By Brandi Shuler
Riley Sager has written several thriller novels with likeable characters while throwing new twists to familiar plots. I’ve read his other book, Final Girls, by finding him on Book of the Month, but this is the first time I’ve read Middle of the Night. This novel, published in June 2024, takes a supernatural twist on his typical slasher-esc stories. People have praised him for taking common thriller tropes and breathing new life into them with every story.
This story has a wide range of characters while still being realistic to the setting, which is a cul-de-sac neighborhood in New Jersey. The main character (Ethan Marsh) moves back into his childhood home and starts to experience creepy things he can’t decide what to blame them on: his insomnia or his long-ago-disappeared best friend. These strange things continue to feel worse and worse, all while Ethan tries to figure out what happened to his friend Billy all those years ago. Nearing the end of this story, there are several times when the author will take advantage of your expectations and throw them back in your face. Every turn will feel like a red herring by the time you finish reading.
I rated this book a 3.75 out of 5 stars because it was almost so good! I was satisfied with the ending because every loose end was tied up and explained, but a part of me really wished it wasn’t. I wish some parts were unexplainable because of the supernatural elements that were popping up throughout the whole story. Leaving some aspects unexplained would let readers keep guessing towards a supernatural explanation. Good horror never reveals everything; keeping things hidden from your audience is what makes it thrilling to them, it’s what keeps them guessing. But in the case of this novel, most of what happens is explained off as something real.
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