Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
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.
Review:
I’ve enjoyed most of Riley Sager’s books and was looking forward to his latest, even though I’m still dealing with some whiplash over all of the twists (many unnecessary) in “The Only One Left.” I’m happy to report that I found this book to be more of a straightforward mystery without a bunch of ridiculous twists (and I was so thankful for that).
The story follows Ethan Marsh, who returns to his childhood home on Hemlock Circle after several years away. His parents are selling their house, and Ethan has agreed to stay there while it sells. Ethan’s return conjures some old memories, though. Billy, his childhood best friend, disappeared from Ethan’s backyard thirty years prior. The two were having a sleepover, and the next morning, Ethan awoke to find a slash in the side of the tent, and Billy was missing. To this day, he has never been found. The trauma of that night has haunted Ethan for years, leading to insomnia and unsettling dreams. When strange occurrences start happening in the middle of the night, Ethan’s dreams intensify. Why do the motion lights in the neighborhood pop on and off almost as if someone is walking down the street at night, and who keeps leaving baseballs (a communication tactic used by Billy when they were kids) in Ethan’s backyard? The more strange things happen, the more determined Ethan becomes to uncover the truth about what really happened to Billy that night.
Sager intertwines elements of mystery, suspense, and psychological intrigue to craft a narrative that keeps readers guessing. The eerie atmosphere of Hemlock Circle, with its quiet streets and looming woods, serves as a captivating backdrop for a story brimming with secrets and hidden agendas. The inclusion of the spooky old mansion in the woods, rumored to be the site of mysterious experiments, adds an extra layer of intrigue to the narrative.
As Ethan delves deeper into the mystery surrounding Billy’s disappearance, he uncovers dark secrets and long-buried truths about his childhood home and the people who live there. The more he learns, the more he realizes that the past is not as it seems.
The characters in the book are not just intriguing, but also deeply complex. Most of the story is narrated from Ethan’s perspective in 2024, but as the plot unfolds, we are taken back to the hours before Billy’s disappearance that summer in 1994 and hear from various characters who may or may not have been involved. Each character, from Ethan’s childhood babysitter and crush to the local bully and several of Ethan’s neighbors, adds depth and intrigue to the story.
The tension builds steadily throughout the novel and has some really creepy moments. The unease and dread permeating Hemlock Circle create a truly immersive reading experience. I also appreciated that the reveal of what really happened that night wasn’t mind-blowing, but I hadn’t pegged “whodunnit” early on like I normally do with this type of book. Was it especially shocking? No, but I’m okay with that. The reveal didn’t seem forced, and it wasn’t a stretch, which made it a nice departure from many thrillers I’ve read lately that rely on ridiculous twists and other gimmicks.
Overall, this is a creepy and atmospheric read that will likely appeal to fans of a good, slightly scary mystery. Was I blown away? Not really. But I also wasn’t left feeling annoyed by a bunch of gimmicky, unnecessary twists and a lackluster ending. I enjoyed the mystery, the characters, and the story and found the ending to be satisfying. I would recommend this one to mystery lovers.
