billy tore his family apart and messed with his mother’s sanity.
⚾️The fact it took 30 years before there was accountability
⛺️Relationships getting destroyed by other people’s lies
⚾️All the pain people went through and caused because we didn’t know the truth.
⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️ out of five baseballs tossed over the fence on a hot summer day
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying and Gaslighting
Minor: Stalking, Car accident, and Alcohol
lovelymisanthrope's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
As a long time fan of Riley Sager, this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. As an added bonus, it is the Literally Dead Book Club pick for the month.
“Middle of the Night” follows Ethan, on the 30th anniversary of his former best friend’s, Billy, disappearance. When Ethan and Billy were younger, they were sleeping in a tent in Ethan‘s backyard one summer night. When Ethan woke up the next morning, there was a slash through the tent’s wall, and Billy was gone. Nobody has been able to figure out what happened to Billy. Now, Ethan has returned to his childhood home and has the strange sense that Billy is there, trying to communicate with him.
Because Riley Sager has long been one of my favorite thriller authors, I tend to have higher than normal expectations with his books. With that in mind, I do think this was a stronger, and more interesting thriller from him than his previous couple of releases. I really enjoyed having a male main character, because sometimes male authors just do not write female main characters well. I think this was a great change of pace for Riley, and it shows growth and development for him as an author.
I really enjoyed the overall mystery of this story. I did not see where the story was going, and I enjoyed how the ultimate mystery ended up having layers to its big reveal. As the reader, we would learn one aspect of what happened that night thirty years ago, and Ethan would take that information, run with it and start accusing other characters of hurting Billy. By the time we finally learn what actually happened to Billy, there were so many theories, it was almost hard to keep track. However, I was overall interested in what happened to Billy. I think the novel set us up to think some thing a little more sinister took place than what ended up being the cause of Billy’s disappearance, but I think that is part of the appeal of not seeing where the story is going.
Ethan was a very mediocre character to read from. He is kind of selfish, kind of unreliable, and just not a super memorable or interesting person on his own. He does have a secret, that once it was revealed, I had not seen coming, and I really enjoyed that reveal. I think it added a layer of complexity to his story that made my impression of him all the more memorable. I also think this reveal was very important for him as a character because it added a necessary layer to him as a person so that we were ultimately invested in his story.
I will 1000% read more from Riley Sager, and I definitely recommend this book to someone looking for a lighter thriller mystery. As for where this falls in my personal ranking of Riley Sager books, it is somewhere happily in the middle.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, and Toxic friendship
foldingthepage_kayleigh's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
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Riley Sager did it again! This was the summer thriller I needed. The 90s nostalgia was strong and reminded me of those summer camp horror stories. I loved how realistic the ending seemed and how all the pieces connected together. Although I guessed some of the twists,I didn’t even mind because I was so engaged by the atmosphere of Hemlock Circle, my curiosity constantly piqued by the goings-on of the suburbanites.
I’d recommend this book to fans of:
- R.L. Stine
- True crime
- Vintage ephemera
- Slow burn mysteries
- Suburban settings
- Everyone is a suspect-type books
- Reads that have you questioning what’s real and what’s fantasy
Thank you to Tandem Collective, Penguin Random House Canada, and the author for a gifted copy of this book. I loved joining in on this readalong and theorizing with the other participants about how the story would unravel and whodunnit.
Riley Sager did it again! This was the summer thriller I needed. The 90s nostalgia was strong and reminded me of those summer camp horror stories. I loved how realistic the ending seemed and how all the pieces connected together. Although I guessed some of the twists,I didn’t even mind because I was so engaged by the atmosphere of Hemlock Circle, my curiosity constantly piqued by the goings-on of the suburbanites.
I’d recommend this book to fans of:
- R.L. Stine
- True crime
- Vintage ephemera
- Slow burn mysteries
- Suburban settings
- Everyone is a suspect-type books
- Reads that have you questioning what’s real and what’s fantasy
Thank you to Tandem Collective, Penguin Random House Canada, and the author for a gifted copy of this book. I loved joining in on this readalong and theorizing with the other participants about how the story would unravel and whodunnit.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, Grief, and Stalking
Moderate: Car accident and Alcohol
ruthypoo2's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I’ve read five other books by Riley Sager and this is by far my favorite. I enjoyed the way the story unfolded through two different timeframes via one primary narrator, Ethan Marsh, and other characters also involved in or impacted by the 30-year-old loss of a child that went missing from the Hemlock Circle neighborhood.
Because the child who went missing was Ethan’s best friend, Billy, the event has haunted Ethan’s life persistently because Billy disappeared on the night he and Ethan were having a backyard camp out. Even though the reader will not get to know all the characters well, I found everyone interesting, and most quite likable. And they all played a role in the day-to-day lives of Ethan and Billy, with more details revealed throughout the story as Ethan does his best to remember what happened on the night he slept while Billy vanished from their shared tent. I loved how all the building blocks fit together as Ethan learned more and more about the people he lived alongside while growing up.
The mystery was good and there are spooky elements, but it’s not necessarily a “read with the lights on” type of story. And that’s okay because it’s a good story that’s well-paced and has a lot of heart.
I listened to the audiobook and really liked the narrator’s interpretation of Ethan. He also did a fine job with most all the other characters of different sexes and ages, especially young Henry.
Because the child who went missing was Ethan’s best friend, Billy, the event has haunted Ethan’s life persistently because Billy disappeared on the night he and Ethan were having a backyard camp out. Even though the reader will not get to know all the characters well, I found everyone interesting, and most quite likable. And they all played a role in the day-to-day lives of Ethan and Billy, with more details revealed throughout the story as Ethan does his best to remember what happened on the night he slept while Billy vanished from their shared tent. I loved how all the building blocks fit together as Ethan learned more and more about the people he lived alongside while growing up.
The mystery was good and there are spooky elements, but it’s not necessarily a “read with the lights on” type of story. And that’s okay because it’s a good story that’s well-paced and has a lot of heart.
I listened to the audiobook and really liked the narrator’s interpretation of Ethan. He also did a fine job with most all the other characters of different sexes and ages, especially young Henry.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Dementia, Kidnapping, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
aileron's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Drug abuse, Dementia, Kidnapping, and Stalking
Minor: Miscarriage and Car accident
avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Quick Synopsis: Ethan is back at his childhood home 30 years after his best friend Billy disappeared from his backyard. Ethan, still having nightmares from that night, begins to think Billy is trying to communicate with him.
Quick Review: I almost wish the book had supernatural elements, I think that would have made the ending more satisfying. I figured out part of what had happened to Billy, by about halfway through the book. I know Riley Sager's books tend to be ones I either love or I just feel meh about, but this one was a meh book. I think part of the problem was Ethan wasn't that likable.
Narrator Rating: 4.0 stars
The narrator did an excellent job, though some of his tonal shifts for the flashbacks were irritating.
Quick Review: I almost wish the book had supernatural elements, I think that would have made the ending more satisfying. I figured out part of what had happened to Billy, by about halfway through the book. I know Riley Sager's books tend to be ones I either love or I just feel meh about, but this one was a meh book. I think part of the problem was Ethan wasn't that likable.
Narrator Rating: 4.0 stars
The narrator did an excellent job, though some of his tonal shifts for the flashbacks were irritating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Death of parent
While a child is killed in the book, I don't think it would qualify as graphic as it was relatively quick and not vividly described, though it's talked about quite a bit.