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Middle of the Night
In the latest jaw-dropping thriller from New York Times bestselling author Riley Sager, a man must contend with the long-ago disappearance of his childhood best friend—and the dark secrets lurking just beyond the safe confines of his picture-perfect neighborhood.
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.
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.
367 pages, Hardcover
First published June 18, 2024
About the author
Riley Sager
19 books39.1k followersRiley Sager is the New York Times bestselling author of eight novels, most recently THE ONLY ONE LEFT and THE HOUSE ACROSS THE LAKE. His first thriller, FINAL GIRLS, won the ITW Thriller Award for Best Hardcover Novel and has been published in more than thirty-five countries. His latest novel, MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, will be published in June.
A native of Pennsylvania, he now lives in Princeton, New Jersey. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, cooking and going to the movies as much as possible. His favorite film is "Rear Window." Or maybe "Jaws." But probably, if he's being honest, "Mary Poppins."
A native of Pennsylvania, he now lives in Princeton, New Jersey. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, cooking and going to the movies as much as possible. His favorite film is "Rear Window." Or maybe "Jaws." But probably, if he's being honest, "Mary Poppins."
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June 24, 2024
3.5* rounded up. I definitely enjoyed this, but I didn’t love it as much as I’d hoped to. This one felt like a pretty solid “middle-of-the-road” thriller to me. Not terrible, not great. I thought it had potential to be amazing, especially in the beginning, I was LOVING where I *thought* it was going but it just didn’t have me in the same chokehold as some of his others! I still recommend it though, it’s got great 90s nostalgia sprinkled in and an unpredictable twist for sure! Good for a summer popcorn thriller.
June 19, 2024
Publication Day is here
TW: Language, anxiety, depression, victim shaming, bullying, toxic family relationships, drinking, grieving, death of child, loss of sibling, drug addiction, Alzheimer's, miscarriage, homophobia
*****SPOILERS*****
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 368
Rating: ⭐
What I Liked:
1. Of course the cover (he always has the best covers)
2. Atmospheric
3. Author embracing a queer relationship for the first time under his pen name
What I Didn't Like:
1. Confusing conflicting characteristics of characters
2. Mentions of middle of the night (10 times)
3. Reminded in every sentence that Billy was kidnapped
4. Ethan has absolutely zero personality
5. Multiple POV's of random characters
6. Mixed timelines mid-sentence comes off confusing
Overall Thoughts:
{{Disclaimer I write my review as I read}}
"Curious, I go to one of the windows in a bedroom I still don’t consider my own. Not technically. The room that once was mine and, in my mind, still sits across the hall, now vacant. This is my parents’ bedroom, where I rarely ventured as a child. Now, though, through a series of recent developments I’m still grappling with, it’s become my own."
Such a convoluted way of saying you have your parents old bedroom.
Omg talk about repetitive. We get the garage lights turned on. There are 5 garages we had to read about and their lights turned on.
He was 10 when his friend disappeared but he's able to just pull up in his memory that the presence he feels is his friends from 30 years ago.
You can already tell Ethan is this person who's going to be an unreliable narrator. He sees a garage light and instantly jumps to it must be someone that's going to kidnap a child. This is the first sign you're in a Riley Sager - characters just react with zero reasoning why they are. They also react over the smallest thing that a normal person wouldn't care about, but when real danger is near they don't even bat an eye.
We learn that Ethan suffers from insomnia but it's confusing how he works. He says he can only sleep for an hour or two at a time but then says he's accepted that he can't sleep from 1am - 4am. His therapist mentions it's guilt and anxiety with also the fear of being taken too that stops him from fully sleeping.
After Billy disappeared Ethan's parents send him to a private school away from them. What kind of parent comes that close to their child maybe being kidnapped and their first thought is to send your child away so you don't see them? Most parents would be more protective and want to keep their child close. I suppose moving away was not an option to his parents.
Person moves back to the scene of the crime to get away from it all. Why would parents leave you the house where something that was so horrific happened to you?
Don't worry you'll hear about "The middle of the night" over & over. At least every chapter or at least it feels that way.
If the police think Billy just followed the kidnapper out of the tent why even cut it open? Wouldn't that be more noisy than just unzipping it? Okay and they follow only one set of footprints out into the woods so wouldn't that mean Billy walked himself out to the woods?
Ethan's whole personality is that one time his friend Billy got stolen. It's mentioned over and over. Doesn't Ethan think of anything else? We end one chapter talking about Billy's disappearance just to start the next chapter talking about it again.
Omg how ridiculous that the man cutting the grass would actually STOP what he is doing to knock on the door just to yell at the homeowners over a baseball. I'm sorry this was such a weird way to introduce us to the ball that Billy would throw into the yard.
On a complete whim Ethan calls the police to ask for updates and there actually is an update and they they actually actually tell Ethan. I get being the police officer that knows Ethan and what he's been through, but to tell him about what's going on with the case and finding remains seems ridiculous. Not only that, gathering 3 civilians together to tell them that Billy is dead when he doesn't even have the dental records back yet is nonsense. Ragesh even tells all of them before telling Billy's family. But why? What makes Ethan, Russ, and Ashley more important than the parent of Billy?
Oh Andy is MIA, so I wonder if that'll come to something about what really happened to Billy.
So no one searched the huge lake 2 miles behind Billy's house because the owner told them not to (yeah, that's not suspicious).
Why are all the men so whiny sounding?
Ashley leaving Henry with Ethan makes little sense. She mentions that Henry barely knows Russ, but wouldn't he know Russ better than Ethan. Ethan has only met Henry one other time, but Russ has lived in the neighborhood the whole time plus Henry even recognizes Russ in the store. I get that Ashley has also just moved back but I don't understand how she trusts Ethan more. Couldn't she leave Henry with Russ' wife since she's home?
Speaking of Henry - I've noticed that whenever authors are inexperienced at writing children they tend to write them as these mini geniuses. They have the vocabulary of 40 year olds and can practically raise themselves.
Russ talks Ethan into buying a top of the line trail cam. It's mentioned that he's nice enough to apply his employee discount (10%) to the purchase, but Russ owns the store so why would he have an employee discount? He's the owner and I've never heard of an owner having a discount to their own store. So now I'm over here thinking Russ is a dick for only giving 10% off an undisclosed priced trail cam when he could have done more.
Then there's this "mystery" that Ethan, Billy, Ragesh, Russ, and Ashley all together went 2 miles through the woods to the institute. Why would a 15 year old girl drag 10 year olds into the woods with her? Did this teenager have nothing else going on that she liked being surrounded by children?
Honestly I was beyond annoyed with Detective Palmer. She keeps asking Ethan who he thinks was behind the murder of Billy. At first he mentions someone at this secretive institution (that no one seems to know what they studied - somehow) and then he mentions the night before that someone was walking around neighbors yards, but she dismisses this with thee most outlandish answer;
"Unfortunately, that’s highly unlikely. Over the years, every known serial killer, kidnapper, and killer of children has been interviewed and asked about Billy Barringer. I’ve mentioned him to at least a dozen myself. Not a single one has confessed to the crime, which they love to do, even if they didn’t commit it."
Lots of serial killers hold back on people they've killed. To say that a serial killer aká murderer wouldn't actually made me laugh out loud. Yeah, you know those killers are one of the most truthful people in the world. Killers sometimes don't even admit to killing more people til years later.
Why did the author feel the need to repeat the name of the book "The Giant Book of Ghosts, Spirits, and Spooks" FOUR times??? (so far)
We are now getting this conversation that Billy was obsessed with ghosts and it's even mentioned that if he saw one he'd be nice to it and not run away. To this I keep thinking - did he think he saw a ghost that night and that's why he didn't scream, but instead followed it outside?
Why would Ethan still have all the small stuff in his room from when he was six years old? He did stay in this room on holidays and during the summer. The way the author writes it it's like Ethan never even returns to this room at all. I mean a teenager in a room for six year olds seems silly.
Okay that was creepy that a baseball rolled from the woods to Ethan's feet, but I keep thinking that someone wants Ethan to leave the house. Maybe there is something that will link that person to the house and they are trying to scare him out of it. So far I'm convinced it's Andy because I'm sure he knew about the baseballs and he's been missing for 10 years.
Why doesn't the trailcam ping when Ethan is in the yard - twice?
WOW it FINALLY happened! We got a queer moment! Johnny kissing Ragesh in the woods.
I keep thinking Claudia is dead. Just the way he keeps calling her, but she never calls him back.
So Hawthorne Institute is hosting weddings and private events, plus it has this amazing lake/waterfall, but someone is able to live on the land without anyone knowing for weeks. Author writes "occasional wedding" but we are knee deep in summer and summer time is prime wedding time so this place would be packed. I'm sorry it's weird to describe this location as a beautiful wedding location and then also say it has the occasional wedding while having a shack on the property that no one would check up on.
Here we have arrived in typical Riley fashion that women never worry about their safety. Ethan goes into the woods and finds the mansion. He's looking through the windows when a woman tells him to stop. He says he's here to look around. He doesn't have an appointment. When she asks about a car he says an Uber dropped him off. There is zero way a woman would continue to talk to this man being alone and in the middle of the woods with a stranger that just pops up out of the blue. He has no appointment and no car and he's looking through the windows. She even asks what kind of event he is planning and Ethan replies it's a wedding. She suggests he come back instead with his fiance but he says she's busy. Dude, no no no! Red flags for a woman all alone in the woods.
Omg Ethan who is lying about it being about a wedding asks zero things that deal with a wedding venue. When she is done with the tour he asks to use the restroom but then mentions that if he had done this the first time upon Lonette seeing him at the window it would have saved them both time - it makes no sense though;
•Would have been more weird to be in the woods and ask to use the restroom randomly w/ no car and on private property
•He wouldn't have known what the door by the bathroom was because he doesn't know where anything is in the house, so he'd know nothing about the basement
Don't worry because he pretends to be so completely stupid he suddenly can't find the bathroom door that Lonette (again a woman all alone with a man that just turns up in the woods) gives up watching him and goes to her office. Thank god at least she called the police then.
I am so confused about the death of Billy. So someone took him to the woods, wrapped him in a blanket, threw him in the falls, took him out of the water (while wrapped in a blanket), and buried him. Why? Why would you do all of that?
Oh we find out that Ethan's mother worked at Hawthorne Institute. And we finally found out why she was fired. I do think it's odd how Ethan didn't know this is where his mother was working. His father and mother never had a conversation that mentioned her job or how odd it was working for the institute? She was fired because she saw them chanting and blood. I thought it would be more exciting. She then just signs an NDA because her boss tells her to. Also it makes little sense that she would drive over to her work on the off chance of finding a door unlocked to get into so she could get the watch. The watch has sat in her top drawer all week so not sure why she wouldn't have dropped it off before then. I know Ethan mentions he was a bad son for not paying attention that she worked there, but this kid listened to everything his parents would say before, so how would he suddenly turn off his hearing for this?
The BIG reveal of who the boss is - Van de Veer is so underwhelming. We know absolutely nothing about this man and have only heard his name in a kind of passing. I was just like "okay". Then I started thinking wouldn't this dude have a better home if he's working for this millionaire? But he lives in this basic house.
Claudia is dead who could have seen that coming? Oh me, that's right. I knew she was dead from the moment he mentioned texting/calling her and her never returning his calls/texts.
I honest to God laughed out loud that Misty Chen moved out her bedroom just with the off chance that her son, Russ might do something bad. I get her being overprotective because her other son died, but it all seemed silly the way it was mentioned and how she knew Russ took the knife. Misty hides the knife under her bed but a few sentences later mentions removing the knife from the kitchen drawer to bury it.
Omg who didn't know it was going to be Andy who's behind all of this!!??
So Henry is missing (stolen by Andy and taken into the woods) they decide to make the hike into the woods - all 2 miles in the dark. Why would they waste that much time when they could have driven a car to the halfway point or to the actual Hawthorne Institute? They are in such a hurry to not waste the seconds to look both ways to cross the street, but no one thought driving would be faster? Plus let's remember this dude has only been in the woods one time in 30 years and he just leads the way in the middle of the night without getting them lost or getting confused. Plus plus call the police while you are going!!
Omg dude Ethan is such a ham. Andy hasn't even said a world but good old Ethan is like "I do know that Andy's not interested in Henry. I'm who he really wants. Henry was just a way to get me here." How the hell does he just know that? There were countless times Andy could have had Ethan. I mean it ends up being true but Ethan just knowing was so ridiculous.
Poor Andy I guess he wasn't allowed to tag along with Billy and his friends, so he was lonely, but didn't he make any friends in school that he could hang out with?
Omgosh is this ever going to end? This book is so long and dull.
Having to reread what you already know that Ethan said to Billy as though it's something new from Andy. Dude didn't hear anymore than we already know so thanks for that.
I’m still completely lost on why Andy had to drag and torment Ethan like this. Why didn't he tell his mother when his brother was missing? Why didn't he approach the police as an adult? Why this dramatic moment when he didn't do anything but overhear the argument that he had to kidnap a child?
"The only reason that Andy stays quiet is because he's been told by everyone that Billy had been taken, most likely by a stranger who grabbed him after slashing the tent."
Could you imagine a 7 year old having this much insight to not tell anyone what they heard because they believe there's another plausible explanation?
Of course it was Ashley because the actions of all the characters make so little sense and the theories are held together with a string.
Oh so Billy WALKED in the woods barefoot for a mile. That would be absolutely so painful. I do know where this is going though - Ashley hit him with a car and dumped his body at the falls.
Yep. Ashley hit him. When we get the story at the ending it was never mentioned that there were tire marks from a fast stop on the road. It says she pounded the brakes so there would definitely be tire marks.
There's so many plot holes in this book;
•Why didn't Ethan tell the police that Billy had been caught in the woods earlier in the day and had even been at the institute the night before?
•Why wouldn't the police have searched the institute's area?
•Why did Ashley suddenly confess when Andy told her that he wasn't going to harm her son (he had no reason to) but now he'd be more motivated to since she killed his brother.
•Why didn't anyone think it was odd that on the night that Billy goes missing Ashley has a story about hitting a deer? Did the police not search people's houses and notice cars? They believed a car had picked up Billy at the road so wouldn’t checking cars in the neighborhood be important?
Don't worry because once Andy gets a confession from Ashley he says thank you to her and then crumbles with Ethan as they cry.
Thanks Riley for another supernatural water scene. Billy to the rescue to guide his horrible friend to safety. I guess Billy's spirit was just waiting around (after his body was finally found) to just help Ethan. Somehow that was his unfinished business. It wasn't but they found his body. It wasn't that Ashley finally admitted to his death. No it was Ethan needing to be saved in the water that was his business keeping him on this Earth.
There's a part in the book where I feel like Riley Sager is telling you to grow up and not everything is so black and white.
"Ethan no longer bothers to venture, people even expressed disappointment that the truth was so mundane, so boringly human. There were no villains in the story. There were no heroes. Just a neighborhood of flawed people some more than others."
The ending of this book certainly gave us a boring and underwhelming ending.
Oh my God then Ethan adopts Henry because Ashley asked him too. This is the most ludicrous thing in a book ever. So now Henry loses his mother after finding out she murdered another boy and he has to live with this complete stranger that he's only seen for a few weeks. This is crazy. Not only that but then Ethan agrees to this. "Happy New Year, Dad" hahaha!
Final Thoughts:
You know how Sager said it the first pov from a male perspective, well everyone gets a POV on the day of the murder. It's kind of like American Beauty where it shows what everyone is doing and building up to.
Had a lot of problems with this book. As if you couldn't already tell. The random multiple POV's. I hate the pov's of the children. The language they used and words were like college graduates. The cheesy ending. The characters are dumb. Honestly, I could go on and on. This book frustrated me to no end. It has a lot of plot holes and scenes that don't make sense when things are revealed. I'm still unsure why Andy hid in the woods and kidnapped a child to get Ethan to talk. I didn't understand why they called the cops if they didn't want Andy arrested. Why not just let him go after finding out about Ashley and then Ashley admitting to the crime when they got back to the houses?
Thanks to Netgalley and Dutton publishing for this advanced ebook copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
PS - no handyman in this one....
TW: Language, anxiety, depression, victim shaming, bullying, toxic family relationships, drinking, grieving, death of child, loss of sibling, drug addiction, Alzheimer's, miscarriage, homophobia
*****SPOILERS*****
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 368
Rating: ⭐
What I Liked:
1. Of course the cover (he always has the best covers)
2. Atmospheric
3. Author embracing a queer relationship for the first time under his pen name
What I Didn't Like:
1. Confusing conflicting characteristics of characters
2. Mentions of middle of the night (10 times)
3. Reminded in every sentence that Billy was kidnapped
4. Ethan has absolutely zero personality
5. Multiple POV's of random characters
6. Mixed timelines mid-sentence comes off confusing
Overall Thoughts:
{{Disclaimer I write my review as I read}}
"Curious, I go to one of the windows in a bedroom I still don’t consider my own. Not technically. The room that once was mine and, in my mind, still sits across the hall, now vacant. This is my parents’ bedroom, where I rarely ventured as a child. Now, though, through a series of recent developments I’m still grappling with, it’s become my own."
Such a convoluted way of saying you have your parents old bedroom.
Omg talk about repetitive. We get the garage lights turned on. There are 5 garages we had to read about and their lights turned on.
He was 10 when his friend disappeared but he's able to just pull up in his memory that the presence he feels is his friends from 30 years ago.
You can already tell Ethan is this person who's going to be an unreliable narrator. He sees a garage light and instantly jumps to it must be someone that's going to kidnap a child. This is the first sign you're in a Riley Sager - characters just react with zero reasoning why they are. They also react over the smallest thing that a normal person wouldn't care about, but when real danger is near they don't even bat an eye.
We learn that Ethan suffers from insomnia but it's confusing how he works. He says he can only sleep for an hour or two at a time but then says he's accepted that he can't sleep from 1am - 4am. His therapist mentions it's guilt and anxiety with also the fear of being taken too that stops him from fully sleeping.
After Billy disappeared Ethan's parents send him to a private school away from them. What kind of parent comes that close to their child maybe being kidnapped and their first thought is to send your child away so you don't see them? Most parents would be more protective and want to keep their child close. I suppose moving away was not an option to his parents.
Person moves back to the scene of the crime to get away from it all. Why would parents leave you the house where something that was so horrific happened to you?
Don't worry you'll hear about "The middle of the night" over & over. At least every chapter or at least it feels that way.
If the police think Billy just followed the kidnapper out of the tent why even cut it open? Wouldn't that be more noisy than just unzipping it? Okay and they follow only one set of footprints out into the woods so wouldn't that mean Billy walked himself out to the woods?
Ethan's whole personality is that one time his friend Billy got stolen. It's mentioned over and over. Doesn't Ethan think of anything else? We end one chapter talking about Billy's disappearance just to start the next chapter talking about it again.
Omg how ridiculous that the man cutting the grass would actually STOP what he is doing to knock on the door just to yell at the homeowners over a baseball. I'm sorry this was such a weird way to introduce us to the ball that Billy would throw into the yard.
On a complete whim Ethan calls the police to ask for updates and there actually is an update and they they actually actually tell Ethan. I get being the police officer that knows Ethan and what he's been through, but to tell him about what's going on with the case and finding remains seems ridiculous. Not only that, gathering 3 civilians together to tell them that Billy is dead when he doesn't even have the dental records back yet is nonsense. Ragesh even tells all of them before telling Billy's family. But why? What makes Ethan, Russ, and Ashley more important than the parent of Billy?
Oh Andy is MIA, so I wonder if that'll come to something about what really happened to Billy.
So no one searched the huge lake 2 miles behind Billy's house because the owner told them not to (yeah, that's not suspicious).
Why are all the men so whiny sounding?
Ashley leaving Henry with Ethan makes little sense. She mentions that Henry barely knows Russ, but wouldn't he know Russ better than Ethan. Ethan has only met Henry one other time, but Russ has lived in the neighborhood the whole time plus Henry even recognizes Russ in the store. I get that Ashley has also just moved back but I don't understand how she trusts Ethan more. Couldn't she leave Henry with Russ' wife since she's home?
Speaking of Henry - I've noticed that whenever authors are inexperienced at writing children they tend to write them as these mini geniuses. They have the vocabulary of 40 year olds and can practically raise themselves.
Russ talks Ethan into buying a top of the line trail cam. It's mentioned that he's nice enough to apply his employee discount (10%) to the purchase, but Russ owns the store so why would he have an employee discount? He's the owner and I've never heard of an owner having a discount to their own store. So now I'm over here thinking Russ is a dick for only giving 10% off an undisclosed priced trail cam when he could have done more.
Then there's this "mystery" that Ethan, Billy, Ragesh, Russ, and Ashley all together went 2 miles through the woods to the institute. Why would a 15 year old girl drag 10 year olds into the woods with her? Did this teenager have nothing else going on that she liked being surrounded by children?
Honestly I was beyond annoyed with Detective Palmer. She keeps asking Ethan who he thinks was behind the murder of Billy. At first he mentions someone at this secretive institution (that no one seems to know what they studied - somehow) and then he mentions the night before that someone was walking around neighbors yards, but she dismisses this with thee most outlandish answer;
"Unfortunately, that’s highly unlikely. Over the years, every known serial killer, kidnapper, and killer of children has been interviewed and asked about Billy Barringer. I’ve mentioned him to at least a dozen myself. Not a single one has confessed to the crime, which they love to do, even if they didn’t commit it."
Lots of serial killers hold back on people they've killed. To say that a serial killer aká murderer wouldn't actually made me laugh out loud. Yeah, you know those killers are one of the most truthful people in the world. Killers sometimes don't even admit to killing more people til years later.
Why did the author feel the need to repeat the name of the book "The Giant Book of Ghosts, Spirits, and Spooks" FOUR times??? (so far)
We are now getting this conversation that Billy was obsessed with ghosts and it's even mentioned that if he saw one he'd be nice to it and not run away. To this I keep thinking - did he think he saw a ghost that night and that's why he didn't scream, but instead followed it outside?
Why would Ethan still have all the small stuff in his room from when he was six years old? He did stay in this room on holidays and during the summer. The way the author writes it it's like Ethan never even returns to this room at all. I mean a teenager in a room for six year olds seems silly.
Okay that was creepy that a baseball rolled from the woods to Ethan's feet, but I keep thinking that someone wants Ethan to leave the house. Maybe there is something that will link that person to the house and they are trying to scare him out of it. So far I'm convinced it's Andy because I'm sure he knew about the baseballs and he's been missing for 10 years.
Why doesn't the trailcam ping when Ethan is in the yard - twice?
WOW it FINALLY happened! We got a queer moment! Johnny kissing Ragesh in the woods.
I keep thinking Claudia is dead. Just the way he keeps calling her, but she never calls him back.
So Hawthorne Institute is hosting weddings and private events, plus it has this amazing lake/waterfall, but someone is able to live on the land without anyone knowing for weeks. Author writes "occasional wedding" but we are knee deep in summer and summer time is prime wedding time so this place would be packed. I'm sorry it's weird to describe this location as a beautiful wedding location and then also say it has the occasional wedding while having a shack on the property that no one would check up on.
Here we have arrived in typical Riley fashion that women never worry about their safety. Ethan goes into the woods and finds the mansion. He's looking through the windows when a woman tells him to stop. He says he's here to look around. He doesn't have an appointment. When she asks about a car he says an Uber dropped him off. There is zero way a woman would continue to talk to this man being alone and in the middle of the woods with a stranger that just pops up out of the blue. He has no appointment and no car and he's looking through the windows. She even asks what kind of event he is planning and Ethan replies it's a wedding. She suggests he come back instead with his fiance but he says she's busy. Dude, no no no! Red flags for a woman all alone in the woods.
Omg Ethan who is lying about it being about a wedding asks zero things that deal with a wedding venue. When she is done with the tour he asks to use the restroom but then mentions that if he had done this the first time upon Lonette seeing him at the window it would have saved them both time - it makes no sense though;
•Would have been more weird to be in the woods and ask to use the restroom randomly w/ no car and on private property
•He wouldn't have known what the door by the bathroom was because he doesn't know where anything is in the house, so he'd know nothing about the basement
Don't worry because he pretends to be so completely stupid he suddenly can't find the bathroom door that Lonette (again a woman all alone with a man that just turns up in the woods) gives up watching him and goes to her office. Thank god at least she called the police then.
I am so confused about the death of Billy. So someone took him to the woods, wrapped him in a blanket, threw him in the falls, took him out of the water (while wrapped in a blanket), and buried him. Why? Why would you do all of that?
Oh we find out that Ethan's mother worked at Hawthorne Institute. And we finally found out why she was fired. I do think it's odd how Ethan didn't know this is where his mother was working. His father and mother never had a conversation that mentioned her job or how odd it was working for the institute? She was fired because she saw them chanting and blood. I thought it would be more exciting. She then just signs an NDA because her boss tells her to. Also it makes little sense that she would drive over to her work on the off chance of finding a door unlocked to get into so she could get the watch. The watch has sat in her top drawer all week so not sure why she wouldn't have dropped it off before then. I know Ethan mentions he was a bad son for not paying attention that she worked there, but this kid listened to everything his parents would say before, so how would he suddenly turn off his hearing for this?
The BIG reveal of who the boss is - Van de Veer is so underwhelming. We know absolutely nothing about this man and have only heard his name in a kind of passing. I was just like "okay". Then I started thinking wouldn't this dude have a better home if he's working for this millionaire? But he lives in this basic house.
Claudia is dead who could have seen that coming? Oh me, that's right. I knew she was dead from the moment he mentioned texting/calling her and her never returning his calls/texts.
I honest to God laughed out loud that Misty Chen moved out her bedroom just with the off chance that her son, Russ might do something bad. I get her being overprotective because her other son died, but it all seemed silly the way it was mentioned and how she knew Russ took the knife. Misty hides the knife under her bed but a few sentences later mentions removing the knife from the kitchen drawer to bury it.
Omg who didn't know it was going to be Andy who's behind all of this!!??
So Henry is missing (stolen by Andy and taken into the woods) they decide to make the hike into the woods - all 2 miles in the dark. Why would they waste that much time when they could have driven a car to the halfway point or to the actual Hawthorne Institute? They are in such a hurry to not waste the seconds to look both ways to cross the street, but no one thought driving would be faster? Plus let's remember this dude has only been in the woods one time in 30 years and he just leads the way in the middle of the night without getting them lost or getting confused. Plus plus call the police while you are going!!
Omg dude Ethan is such a ham. Andy hasn't even said a world but good old Ethan is like "I do know that Andy's not interested in Henry. I'm who he really wants. Henry was just a way to get me here." How the hell does he just know that? There were countless times Andy could have had Ethan. I mean it ends up being true but Ethan just knowing was so ridiculous.
Poor Andy I guess he wasn't allowed to tag along with Billy and his friends, so he was lonely, but didn't he make any friends in school that he could hang out with?
Omgosh is this ever going to end? This book is so long and dull.
Having to reread what you already know that Ethan said to Billy as though it's something new from Andy. Dude didn't hear anymore than we already know so thanks for that.
I’m still completely lost on why Andy had to drag and torment Ethan like this. Why didn't he tell his mother when his brother was missing? Why didn't he approach the police as an adult? Why this dramatic moment when he didn't do anything but overhear the argument that he had to kidnap a child?
"The only reason that Andy stays quiet is because he's been told by everyone that Billy had been taken, most likely by a stranger who grabbed him after slashing the tent."
Could you imagine a 7 year old having this much insight to not tell anyone what they heard because they believe there's another plausible explanation?
Of course it was Ashley because the actions of all the characters make so little sense and the theories are held together with a string.
Oh so Billy WALKED in the woods barefoot for a mile. That would be absolutely so painful. I do know where this is going though - Ashley hit him with a car and dumped his body at the falls.
Yep. Ashley hit him. When we get the story at the ending it was never mentioned that there were tire marks from a fast stop on the road. It says she pounded the brakes so there would definitely be tire marks.
There's so many plot holes in this book;
•Why didn't Ethan tell the police that Billy had been caught in the woods earlier in the day and had even been at the institute the night before?
•Why wouldn't the police have searched the institute's area?
•Why did Ashley suddenly confess when Andy told her that he wasn't going to harm her son (he had no reason to) but now he'd be more motivated to since she killed his brother.
•Why didn't anyone think it was odd that on the night that Billy goes missing Ashley has a story about hitting a deer? Did the police not search people's houses and notice cars? They believed a car had picked up Billy at the road so wouldn’t checking cars in the neighborhood be important?
Don't worry because once Andy gets a confession from Ashley he says thank you to her and then crumbles with Ethan as they cry.
Thanks Riley for another supernatural water scene. Billy to the rescue to guide his horrible friend to safety. I guess Billy's spirit was just waiting around (after his body was finally found) to just help Ethan. Somehow that was his unfinished business. It wasn't but they found his body. It wasn't that Ashley finally admitted to his death. No it was Ethan needing to be saved in the water that was his business keeping him on this Earth.
There's a part in the book where I feel like Riley Sager is telling you to grow up and not everything is so black and white.
"Ethan no longer bothers to venture, people even expressed disappointment that the truth was so mundane, so boringly human. There were no villains in the story. There were no heroes. Just a neighborhood of flawed people some more than others."
The ending of this book certainly gave us a boring and underwhelming ending.
Oh my God then Ethan adopts Henry because Ashley asked him too. This is the most ludicrous thing in a book ever. So now Henry loses his mother after finding out she murdered another boy and he has to live with this complete stranger that he's only seen for a few weeks. This is crazy. Not only that but then Ethan agrees to this. "Happy New Year, Dad" hahaha!
Final Thoughts:
You know how Sager said it the first pov from a male perspective, well everyone gets a POV on the day of the murder. It's kind of like American Beauty where it shows what everyone is doing and building up to.
Had a lot of problems with this book. As if you couldn't already tell. The random multiple POV's. I hate the pov's of the children. The language they used and words were like college graduates. The cheesy ending. The characters are dumb. Honestly, I could go on and on. This book frustrated me to no end. It has a lot of plot holes and scenes that don't make sense when things are revealed. I'm still unsure why Andy hid in the woods and kidnapped a child to get Ethan to talk. I didn't understand why they called the cops if they didn't want Andy arrested. Why not just let him go after finding out about Ashley and then Ashley admitting to the crime when they got back to the houses?
Thanks to Netgalley and Dutton publishing for this advanced ebook copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
PS - no handyman in this one....
July 9, 2024
Funny thing is, as soon as I opened the first page of the book, Phil Collins’ “(Billy) Don’t Lose My Number” started playing in my head. I know there's not much resemblance or direct connection between the song and the plotline, but as an 80’s child, I listened to it while I kept reading because this book reminded me of my own childhood, friends, relationships with siblings, how I perceived my parents, and my neighborhood! It felt like a trip down memory lane!
I’m not going to rate this book five stars, but I have to be fair—this is the most special book Riley Sager has created! It’s not a big mystery or an earth-shattering thriller with eye-popping, jaw-dropping revelations or a phenomenal paranormal scary story, but it’s a genuine, emotional, gripping mystery about grief, letting go, and being trapped in a spiral symbolized by Hemlock Circle. People are drawn there like magnets and can’t leave until they face their fears, secrets, and dark pasts.
Ethan Marsh returns to his childhood house after 30 years, where one of the most tragic moments in his life occurred: his best friend and next-door neighbor, Billy, was taken from their camp tent in their backyard in a quiet, quaint New Jersey cul-de-sac while he was sleeping next to him. Someone sliced open the tent at night to take Billy, leaving Ethan behind. Unfortunately, Ethan has no idea what happened that night or who took his friend, leading to 30 years of insomnia and guilt that affect his ability to form a family and create conflicts with his wife. He only hears a screeching sound in his dreams and wakes up with no memory. He tried everything, including hypnosis, but his memory of that ominous night remains blocked.
Now, due to financial and relationship issues, he’s forced to live in this house because his parents, retiring and moving to Florida, left him to take care of the place.
As soon as he moves back into the house, facing Hemlock Circle and his old neighbors, he notices blinking lights. The next day, he finds a baseball left in the yard, similar to the baseballs Billy used to leave for him 30 years ago to summon him to play. Before he can connect the dots, he receives news that shatters his world: they finally found Billy’s remains. What if those baseballs and the blinking lights are signs from Billy’s spirit trying to connect with him?
On the same day Billy was taken, five of them had visited a mysterious institute founded and funded by the rich philanthropist Ezra Hawthorne, where occultists tried to connect with spirits. During their visit, something happened to Billy that tested their friendship and questioned their bonds. Could his kidnapping be related to that day?
After Ethan and his childhood babysitter Ashley return to the neighborhood, the circle closes. All five people who were at the institute the day Billy was taken have returned! Could Billy’s demise be connected to the secret institute, or was he taken by someone he knew in the neighborhood? Is this why Ethan cannot remember, because he’s afraid of uncovering the dark truth that may ruin his life?
Overall, I liked the conclusion. Billy, Henry, and the entire group of weirdo bookish kids will always have a place in my heart. It takes one to know the other! This is a gripping, sentimental read about grief, longing, and guilt feelings that follow you throughout life until you learn to forgive yourself. I appreciate the dramatic and realistic execution.
This is not a shocking, chilling thriller, but it’s still a well-written mystery that tugs at your heartstrings. I didn’t expect to become teary-eyed while reading a Riley Sager book, but I did, and it truly surprised me. That’s why I highly recommend this book to mystery lovers and to those who want to take a trip down their own childhood lane.
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————————————————————-
Dear God,
It's been torture waiting for the release date of Riley Siger's latest book, especially after my requests for ARC copies have been repeatedly rejected by the publishers. This time, my request is still pending, and I'm praying fervently that I won't receive that ominous sentence: "Your request has been declined." I'm crossing my fingers—well, metaphorically, because my hands are literally holding onto the ground. I've been stuck in a headstand position ever since that embarrassing yoga class.
Amen.
I’m not going to rate this book five stars, but I have to be fair—this is the most special book Riley Sager has created! It’s not a big mystery or an earth-shattering thriller with eye-popping, jaw-dropping revelations or a phenomenal paranormal scary story, but it’s a genuine, emotional, gripping mystery about grief, letting go, and being trapped in a spiral symbolized by Hemlock Circle. People are drawn there like magnets and can’t leave until they face their fears, secrets, and dark pasts.
Ethan Marsh returns to his childhood house after 30 years, where one of the most tragic moments in his life occurred: his best friend and next-door neighbor, Billy, was taken from their camp tent in their backyard in a quiet, quaint New Jersey cul-de-sac while he was sleeping next to him. Someone sliced open the tent at night to take Billy, leaving Ethan behind. Unfortunately, Ethan has no idea what happened that night or who took his friend, leading to 30 years of insomnia and guilt that affect his ability to form a family and create conflicts with his wife. He only hears a screeching sound in his dreams and wakes up with no memory. He tried everything, including hypnosis, but his memory of that ominous night remains blocked.
Now, due to financial and relationship issues, he’s forced to live in this house because his parents, retiring and moving to Florida, left him to take care of the place.
As soon as he moves back into the house, facing Hemlock Circle and his old neighbors, he notices blinking lights. The next day, he finds a baseball left in the yard, similar to the baseballs Billy used to leave for him 30 years ago to summon him to play. Before he can connect the dots, he receives news that shatters his world: they finally found Billy’s remains. What if those baseballs and the blinking lights are signs from Billy’s spirit trying to connect with him?
On the same day Billy was taken, five of them had visited a mysterious institute founded and funded by the rich philanthropist Ezra Hawthorne, where occultists tried to connect with spirits. During their visit, something happened to Billy that tested their friendship and questioned their bonds. Could his kidnapping be related to that day?
After Ethan and his childhood babysitter Ashley return to the neighborhood, the circle closes. All five people who were at the institute the day Billy was taken have returned! Could Billy’s demise be connected to the secret institute, or was he taken by someone he knew in the neighborhood? Is this why Ethan cannot remember, because he’s afraid of uncovering the dark truth that may ruin his life?
Overall, I liked the conclusion. Billy, Henry, and the entire group of weirdo bookish kids will always have a place in my heart. It takes one to know the other! This is a gripping, sentimental read about grief, longing, and guilt feelings that follow you throughout life until you learn to forgive yourself. I appreciate the dramatic and realistic execution.
This is not a shocking, chilling thriller, but it’s still a well-written mystery that tugs at your heartstrings. I didn’t expect to become teary-eyed while reading a Riley Sager book, but I did, and it truly surprised me. That’s why I highly recommend this book to mystery lovers and to those who want to take a trip down their own childhood lane.
Follow me on medium.com to read my articles about books, movies, streaming series, astrology:
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————————————————————-
Dear God,
It's been torture waiting for the release date of Riley Siger's latest book, especially after my requests for ARC copies have been repeatedly rejected by the publishers. This time, my request is still pending, and I'm praying fervently that I won't receive that ominous sentence: "Your request has been declined." I'm crossing my fingers—well, metaphorically, because my hands are literally holding onto the ground. I've been stuck in a headstand position ever since that embarrassing yoga class.
Amen.
March 12, 2024
As the big fan of Riley Sager's books, 'Middle of the Night" was one of my most eagerly anticipated book of the year, and I'm delighted to report that it absolutely delivered! From the beginning, I was completely ensnared by its intricate plot and compelling characters and couldn't pull the book down until I finished!
The story opens in 1994, with 10-year-old Ethan and his best friend Billy embarking on a camping trip in Ethan's backyard. However, what starts as an innocent adventure takes a dark turn when their tent is slashed in the dead of night, and Billy vanishes without a trace. The haunting mystery of Billy's disappearance lingers for three decades, casting a shadow over Ethan's life.
Fast forward to the present day, and Ethan finds himself back in his hometown, grappling with the ghosts of his past. But as he settles back into his childhood home, strange and unsettling occurrences begin to unfold. Ethan is plagued by eerie visions and inexplicable phenomena, leaving him to question his sanity and confront the possibility of something far more sinister lurking in the darkness.
Riley Sager masterfully crafts a narrative that is equal parts gripping and atmospheric, weaving together elements of mystery, suspense, and a subtle touch of the paranormal. Each twist and turn kept me on the edge of my seat, eagerly turning the pages to unravel the truth behind Billy's disappearance and the mystery events haunting Ethan's present.
'Middle of the Night' is absolutely a masterful thriller that delivers on every front. It falls second in my list of favorite Riley Sager books, right after "Home Before Dark."
Highly recommended for every fan of suspenseful, atmospheric mysteries!
The story opens in 1994, with 10-year-old Ethan and his best friend Billy embarking on a camping trip in Ethan's backyard. However, what starts as an innocent adventure takes a dark turn when their tent is slashed in the dead of night, and Billy vanishes without a trace. The haunting mystery of Billy's disappearance lingers for three decades, casting a shadow over Ethan's life.
Fast forward to the present day, and Ethan finds himself back in his hometown, grappling with the ghosts of his past. But as he settles back into his childhood home, strange and unsettling occurrences begin to unfold. Ethan is plagued by eerie visions and inexplicable phenomena, leaving him to question his sanity and confront the possibility of something far more sinister lurking in the darkness.
Riley Sager masterfully crafts a narrative that is equal parts gripping and atmospheric, weaving together elements of mystery, suspense, and a subtle touch of the paranormal. Each twist and turn kept me on the edge of my seat, eagerly turning the pages to unravel the truth behind Billy's disappearance and the mystery events haunting Ethan's present.
'Middle of the Night' is absolutely a masterful thriller that delivers on every front. It falls second in my list of favorite Riley Sager books, right after "Home Before Dark."
Highly recommended for every fan of suspenseful, atmospheric mysteries!
July 7, 2024
While you might have already heard the premise of Sager’s newest novel, I strongly recommend going into this one 100% blind. Even though the synopsis doesn’t exactly give anything away, I found my love for it was altogether bolstered by being completely in the dark. If, however, you’re one of those people and need the promised blurb no matter what, just skip down to the end of this review where you’ll find it in full…
Layered with mysteries. Captivating, flawed characters. A deep poignancy. All of the above describes Middle of the Night to a T. In true Riley Sager fashion, this psychological thriller was wholly unguessable as well as utterly creepy. What I didn’t expect to encounter, however, were the more moving touches. From the masterful character building to the emotional insights within multiple subplots, there wasn’t a thing not to love in what was merely an extension of this author’s preexisting brilliance.
My absolute favorite piece to this downright sensation of a novel were easily the characters, however. Realistic, imperfect, and genuine, they each came alive on the page. I was particularly enamored at the ease at which Sager managed to craft true-to-life tweens and adults. After all, the thought processes and behaviors were pure perfection for both. Compelling and hypnotic, they won me over hook, line, and sinker. Especially young Henry, who was the star of the cast.
The plot itself was everything I could ever want in a Sager book and more. Eerie, atmospheric, and with an addictive paranormal edge, it was immersive storytelling at its best. Told via dual timelines and multiple POVs, the complex storyline bobbed and weaved until the final timely revelation. And let me tell you, there was propulsive foreboding and a definite The Sixth Sense feel that nailed it in one. So much so, in fact, that the possibilities of where it was all leading were endless. I must add, though, not to let the paranormal element throw you. It was subtly done and allowed for quite the spellbinding twist.
All in all, it was no surprise to me that this book was yet another slam dunk success. Already one of my auto-buy authors, Sager delivered a novel that felt a step above the rest. Thought-provoking but also one heck of a spine-tingling rollercoaster ride of suspense, there was more depth to this one than I was expecting. I mean, it actually brought me to tears. While this may perturb a Sager fan or two, for me it was a much loved bonus. Nostalgic, tense, and well-written, it was ultimately darn near perfection. Rating of 5 stars.
Thank you to Riley Sager, Dutton Books, and NetGalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: June 18, 2024
Trigger warning: dementia, mention of: drug overdose, death of a spouse
As promised, the publisher provided synopsis:
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 ghosts 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.
Layered with mysteries. Captivating, flawed characters. A deep poignancy. All of the above describes Middle of the Night to a T. In true Riley Sager fashion, this psychological thriller was wholly unguessable as well as utterly creepy. What I didn’t expect to encounter, however, were the more moving touches. From the masterful character building to the emotional insights within multiple subplots, there wasn’t a thing not to love in what was merely an extension of this author’s preexisting brilliance.
My absolute favorite piece to this downright sensation of a novel were easily the characters, however. Realistic, imperfect, and genuine, they each came alive on the page. I was particularly enamored at the ease at which Sager managed to craft true-to-life tweens and adults. After all, the thought processes and behaviors were pure perfection for both. Compelling and hypnotic, they won me over hook, line, and sinker. Especially young Henry, who was the star of the cast.
The plot itself was everything I could ever want in a Sager book and more. Eerie, atmospheric, and with an addictive paranormal edge, it was immersive storytelling at its best. Told via dual timelines and multiple POVs, the complex storyline bobbed and weaved until the final timely revelation. And let me tell you, there was propulsive foreboding and a definite The Sixth Sense feel that nailed it in one. So much so, in fact, that the possibilities of where it was all leading were endless. I must add, though, not to let the paranormal element throw you. It was subtly done and allowed for quite the spellbinding twist.
All in all, it was no surprise to me that this book was yet another slam dunk success. Already one of my auto-buy authors, Sager delivered a novel that felt a step above the rest. Thought-provoking but also one heck of a spine-tingling rollercoaster ride of suspense, there was more depth to this one than I was expecting. I mean, it actually brought me to tears. While this may perturb a Sager fan or two, for me it was a much loved bonus. Nostalgic, tense, and well-written, it was ultimately darn near perfection. Rating of 5 stars.
Thank you to Riley Sager, Dutton Books, and NetGalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: June 18, 2024
Trigger warning: dementia, mention of: drug overdose, death of a spouse
As promised, the publisher provided synopsis:
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 ghosts 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.
Shelved as 'anticipated-releases'
February 23, 2024feb 23— last night, i had this incredible dream where i was actually approved for the arc 😩
me, this morning refreshing my mails like:
jan 3— in the middle of the night, in my dreams
you should see the things we do, baby 🎶
me, this morning refreshing my mails like:
jan 3— in the middle of the night, in my dreams
you should see the things we do, baby 🎶
June 9, 2024
Riley Sager's books are always an automatic request for me—I just can't resist his writing style and the way he builds up a story. This latest read had me teetering between 3 and 4 stars. It’s definitely a slow burn, with the only fast-paced action hitting in the last few chapters. But oh, what a beginning! It grabbed me so fiercely that I had to keep reading, desperate for answers.
The story jumps between past and present, weaving a compelling tale. Years ago, young Ethan and Billy were camping in Ethan's backyard. Ethan wakes up to find a slash in the tent and Billy gone—never to be seen again. Flash forward to present day, and Ethan is still searching for answers. The mystery unfolds gradually, keeping you hooked till the very end.
The ending ties everything up nicely, and I found it satisfying. Once again, I’m eagerly awaiting Riley Sager's next book, ready to hit that Request button without hesitation.
Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for letting me read and review this ARC.
The story jumps between past and present, weaving a compelling tale. Years ago, young Ethan and Billy were camping in Ethan's backyard. Ethan wakes up to find a slash in the tent and Billy gone—never to be seen again. Flash forward to present day, and Ethan is still searching for answers. The mystery unfolds gradually, keeping you hooked till the very end.
The ending ties everything up nicely, and I found it satisfying. Once again, I’m eagerly awaiting Riley Sager's next book, ready to hit that Request button without hesitation.
Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for letting me read and review this ARC.
February 19, 2024
Middle of the Night is my first Riley Sager novel and it definitely did not disappoint. There's suspense and drama and mystery and just the tiniest hint of the supernatural. It kept me reading well past bedtime last night – I just couldn't wait another eight-ish hours to find out how it ended (and sleep is totally overrated anyway)!
I don't always enjoy books with dual timelines, but this one worked really well for me. I loved that the flashbacks are set in 1994 – I would have been the same age as Ashley that year, so this story was rather nostalgic for me. I mean, is there a single person my age (or older) who doesn't remember O.J. getting chased down the highway in the white Ford Bronco?!
Ethan Marsh is a likeable and sympathetic main character, and you can't help but feel for him due to the circumstances of his return to Hemlock Circle. And while there are certainly some suspicious characters living on his cul-de-sac, they're all equally as well-written and multifaceted as Ethan himself. Really, I can't say that there was a single character that I didn't like (a rarity for psychological thrillers), and I found Henry to be especially endearing.
Oh, and there's no romance in this one. Thank you, Riley Sager! I deplore unnecessary romance in novels.
This book is full of twists and turns, and there was at least one of them that absolutely floored me – I did not see it coming at all. The two major twists surrounding Billy's disappearance weren't quite as shocking for me since I guessed both of them fairly early on in the novel (and I am not particularly talented when it comes to such things), but it was still a suspenseful ride to the conclusion. Expect lots of red herrings.
My one small complaint does have to do with the ending, however – it is very, very saccharine in spots. I mean, I would not have been at all surprised if some frolicking unicorns had been written into the story in the last few pages, because they would have fit perfectly with all of the glitter and rainbows. That's not to say that everything ends happily (or does it? I'll never tell!), but parts of it just seemed kind of out of place considering the darkness that permeates the rest of the book. I did love the scene at the lake with Ethan and Henry, though – it is absolutely fantastic and might've given me the I'm-not-crying-you're-crying sniffles.
My overall rating: 4.35 stars, rounded down. If you like well-written psychological thrillers with just a hint of the supernatural, you should definitely give this one a read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.
I don't always enjoy books with dual timelines, but this one worked really well for me. I loved that the flashbacks are set in 1994 – I would have been the same age as Ashley that year, so this story was rather nostalgic for me. I mean, is there a single person my age (or older) who doesn't remember O.J. getting chased down the highway in the white Ford Bronco?!
Ethan Marsh is a likeable and sympathetic main character, and you can't help but feel for him due to the circumstances of his return to Hemlock Circle. And while there are certainly some suspicious characters living on his cul-de-sac, they're all equally as well-written and multifaceted as Ethan himself. Really, I can't say that there was a single character that I didn't like (a rarity for psychological thrillers), and I found Henry to be especially endearing.
Oh, and there's no romance in this one. Thank you, Riley Sager! I deplore unnecessary romance in novels.
This book is full of twists and turns, and there was at least one of them that absolutely floored me – I did not see it coming at all. The two major twists surrounding Billy's disappearance weren't quite as shocking for me since I guessed both of them fairly early on in the novel (and I am not particularly talented when it comes to such things), but it was still a suspenseful ride to the conclusion. Expect lots of red herrings.
My one small complaint does have to do with the ending, however – it is very, very saccharine in spots. I mean, I would not have been at all surprised if some frolicking unicorns had been written into the story in the last few pages, because they would have fit perfectly with all of the glitter and rainbows. That's not to say that everything ends happily (or does it? I'll never tell!), but parts of it just seemed kind of out of place considering the darkness that permeates the rest of the book. I did love the scene at the lake with Ethan and Henry, though – it is absolutely fantastic and might've given me the I'm-not-crying-you're-crying sniffles.
My overall rating: 4.35 stars, rounded down. If you like well-written psychological thrillers with just a hint of the supernatural, you should definitely give this one a read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.
February 16, 2024
So exciting to read the new Riley Sager book!!! Some supernatural elements that will keep you pushing through wondering what is happening? The setting is a basic neighborhood in the Hemlock Circle, but the woods behind the houses will have you thinking about it long into the night. I didn’t realize how in-depth the parapsychology was studied until introduced to the Hawthorne Institute created by the billionaire Ezra Hawthorne, where basically they study ghosts or tried to explain the unexplainable. This institute is located deep in the woods beyond the neighborhood and forbidden territory. Try telling that to curious pre middle school boys, as they go for an adventure through the woods. Later that night, one boy will disappear.
Ethan, 30 years later, has moved back to his childhood home where a camping trip in his backyard ended with his best friend vanished. The only remnants of a disturbance was a slash in their tent. He tried desperately to find something in that night that he could remember. When Billy’s bones are discovered near the Hawthorne Institute, he thinks it has something to do with their trespassing.
The characters are flawed people sharing a piece of the past that brings them together, some confrontational and others welcomed. A well thought out book that I felt every move as if I was there. Well-done, Riley! You have earned all the recognition!
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this incredible ARC in exchange for my honest review!
Ethan, 30 years later, has moved back to his childhood home where a camping trip in his backyard ended with his best friend vanished. The only remnants of a disturbance was a slash in their tent. He tried desperately to find something in that night that he could remember. When Billy’s bones are discovered near the Hawthorne Institute, he thinks it has something to do with their trespassing.
The characters are flawed people sharing a piece of the past that brings them together, some confrontational and others welcomed. A well thought out book that I felt every move as if I was there. Well-done, Riley! You have earned all the recognition!
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for this incredible ARC in exchange for my honest review!
July 5, 2024
Riley Sager its looks like we have come to the end of the road…
And I am now officially ready to let you go!
What was this book please?
Middle of the night summed up is about a boy named Ethan who had a sleepover with his friend Billy in the tent in his backyard and in the middle of the night when he wakes up, his sees that the tent has a slit sliced into it and his friend Billy is no longer there. 30 years later Billy is still missing. Ethan has moved back to his hometown; he is plagued with insomnia and starts noticing strange things happening in the middle of the night .😏 What’s going on? Is someone playing tricks on him? Or has Billy, who was believed to be dead returned home?
Sounds eerie and ominous right!? WROOOOOOOOOOOONG! What an absolute snooze fest! I was so damn bored! It was repetitive and the plot really didn’t feel like it was going anywhere. I swear to you it was a struggle to remain focused as I couldn’t give a flying F about what happened to Billy.
The mini revelations along the way was lackluster and the conclusion to the story was not exciting and was cliched and boringly told.
The main protagonist Ethan… sigh! A rock has more personality. There was nothing interesting about him. It was all 'Billy, Billy, Billy'. We barely know anything else about him. So, because of this it made it hard for me to give a damn about anything else going on in the book. Kudos to him finally writing about a male protagonist even if it was poorly done.
⋆｡°✩WHAT I LIKED⋆｡°✩
➽ Short chapters
➽ Didn’t guess the ‘twist’
➽ Henry
⋆｡°✩WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE⋆｡°✩
➽ Almost all of the characters
➽ Even though I didn’t guess the twist, when it was told it was MID
➽ Semi predictability
➽ Repetitive
➽ Felt way to long and dragged!
Anywhoooo this one just wasn’t for me and I just have to accept that this author writing and imagination just doesn’t work for me unfortunately.
1.5 ⭐
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
⋆｡°✩pre read⋆｡°✩
Mr. Sager is on his LAST CHANCE with me!
I hope this book exceeds my expectations and restores my hope in him!
🤞��💚🖤💚
And I am now officially ready to let you go!
What was this book please?
Middle of the night summed up is about a boy named Ethan who had a sleepover with his friend Billy in the tent in his backyard and in the middle of the night when he wakes up, his sees that the tent has a slit sliced into it and his friend Billy is no longer there. 30 years later Billy is still missing. Ethan has moved back to his hometown; he is plagued with insomnia and starts noticing strange things happening in the middle of the night .😏 What’s going on? Is someone playing tricks on him? Or has Billy, who was believed to be dead returned home?
Sounds eerie and ominous right!? WROOOOOOOOOOOONG! What an absolute snooze fest! I was so damn bored! It was repetitive and the plot really didn’t feel like it was going anywhere. I swear to you it was a struggle to remain focused as I couldn’t give a flying F about what happened to Billy.
The mini revelations along the way was lackluster and the conclusion to the story was not exciting and was cliched and boringly told.
The main protagonist Ethan… sigh! A rock has more personality. There was nothing interesting about him. It was all 'Billy, Billy, Billy'. We barely know anything else about him. So, because of this it made it hard for me to give a damn about anything else going on in the book. Kudos to him finally writing about a male protagonist even if it was poorly done.
⋆｡°✩WHAT I LIKED⋆｡°✩
➽ Short chapters
➽ Didn’t guess the ‘twist’
➽ Henry
⋆｡°✩WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE⋆｡°✩
➽ Almost all of the characters
➽ Even though I didn’t guess the twist, when it was told it was MID
➽ Semi predictability
➽ Repetitive
➽ Felt way to long and dragged!
Anywhoooo this one just wasn’t for me and I just have to accept that this author writing and imagination just doesn’t work for me unfortunately.
1.5 ⭐
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
⋆｡°✩pre read⋆｡°✩
Mr. Sager is on his LAST CHANCE with me!
I hope this book exceeds my expectations and restores my hope in him!
🤞��💚🖤💚
Currently reading
July 9, 2024 reading log 🤍
09/07 8:52am
this isn’t really a beach read but i’m going to finish it on the beach on the amalfi coast 😎
08/07 6:03pm
i like how it feels like an isolated thriller even thought i guess it’s not really
pre-reading 🎀
i started reading this on the plane! is it giving creepy vibes? not so much but maybe because i was delirious due to sleep deprivation - idk i’m starting to think thrillers aren’t for me anymore and that’s really sad ):
the last good one i read was by riley sager though <3
09/07 8:52am
this isn’t really a beach read but i’m going to finish it on the beach on the amalfi coast 😎
08/07 6:03pm
i like how it feels like an isolated thriller even thought i guess it’s not really
pre-reading 🎀
i started reading this on the plane! is it giving creepy vibes? not so much but maybe because i was delirious due to sleep deprivation - idk i’m starting to think thrillers aren’t for me anymore and that’s really sad ):
the last good one i read was by riley sager though <3
June 20, 2024
4/5 - Overall, I enjoyed this one. It was really slow in the beginning, but by the half way point I was fully in it. The twists were solid, but nothing crazy like his other books. My favorite part was the discussion on friendship and grief! Riley Sager handle these two topics extremely well and made me even tear up too. This was more of a slow burn mystery that pulls at the heart strings. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was mine.
June 12, 2024
An atmospheric thriller from Riley Sager about Ethan Marsh, a man in his 40 haunted by a tragic event that happened to him when he was a child. Thirty years earlier, Ethan was having a sleepover in a tent in his backyard with his friend Billy. That night someone sliced the tent and took Billy, never to be seen again. Years later Ethan is back and convinced Billy's got something to tell him...
Riley Sager is an author whose books I will always read but don't always love. He can be hit or miss. This one fell in the middle for me a bit. I think this story had great bones but got a bit lost in the minutia of the everyday details. Sager paints a picture of what life on the lane was like in the 90's versus present day, and there were a lot of twists and turns. I did enjoy this book, but at no point was I scared, thrilled, or even super invested in what would happen by the end. And that's not my usual reaction to a Sager novel. I think many people will love this book, and I will always been reading this author's books, no matter what he writes.
An advanced listening copy by provided by libro.fm via the librarian alc program
Riley Sager is an author whose books I will always read but don't always love. He can be hit or miss. This one fell in the middle for me a bit. I think this story had great bones but got a bit lost in the minutia of the everyday details. Sager paints a picture of what life on the lane was like in the 90's versus present day, and there were a lot of twists and turns. I did enjoy this book, but at no point was I scared, thrilled, or even super invested in what would happen by the end. And that's not my usual reaction to a Sager novel. I think many people will love this book, and I will always been reading this author's books, no matter what he writes.
An advanced listening copy by provided by libro.fm via the librarian alc program
April 17, 2024
16th July 1994, Hemlock Circle, New Jersey
Ten year old Ethan Marsh wakes in his tent feeling safe and snug, but it’s the last time he’ll feel that way for the next thirty years. Why so? The night before, his best friend Billy Barringer is in the tent with him but he’s now gone and is never seen again. Thirty years on, Ethan is reluctantly back in Hemlock Circle, he’s plagued with insomnia and understandably, bad dreams. He begins to be aware of strange things happening, an invisible presence he’s certain links to Billy. He starts to investigate the strange case of the infamous Lost Boy which remains a mystery with no suspects, no answers and no Billy.
A new Riley Sager is always a cause for celebration and yet again I’m doing my happy reader dance as it’s so good. The author has me in its thrall from the first word as the suspense is off the charts on multiple occasions. The more Ethan digs, the bigger the shocks he gets and his mind, already in overdrive, spins in many directions. The setting has much to do with how good the book is. I mean, Hemlock Circle, what a great name which conjures all sorts of ideas. Add in the woods behind the houses which are shadowy and dark making you wonder what lurks there, which taps into every human fear.
As if that’s not enough atmosphere, the author ramps it up with the Hawthorne Institute owned by reclusive billionaire Ezra Hawthorne which is secretive and off-limits to all. Try telling that to curious 10-year-olds. What goes on there? Rumours abound and this intensifies the spooky weirdness and raises suspicions by more than one notch. Throughout the novel there’s a creepy, ghostly sensation and at times a palpable sense of menace jumps off the pages, riveting me to the text.
You cast your eyes across all the residents of Hemlock Circle just as Ethan does, with each of them having a backstory that feeds into the mystery of present day. There’s everything from sadness to grief, to tragedy but the absolute light that shines through all is the character of Henry, son of Ethan‘s childhood friend Ashley. He is an utter joy and brightens every page.
It will be no surprise to say that the twists just keep on coming. There are cliffhanger chapter endings which either sends the jaw to the floor or causes a deep inhale of breath, making your mind scramble to try to catch up.
I love the unpredictable ending which is a great blend of the real and the supernatural, sure never see that one coming.
It’s an easy five stars from me. Well played Riley Sager and this has got best seller written all over it.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Hodder and Stoughton for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
Ten year old Ethan Marsh wakes in his tent feeling safe and snug, but it’s the last time he’ll feel that way for the next thirty years. Why so? The night before, his best friend Billy Barringer is in the tent with him but he’s now gone and is never seen again. Thirty years on, Ethan is reluctantly back in Hemlock Circle, he’s plagued with insomnia and understandably, bad dreams. He begins to be aware of strange things happening, an invisible presence he’s certain links to Billy. He starts to investigate the strange case of the infamous Lost Boy which remains a mystery with no suspects, no answers and no Billy.
A new Riley Sager is always a cause for celebration and yet again I’m doing my happy reader dance as it’s so good. The author has me in its thrall from the first word as the suspense is off the charts on multiple occasions. The more Ethan digs, the bigger the shocks he gets and his mind, already in overdrive, spins in many directions. The setting has much to do with how good the book is. I mean, Hemlock Circle, what a great name which conjures all sorts of ideas. Add in the woods behind the houses which are shadowy and dark making you wonder what lurks there, which taps into every human fear.
As if that’s not enough atmosphere, the author ramps it up with the Hawthorne Institute owned by reclusive billionaire Ezra Hawthorne which is secretive and off-limits to all. Try telling that to curious 10-year-olds. What goes on there? Rumours abound and this intensifies the spooky weirdness and raises suspicions by more than one notch. Throughout the novel there’s a creepy, ghostly sensation and at times a palpable sense of menace jumps off the pages, riveting me to the text.
You cast your eyes across all the residents of Hemlock Circle just as Ethan does, with each of them having a backstory that feeds into the mystery of present day. There’s everything from sadness to grief, to tragedy but the absolute light that shines through all is the character of Henry, son of Ethan‘s childhood friend Ashley. He is an utter joy and brightens every page.
It will be no surprise to say that the twists just keep on coming. There are cliffhanger chapter endings which either sends the jaw to the floor or causes a deep inhale of breath, making your mind scramble to try to catch up.
I love the unpredictable ending which is a great blend of the real and the supernatural, sure never see that one coming.
It’s an easy five stars from me. Well played Riley Sager and this has got best seller written all over it.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Hodder and Stoughton for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
July 3, 2024
Middle of the Road...
MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT: A Novel
by Riley Sager
No spoilers. 2 stars. In 1994, 10 year old Ethan Marsh and his friend Billy were having a sleepover in a pup tent in Ethan's backyard...
Next morning...
Ethan woke up to a slashed tent and a missing Billy. What happened after that is still a mystery...
Billy had entered the realm of urban legend and was never seen or heard from again...
Thirty years later...
Ethan returned to the scene of the crime trying to get some closure and maybe solve the mystery...
This novel, sadly, was a DNF for me. I just couldn't connect with this story at all. I spent a week with it and only reached 30% before I called it quits.
The 30% I read was incredibly boring and moved at a glacial pace. This early part was the hook to the novel, but it wasn't enough to justify going into another week with it.
I really wish that authors would read the memo about fluff and filler. It really leaves readers frustrated, and it's so unnecessary. The puffed up word count took this novel from the fast lane to the middle of the road in record time.
MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT: A Novel
by Riley Sager
No spoilers. 2 stars. In 1994, 10 year old Ethan Marsh and his friend Billy were having a sleepover in a pup tent in Ethan's backyard...
Next morning...
Ethan woke up to a slashed tent and a missing Billy. What happened after that is still a mystery...
Billy had entered the realm of urban legend and was never seen or heard from again...
Thirty years later...
Ethan returned to the scene of the crime trying to get some closure and maybe solve the mystery...
This novel, sadly, was a DNF for me. I just couldn't connect with this story at all. I spent a week with it and only reached 30% before I called it quits.
The 30% I read was incredibly boring and moved at a glacial pace. This early part was the hook to the novel, but it wasn't enough to justify going into another week with it.
I really wish that authors would read the memo about fluff and filler. It really leaves readers frustrated, and it's so unnecessary. The puffed up word count took this novel from the fast lane to the middle of the road in record time.
March 31, 2024
When Sager is good he’s really good. He seems like he’s having fun writing his stories, especially when giving a nod to old slasher/supernatural movies. When he’s bad he really does miss the mark and unfortunately that’s what I found with Middle Of The Night.
Kids reunited as adults trying to solve a murder when they were 10 years old. Some supernatural elements(maybe). Sounds great right? Honestly it read like a poor attempt at an homage to Stephen King.
The whole Institute thing seems like it would be central to the story but ended up feeling like it was awkwardly tacked on and a distraction.
The whole book ends up being one simple story that takes forever to conclude. It’s repetitive. Really repetitive. How many times to we have to read “it’s Billy’s ghost sending me a message. Oh no it’s the wind/a squirrel”etc etc.
This may have worked as a short story but a full novel? Nah not for me. I ended up annoyed at the end and the by then obvious reveals. The whole thing felt a waste of time.
It’s such a shame as the initial idea was great. The whole kids reunited. The murder. The strange institute. But it feels like it’s pretending to be something it isn’t and jumps the shark to end up being a rather simple and boring read.
Many thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.
Kids reunited as adults trying to solve a murder when they were 10 years old. Some supernatural elements(maybe). Sounds great right? Honestly it read like a poor attempt at an homage to Stephen King.
The whole Institute thing seems like it would be central to the story but ended up feeling like it was awkwardly tacked on and a distraction.
The whole book ends up being one simple story that takes forever to conclude. It’s repetitive. Really repetitive. How many times to we have to read “it’s Billy’s ghost sending me a message. Oh no it’s the wind/a squirrel”etc etc.
This may have worked as a short story but a full novel? Nah not for me. I ended up annoyed at the end and the by then obvious reveals. The whole thing felt a waste of time.
It’s such a shame as the initial idea was great. The whole kids reunited. The murder. The strange institute. But it feels like it’s pretending to be something it isn’t and jumps the shark to end up being a rather simple and boring read.
Many thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.
July 4, 2024
This was probably the least spooky, creepy, or scary book that I have read by Riley Sager, yet it delivered, nonetheless. I found this book to be atmospheric, gripping and a great mystery thriller. Ethan's childhood friend, Billy, goes missing during a sleepover in Ethan’s backyard. When Ethan discovers Billy is not in the tent the next morning an investigation ensues, but Billy is not found. Thirty years later, Ethan has come back to his parents’ home and baseballs begin appearing in his backyard just like when he was a kid and Billy wanted to play with him. Ethan wants to know what happened to Billy and along the way becomes reacquainted with old friends and neighbors.
I enjoyed the mystery and trying to figure out how and why Billy disappeared. I had my list of suspects but never saw that shocking reveal coming! There is a small supernatural element to the book but overall, for me this was a well thought out mystery about a boy’s disappearance, trauma, grief, the exploration of how not knowing affects those who lose someone, and loss.
I enjoyed the tension, dread, and sense of danger which crept up on my in the later part of the book.
*A Witches Words buddy read
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com 📖
I enjoyed the mystery and trying to figure out how and why Billy disappeared. I had my list of suspects but never saw that shocking reveal coming! There is a small supernatural element to the book but overall, for me this was a well thought out mystery about a boy’s disappearance, trauma, grief, the exploration of how not knowing affects those who lose someone, and loss.
I enjoyed the tension, dread, and sense of danger which crept up on my in the later part of the book.
*A Witches Words buddy read
Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com 📖
July 1, 2024
IT'S HERE THE NEW BOOK IS HEREEE
edit 24/06 : finally got this 😭😭 already cleared my entire day can't wait to finish it in one sitting 😭😭
edit 30/6: I did struggle to get through the first 50% ngl however the last 50% was AMAZING
when i think of riley sager, i think of crazy plot twists that you never see coming, fast paced, plot driven, fun time but overall forgettable books HOWEVER this one was so different in a good way
does this feel underwhelming compared to his other books? yes, but is this his best writing so far? YES
the characters were soooo well developed, the build up to the second was so sooooo well done, everything comes into play at the end, the twists were amazing as usual however nothing crazy over the top unhinged twists like some of his other books, what the characters are going through feels SO realistic, there's so much empathy, emotion and thought put into each character AND what a beautiful story
there are 3 chapters with povs from 3 different mothers and i genuinely think they are some of his best writing so far
riely segar has officially solidified his place in my favourite authors list with this book
edit 24/06 : finally got this 😭😭 already cleared my entire day can't wait to finish it in one sitting 😭😭
edit 30/6: I did struggle to get through the first 50% ngl however the last 50% was AMAZING
when i think of riley sager, i think of crazy plot twists that you never see coming, fast paced, plot driven, fun time but overall forgettable books HOWEVER this one was so different in a good way
does this feel underwhelming compared to his other books? yes, but is this his best writing so far? YES
the characters were soooo well developed, the build up to the second was so sooooo well done, everything comes into play at the end, the twists were amazing as usual however nothing crazy over the top unhinged twists like some of his other books, what the characters are going through feels SO realistic, there's so much empathy, emotion and thought put into each character AND what a beautiful story
there are 3 chapters with povs from 3 different mothers and i genuinely think they are some of his best writing so far
riely segar has officially solidified his place in my favourite authors list with this book
June 23, 2024
2.5 Stars
I have loved some of Sager's earlier books but I find myself more and more disappointed by his newer releases. I love a good kidnapping story but this one was ultimately boring. I did not enjoy the supernatural aspect the author tried to introduce which just didn't work at all for me. Another miss.
I have loved some of Sager's earlier books but I find myself more and more disappointed by his newer releases. I love a good kidnapping story but this one was ultimately boring. I did not enjoy the supernatural aspect the author tried to introduce which just didn't work at all for me. Another miss.
May 11, 2024
Overall, this had SO much more potential but I still did enjoyed it.
I literally nearly cried when I was approved for an advanced copy of Riley Sager’s newest release Middle Of The Night (thank you NetGalley)!!! It started amazing, great concept and as always Sager’s writing is soooo easy to read, you’ve read 50 pages before you know it.
However:
The kidnapped and suspected murder of Ethan’s best friend Billy happened 20 years ago right next to this creepy ‘institute’ with surrounding grounds that the police just *didn’t think to check*
I never thought I’d say this but there was one too many twists for me. I would still recommend it just not as a priority read 😭
I literally nearly cried when I was approved for an advanced copy of Riley Sager’s newest release Middle Of The Night (thank you NetGalley)!!! It started amazing, great concept and as always Sager’s writing is soooo easy to read, you’ve read 50 pages before you know it.
However:
The kidnapped and suspected murder of Ethan’s best friend Billy happened 20 years ago right next to this creepy ‘institute’ with surrounding grounds that the police just *didn’t think to check*
I never thought I’d say this but there was one too many twists for me. I would still recommend it just not as a priority read 😭
May 12, 2024
I am such a big fan of Riley Sager books and when this approval came through from NetGalley I was so happy! His books are always so unique and fun to read and middle of the Night was no different. Although this one was a bit slower to start, it didn’t stop me from binge reading it in a few hours. I loved the creepiness of the story, the night scenes especially. The supernatural element added to the darkness and freaked me out.
Ethan was 10 years old when his best mate Billy was taken from the tent they were camping in Ethan’s backyard. Billy hasn’t been seen since. Now 30 years later, Ethan returns to his childhood home for the first time, he starts to reconnect with his friends from his youth. And then strange things start happening, usually in the dead of night, Ethan has been an insomniac for years and years and uses this time to investigate.
I loved this book. My mind was all over the place for most of the book, trying to figure it all out. I did not see that ending coming at all. I felt for Ethan and his inability to sleep, been there many times in my life.
Another winner from Riley Sager. I feel so grateful to Hodder and Stoughton for allowing me to read an early copy.
Published on July 2nd, fans will love it.😊
Ethan was 10 years old when his best mate Billy was taken from the tent they were camping in Ethan’s backyard. Billy hasn’t been seen since. Now 30 years later, Ethan returns to his childhood home for the first time, he starts to reconnect with his friends from his youth. And then strange things start happening, usually in the dead of night, Ethan has been an insomniac for years and years and uses this time to investigate.
I loved this book. My mind was all over the place for most of the book, trying to figure it all out. I did not see that ending coming at all. I felt for Ethan and his inability to sleep, been there many times in my life.
Another winner from Riley Sager. I feel so grateful to Hodder and Stoughton for allowing me to read an early copy.
Published on July 2nd, fans will love it.😊
June 8, 2024
Is it even summer without a new Sagar?
Riley Sagar has a trademark writing style. Like his prior books, the beginning of Middle of the Night is slow, tedious, and dare I say it, boring but you want to hang in there because once that twist is revealed, it will all be worthwhile.
I can’t say that Middle of the Night is my favorite by the author but I still found the book to be entertaining. This is my 8th read by Sagar and of course I’ll read whatever he writes next.
I listened to the audiobook version which was narrated by Santino Fontana who did a fantastic job.
Middle of the Night by Riley Sagar will be available on June 18. Many thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for the gifted audiobook!
Riley Sagar has a trademark writing style. Like his prior books, the beginning of Middle of the Night is slow, tedious, and dare I say it, boring but you want to hang in there because once that twist is revealed, it will all be worthwhile.
I can’t say that Middle of the Night is my favorite by the author but I still found the book to be entertaining. This is my 8th read by Sagar and of course I’ll read whatever he writes next.
I listened to the audiobook version which was narrated by Santino Fontana who did a fantastic job.
Middle of the Night by Riley Sagar will be available on June 18. Many thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for the gifted audiobook!
June 26, 2024
Ethan Marsh continues to have a recurring dream that transports him back to the night in 1994 when his best friend and neighbor Billy Barringer was abducted when they were sleeping in a tent behind his home in the Princeton area of New Jersey. The case was never solved, and Billy was never found. Ethan wishes he could recall who took ten-year-old Billy. After his parents move to Florida and his marriage ends, Ethan returns to his childhood home on Hemlock Circle, still haunted by the loss of his friend. When a series of unexplained events start occurring at night, Ethan is finally ready to try and figure out what happened to Billy.
Author Riley Sager sets his latest thriller in a seemingly safe, affluent suburban neighborhood and turns it upside down. Middle of the Night is a gripping mystery thriller with a touch of horror. Do we ever really know our neighbors? And what about the creepy and secretive Hawthorne Institute located at the other end of the woods? Sager has again delivered a book filled with psychological suspense, good twists and in this new novel, some poignant moments.
Review posted on MicheleReader.com.
Author Riley Sager sets his latest thriller in a seemingly safe, affluent suburban neighborhood and turns it upside down. Middle of the Night is a gripping mystery thriller with a touch of horror. Do we ever really know our neighbors? And what about the creepy and secretive Hawthorne Institute located at the other end of the woods? Sager has again delivered a book filled with psychological suspense, good twists and in this new novel, some poignant moments.
Review posted on MicheleReader.com.
Currently reading
July 9, 2024finally got my hands on this one! Riley .. please don’t let me down 🤞🏽
Read
July 8, 2024What a dud
July 4, 2024
Spooky and twisty, not my favourite thriller ever but still really enjoyed it!
May 1, 2024
Thank you so much to Dutton and Riley Sager for my copy of Middle of the Night. Riley is one of my favorite authors, so I was beyond excited to get my hands on this one. It’s about Ethan and his best friend Billy, and the summer Billy is taken from a tent in Ethan’s backyard in the middle of the night. The tent is cut open and no one hears from Billy again. Now years later, Ethan is back in his parents house after his life is turned upside down. Ethan has both terrifying dreams of the night Billy disappeared, as well as insomnia, and now signs of Billy’s presence start showing up in Ethan’s backyard. Is this just a joke? Or has Billy somehow returned to Hemlock circle?
Thoughts: This book was much anticipated and the cover grabbed my attention right away. I love the idea of someone going missing in the middle of the night, and all the mystery surrounding it. I loved the setting of the mysterious institute that may or may not be a cult. It’s more of a mystery than thriller, and the multiple perspectives make for a slow burn.
Unfortunately this book wasn’t my favorite of Sager’s. First of all, it was repetitive and a bit boring. Ethan didn’t have much of a personality, and the way his insomnia is described is confusing. The supernatural elements were not interesting and felt obvious on where they were going. All the reveals were predictable, and there were too many thrown in. Lots of things didn’t make sense (they didn’t search the grounds? He just happened to call when the police found something?). It seemed like a lot of ideas were thrown together to make a book that felt disjointed and predictable. Sadly, 3 stars for this one.
Thoughts: This book was much anticipated and the cover grabbed my attention right away. I love the idea of someone going missing in the middle of the night, and all the mystery surrounding it. I loved the setting of the mysterious institute that may or may not be a cult. It’s more of a mystery than thriller, and the multiple perspectives make for a slow burn.
Unfortunately this book wasn’t my favorite of Sager’s. First of all, it was repetitive and a bit boring. Ethan didn’t have much of a personality, and the way his insomnia is described is confusing. The supernatural elements were not interesting and felt obvious on where they were going. All the reveals were predictable, and there were too many thrown in. Lots of things didn’t make sense (they didn’t search the grounds? He just happened to call when the police found something?). It seemed like a lot of ideas were thrown together to make a book that felt disjointed and predictable. Sadly, 3 stars for this one.
February 8, 2024
Riley Sager has done it again. I was blown away by MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. I liked the small neighborhood friendships, especially Ethan and Billy's, and the earlier flashbacks to 1994 when Billy went missing. The creepy Hawthorne Institute only added more spookiness to the story. I did feel bad for Ethan and everything that he went through but knowing what happened to Billy really helped him in the end. Overall, this was a great story that kept me reading past my bedtime. Highly recommend!
Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton and Netgalley for my gifted ARC.
This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.
Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton and Netgalley for my gifted ARC.
This review will be shared to my Instagram (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.
July 9, 2024
4.5 stars
Guess who's back?? You know it's summertime when a new Riley Sager hits the shelves. His perfect blend of atmosphere, twists, and propulsive narratives are always a hit with me. Come, join us for a deep dive into the dark pasts of suburbia in Middle of the Night...
Concept: ★★★ 1/2
Pacing: ★★★★★
Mysteries/Final Reveals: ★★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★★ 1/2
At this point, you might as well call me a Riley Sager review plant, seeded to guarantee a positive review in the mix no matter the content. It feels that way to me, anyway—I seem to have an addiction to his stories and pacing structures. They're so perfectly paced for me.
Middle of the Night takes place in the most Americana of locations: the suburb. And not just the suburb, but the microcosm: the cul-de-sac.
Bonded by location and forced into tragedy by a disappeared boy in the late 1990s, this small group of cul-de-sac neighbors has weathered the decades with grief, life, and ever-present neighborly status.
Who took Billy from his tent in the backyard one summer night? Why did they leave Ethan, the other boy on the scene, sleeping peacefully in the tent? Why has Billy never been found?
Now in his 4os, Ethan is an adult haunted by the incident of his missing boyhood friend. He has recurring dreams and chronic insomnia and a bone-deep paranoia that doesn't seem to abate with his adult wisdom.
At the start of the novel, Ethan's back in his cul-de-sac recouping from marital strife and housesitting for his parents. It's stirring up ghosts of all kinds in the sleepy—yet vigilant—neighborhood.
And then they find Billy. Things are about to bubble to surface of this sleepy community whether the neighbors want it to or not...
AH. Another winner from Sager. I said it at the beginning of this review and I'll say it again—I just really, really like his stories. The formula works for me and if you're a fan of his earlier books, let's just say you're going to love this one too.
It's spooky without being a paranormal-driven narrative. It's split-timeline with the 1994 events spliced between Ethan's modern-day dramas in the neighborhood to create such perfect tension. And most of all?? It has some red herrings and distracting elements that make you feel like you're on top of the twists...and then it gets you. Even if you get some of it, there's enough nuance to the final third act that I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised by at least something. (Always a treat to be partially surprised by a mystery when you've previously read/watched so many twist formulas in media.)
I am very pleased to have this join my Sager shelf. And I'm already ready for the next one!
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Guess who's back?? You know it's summertime when a new Riley Sager hits the shelves. His perfect blend of atmosphere, twists, and propulsive narratives are always a hit with me. Come, join us for a deep dive into the dark pasts of suburbia in Middle of the Night...
Concept: ★★★ 1/2
Pacing: ★★★★★
Mysteries/Final Reveals: ★★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★★ 1/2
At this point, you might as well call me a Riley Sager review plant, seeded to guarantee a positive review in the mix no matter the content. It feels that way to me, anyway—I seem to have an addiction to his stories and pacing structures. They're so perfectly paced for me.
Middle of the Night takes place in the most Americana of locations: the suburb. And not just the suburb, but the microcosm: the cul-de-sac.
Bonded by location and forced into tragedy by a disappeared boy in the late 1990s, this small group of cul-de-sac neighbors has weathered the decades with grief, life, and ever-present neighborly status.
Who took Billy from his tent in the backyard one summer night? Why did they leave Ethan, the other boy on the scene, sleeping peacefully in the tent? Why has Billy never been found?
Now in his 4os, Ethan is an adult haunted by the incident of his missing boyhood friend. He has recurring dreams and chronic insomnia and a bone-deep paranoia that doesn't seem to abate with his adult wisdom.
At the start of the novel, Ethan's back in his cul-de-sac recouping from marital strife and housesitting for his parents. It's stirring up ghosts of all kinds in the sleepy—yet vigilant—neighborhood.
And then they find Billy. Things are about to bubble to surface of this sleepy community whether the neighbors want it to or not...
AH. Another winner from Sager. I said it at the beginning of this review and I'll say it again—I just really, really like his stories. The formula works for me and if you're a fan of his earlier books, let's just say you're going to love this one too.
It's spooky without being a paranormal-driven narrative. It's split-timeline with the 1994 events spliced between Ethan's modern-day dramas in the neighborhood to create such perfect tension. And most of all?? It has some red herrings and distracting elements that make you feel like you're on top of the twists...and then it gets you. Even if you get some of it, there's enough nuance to the final third act that I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised by at least something. (Always a treat to be partially surprised by a mystery when you've previously read/watched so many twist formulas in media.)
I am very pleased to have this join my Sager shelf. And I'm already ready for the next one!
Blog | Instagram | Libro.fm Audiobooks
July 5, 2024
Are you ready for a creepy campfire tale? In Sager’s newest book he does just that by expertly doling out the chills with mentions of ghosts and phenomena.. all settling vaguely around a mystery involving a missing boy. Talk about having my imagination running wild.. I mean how could this child just disappear from inside a tent, his friend Ethan asleep next to him, never to be seen again? Mmhmm. This ten-year-old just vanished into thin air. That was in 1994. Thirty years later Ethan Marsh returns to his childhood home on Hemlock Circle after having personal issues. With his parents having relocated to Florida he is living alone in the house. Almost immediately eerie, strange things start to happen leading Ethan to think whoever took Billy is back or it’s the ghost of Billy. Ethan’s freaked out, paranoia sets in, and he’s still being plagued by nightmares and insomnia. But Ethan is intent on finding what happened to his best friend and next-door neighbor. He sets out to investigate the closed research institute nearby. It’s the last place Ethan, Billy and friends went on the day of Billy’s disappearance. With the whole gang living back on Hemlock Circle and in town, it’s finally time to solve this sinister mystery. I’ve always enjoyed Sager’s tales written with such excellence in psychological suspense, this too is no exception. The flashbacks to the past gave a clearer sense of Ethan and Billy’s friendship.. and then we have this creepy mansion owned by a crazy billionaire where research was kept hushed. A fantastic spooky summer read that you won’t soon forget. 4 stars — Pub. 6/18/24
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