A review by robinwritesallthethings
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager

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

What It’s About: When Ethan Marsh was ten, his best friend Billy Barringer disappeared out of the tent they were sleeping in in his backyard and was never seen again. Now Ethan has returned home and the ghost of Billy is haunting him, prompting him to attempt to discover what really happened that night once and for all.

Plot: This novel had more twists than I’ve ever seen in one place, and all of them were pulled off beautifully. In the end, everything connected together in a complete picture that made total sense. The characters were compelling, there was a frank discussion of trauma and how it colors everyone’s lives for decades afterwards, and everyone’s reactions to events were realistic.

Style: Riley Sager’s writing is lyrical, incredibly atmospheric, and also downright creepy. It flows so well and can be read so easily that it honestly hardly feels like reading at all, which, to be clear, is a compliment.

Trigger Warnings: The book is mostly centered around mental health and trauma response. There’s also a lot of death and grief, which is to be expected considering the topic of the narrative.

Final Thoughts: I love Riley Sager. I’ve read every single one of his novels. It is a summer ritual for me to buy his latest book and read it in one day, then tell my friend, who won’t read thrillers because they’re too scary, the entire plot and what my guesses were as I was reading. For the record, my guesses have been halfway there or close, but never right on the money. Riley gets me every time, and I actually like that, because I read so much that I’m hard to surprise. I just wish I could do this more than once a year, but I get it. Good books take time!
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