I'm Kind of Mad I Didn't Hate This!

 

TITLE: Middle of the Night

AUTHOR: Riley Sager

PUBLISHER: Dutton

PUBLISHING DATE: June 18, 2024

PAGES: 367   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: The worst thing to ever happen on Hemlock Circle occurred in Ethan Marsh’s backyard. One July night, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend and neighbor, Billy, fell asleep in a tent set up on a manicured lawn in a quiet, quaint New Jersey cul de sac. In the morning, Ethan woke up alone. During the night, someone had sliced the tent open with a knife and taken Billy. He was never seen again.

Thirty years later, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home. Plagued by bad dreams and insomnia, he begins to notice strange things happening in the middle of the night. Someone seems to be roaming the cul-de-sac at odd hours, and signs of Billy’s presence keep appearing in Ethan’s backyard. Is someone playing a cruel prank? Or has Billy, long thought to be dead, somehow returned to Hemlock Circle? 

The mysterious occurrences prompt Ethan to investigate what really happened that night, a quest that reunites him with former friends and neighbors and leads him into the woods that surround Hemlock Circle. Woods where Billy claimed monsters roamed and where a mysterious institute does clandestine research on a crumbling estate. 

The closer Ethan gets to the truth, the more he realizes that no place—be it quiet forest or suburban street—is completely safe. And that the past has a way of haunting the present.

MY THOUGHTS: Is it wrong to go into a book almost sure that you aren't going to like it?  Even worse, I kind of didn't want to like it because after the debacle that was "Final Girl" and the Grape Soda and Xanax experience I've never partaken in but felt like I did - over and over again - had me close to writing off Sager's book forever.  But I decided it was time to give him a second chance so I could forever write him off my "do not read" list but guess what?  That didn't happen.

Middle of the Night starts as Ethan Marsh returns home to live in his childhood home following a split from his wife and his parents finally moving to a condo in Florida.  Ethan has always dreaded returning because when he was 10, his best friend Billy disappeared one night without a trace while the two were camping in the backyard.  Ethan's case was never solved and now Ethan is sure Billy is back.  Lights around the cul-de-sac keep mysteriously going on and off and he keeps finding baseballs in his yard, a trick Billy used to do to signal to him it's time to play.  Is Billy back, is Ethan losing his mind, and what really happened 30 years ago?

So, what did I enjoy about this book?  The supernatural elements kept me intrigued even though I was pretty sure there were real-life explanations to what was happening (you'll have to read it to see if I was right). There were a couple of pretty intense scenes, but I will admit that I found a certain element of the mystery falling a bit flat at the end.  Ethan's childhood babysitter is also back in town helping her dad, along with her son Henry, who I will admit was the star of the show for me. I enjoyed learning more about Ethan and his past and loved that the book was told in alternating timelines.  In addition, it was nice that each flashback to the past was told from the POV of a different resident of the cul-de-sac from when Billy disappeared. This technique was a great way for the reader to piece things together. Sager also manages to land a few bombs I didn't expect which is always nice.

Now the bad news - I don't think I can write Sager off for good yet.  This is his first book featuring a male protagonist so maybe that's why it worked better.  Of course that being said, he still painted some pretty questioning portrayals of some of the females in the book.  I enjoyed the story, the way it was told, as well as the supernatural elements here and there.  It was also a quick read and actually quite a bit of fun.  Guess the third book I decide to pick up will be my deciding factor.  But not for a while because I don't want to push my luck!

MY RATING: 4 PAWS