trocaderodansant 's review for:

The Midnight Estate by Kelly Rimmer

5.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

The Midnight Estate by Kelly Rimmer is powerful, unsettling, and moving. I’m often drawn to “book within a book” stories, though they don’t always work for me—this one absolutely did. It opens with an almost haunted-house atmosphere, drawing you into creaking hallways and bumping in the night, before slowly revealing a dark and tangled family history. Told across split timelines, the narrative slowly tightens its grip; my stomach became knotted as I rooted for the characters and some of the things they endured. Secrets, quirks, and long-buried truths are gradually tied together in a way that feels both inevitable and surprising. I appreciated the respectful acknowledgment of Indigenous history woven into the story, as well as the way the characters’ work and love of history showed a deep respect for conserving the historic estate itself. This is a story about the ways the past seeps into the present, and how some wounds—no matter how much light you let in—leave shadows that never fully disappear.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Stalking, Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Toxic friendship