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literarypenguin 's review for:
Middle of the Night
by Riley Sager
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As one of my anticipated reads for 2024, this was also my first Riley Sager novel as well. After finishing the book I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this story!
The use of the small suburban town as a setting was really brilliant in my opinion. I really loved the feel of living on a street where everybody knows everyone and how information can spread like wildfire in these communities. I cant begin to tell you how accurate that is for small towns, everybody knows what happens to everyone especially when something big happens. The setting does add that nostalgia feel and brings back memories for our main character as he struggles with reconnecting with his hometown.
The characters were one of the most interesting and best parts of the book. Ethan was our main character and the more you read the more you could easily sympathize with him. He went through a lot when he was young, watching his friend disappear and feeling the extreme guilt of being the one who survived while his best friend didn't. He also has problems sleeping and other horrible traumas that happened in his life. Seeing Ethan overcome these tragedies by the end and growing as a person was so earned for him.
The other characters were also interesting to me. How most of the characters grew up with Ethan, how some were a good presence in Ethan's life and others weren't. Even some who became a positive in Ethan's life who you never would have thought would be one by the end. The addition of supernatural elements thrown in too, explaining ghosts and different types of them added more to the story.
I really enjoyed this book and I am glad that I took a chance on reading this one! Glad to have more thriller novels in my life like this.
The use of the small suburban town as a setting was really brilliant in my opinion. I really loved the feel of living on a street where everybody knows everyone and how information can spread like wildfire in these communities. I cant begin to tell you how accurate that is for small towns, everybody knows what happens to everyone especially when something big happens. The setting does add that nostalgia feel and brings back memories for our main character as he struggles with reconnecting with his hometown.
The characters were one of the most interesting and best parts of the book. Ethan was our main character and the more you read the more you could easily sympathize with him. He went through a lot when he was young, watching his friend disappear and feeling the extreme guilt of being the one who survived while his best friend didn't. He also has problems sleeping and other horrible traumas that happened in his life. Seeing Ethan overcome these tragedies by the end and growing as a person was so earned for him.
The other characters were also interesting to me. How most of the characters grew up with Ethan, how some were a good presence in Ethan's life and others weren't. Even some who became a positive in Ethan's life who you never would have thought would be one by the end. The addition of supernatural elements thrown in too, explaining ghosts and different types of them added more to the story.
I really enjoyed this book and I am glad that I took a chance on reading this one! Glad to have more thriller novels in my life like this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse
Minor: Kidnapping, Car accident