You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Did I predict everything that happened? Yes. Did I shed a few tears at the end? Also, yes.
This is a fun quick read if you’re looking for a bit of suspense and mystery, otherwise it’s nothing sensational.
This is a fun quick read if you’re looking for a bit of suspense and mystery, otherwise it’s nothing sensational.
dark
emotional
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
“In my experience, men who say they want the truth end up wishing they had settled for the lie.”
I know this one has very mixed reviews, but this might be one of my favorites by Sager. It had intrigue and mystery but it was also very heartfelt and sad. My heart broke for both 10 year old Billy and 10 year old Ethan. Both boys went through things they should not have at an age so young. And because of how the story was told - with different chapters being from different POVs and often different time periods - we got to see them as boys. There's nothing more heartbreaking then a young child who feels like he doesn't belong and has to hide who he is to fit in. Billy and Ethan's argument in the tent just hurt my soul and I cried for the hurt Billy must have felt then. But then for Ethan to grow up and not know what happened to his best friend after one of their worst fights - just the worst feeling.
“So I shouldn't care that I'm a little weird?"
There were so many layers to this book. At first I wasn't sure with all of the multiple POV's and the time jumps that I would get into the story. Usually it's hard to connect with characters when there are so many introduced. But I didn't have that issue here. Each one was so unique and in so much pain that I was instantly drawn in. And in true Sager form, the story had so many twists and turns that even though I predicted some parts, I was totally off on others. Which I love - it's hard to keep the mystery and to not be completely predictable but Sager always manages to throw me off at the last minute. It's his same formula but yet, I still can never figure it out.
Another great read from Sager, solidifying him as an insta-buy author for me.
I know this one has very mixed reviews, but this might be one of my favorites by Sager. It had intrigue and mystery but it was also very heartfelt and sad. My heart broke for both 10 year old Billy and 10 year old Ethan. Both boys went through things they should not have at an age so young. And because of how the story was told - with different chapters being from different POVs and often different time periods - we got to see them as boys. There's nothing more heartbreaking then a young child who feels like he doesn't belong and has to hide who he is to fit in. Billy and Ethan's argument in the tent just hurt my soul and I cried for the hurt Billy must have felt then. But then for Ethan to grow up and not know what happened to his best friend after one of their worst fights - just the worst feeling.
“So I shouldn't care that I'm a little weird?"
There were so many layers to this book. At first I wasn't sure with all of the multiple POV's and the time jumps that I would get into the story. Usually it's hard to connect with characters when there are so many introduced. But I didn't have that issue here. Each one was so unique and in so much pain that I was instantly drawn in. And in true Sager form, the story had so many twists and turns that even though I predicted some parts, I was totally off on others. Which I love - it's hard to keep the mystery and to not be completely predictable but Sager always manages to throw me off at the last minute. It's his same formula but yet, I still can never figure it out.
Another great read from Sager, solidifying him as an insta-buy author for me.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Een van de betere van Riley sager!
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager is a twist-filled thriller. Middle of the Night starts with an instance in the middle of the night where a ten-year-old boy wakes to find a slit in his tent with his best friend missing. The best friend was never found. The boy now a man returns to the house 30 years later to sell it for his parents. The man still haunted by the instance always wakes in the middle of the night, starts seeing strange events, and feels the presence of his best friend. He slowly starts to remember what he blocked. Sager writes a compelling mystery that hooked me from the start. After the initial hook, the story slows down a lot. The book has a lot of exposition to get through and familiarize the reader with the neighbors. I think it was effective but at the same time boring. The story is told uniquely with having one perspective in the present day and having 8 perspectives during the flashbacks of the day before the incident. The reader keeps getting teased about this incident that was done to the missing boy who fell flat for me. The ending pulled everything together and I enjoyed liking it, but not loving it. There were a lot of twists and turns some were clever and some I saw a mile away. The best twist is a personal one to a character that I gasped at. Middle of the Night by Riley Sager was published on June 18, 2024.
Plot Summary: Ethan,10, stirs in the middle of the night as he hears a cut in the fabric of the tent he is sleeping. He is haunted by the sound. When he wakes up he finds that the tent has one long slash down it and Billy his best friend is missing. Billy was never found. Ethan, now 40, returns to the home where the incident happened. He is there to sell his parent's home. Upon his return, he starts seeing strange things in the middle of the night. Motion lights flickering at nothing there. He is spooked when a baseball rolls into his yard. That was a thing he and Billy would do acting like it was a ghost. Ethan never told anyone else about this. A body is found on the property of an occultist that could be Billy. The same property that Ethan betrayed Billy 30 years ago.
What I Liked: The first scene of the book and how it hooked me. The ending was not what I was expecting but I liked that there were consequences for parties involved. I like how the Goosebumps books were worked into the story and that it highlights one in particular The Ghost Next Door, which works very well with the narrative of the story. I liked the Hawthorne Institute as a place to study the occult. I still feel the institute was not used the best but it was a good location. I liked Ethan's Mom's storyline the narrative never answered if she worked again and I was bummed we never found that out. I did like that Russ after finding his brother's stash of workout mags under his bed, was too innocent to go to gay, but thought he used them to secretly work out. I did like how Billy got the ghost book and the talk with the librarian.
What I Disliked: The worst final lines ever, "Hakuna Matata Dude." I hated seeing it as ominous because I kept laughing at it. The incident that keeps getting mentioned was pretty lame. The incident was built up way too much to be what it was. Ethan's final words were way worse than the incident. Paranormal activity is heavily hinted at and a reason the three main incidents happen, the book had a little bit but would have been better if it had more. For the longest time, I thought Billy possessed one of the neighbor kids, but the story did not go that way.
Recommendation: Middle of the Night is an okay thriller. Riley Sager is very good at twists. There were parts of this book that I did not like but it still kept me entertained. I think this book is one of the weakest Riley Sager books. I can not recommend the Middle of the Night, but I can recommend Riley Sager. I thought Middle of the Night is a miss but the man has consistently written a thriller every year for the last eight years. Check my ranking list of Riley Sager books at the bottom of this review.
Rating: Middle of the Night by Riley Sager I rated 3.3 out of 5.
Ranking: My ranking of the 7 Riley Sager novels that I have read from highest to lowest is: 1) The Last Time I Lied, 2) Home Before Dark, 3)Final Girls, 4) The House Across the Lake, 5) Survive the Night, 6) Middle of the Night, and 7) Lock Every Door.
Plot Summary: Ethan,10, stirs in the middle of the night as he hears a cut in the fabric of the tent he is sleeping. He is haunted by the sound. When he wakes up he finds that the tent has one long slash down it and Billy his best friend is missing. Billy was never found. Ethan, now 40, returns to the home where the incident happened. He is there to sell his parent's home. Upon his return, he starts seeing strange things in the middle of the night. Motion lights flickering at nothing there. He is spooked when a baseball rolls into his yard. That was a thing he and Billy would do acting like it was a ghost. Ethan never told anyone else about this. A body is found on the property of an occultist that could be Billy. The same property that Ethan betrayed Billy 30 years ago.
What I Liked: The first scene of the book and how it hooked me. The ending was not what I was expecting but I liked that there were consequences for parties involved. I like how the Goosebumps books were worked into the story and that it highlights one in particular The Ghost Next Door, which works very well with the narrative of the story. I liked the Hawthorne Institute as a place to study the occult. I still feel the institute was not used the best but it was a good location. I liked Ethan's Mom's storyline the narrative never answered if she worked again and I was bummed we never found that out. I did like that Russ after finding his brother's stash of workout mags under his bed, was too innocent to go to gay, but thought he used them to secretly work out. I did like how Billy got the ghost book and the talk with the librarian.
What I Disliked: The worst final lines ever, "Hakuna Matata Dude." I hated seeing it as ominous because I kept laughing at it. The incident that keeps getting mentioned was pretty lame. The incident was built up way too much to be what it was. Ethan's final words were way worse than the incident. Paranormal activity is heavily hinted at and a reason the three main incidents happen, the book had a little bit but would have been better if it had more. For the longest time, I thought Billy possessed one of the neighbor kids, but the story did not go that way.
Recommendation: Middle of the Night is an okay thriller. Riley Sager is very good at twists. There were parts of this book that I did not like but it still kept me entertained. I think this book is one of the weakest Riley Sager books. I can not recommend the Middle of the Night, but I can recommend Riley Sager. I thought Middle of the Night is a miss but the man has consistently written a thriller every year for the last eight years. Check my ranking list of Riley Sager books at the bottom of this review.
Rating: Middle of the Night by Riley Sager I rated 3.3 out of 5.
Ranking: My ranking of the 7 Riley Sager novels that I have read from highest to lowest is: 1) The Last Time I Lied, 2) Home Before Dark, 3)Final Girls, 4) The House Across the Lake, 5) Survive the Night, 6) Middle of the Night, and 7) Lock Every Door.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced