Scary, tense, and twisty: a page turner that kept me hooked and reading.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I chose to read a free eARC of Middle of the Night but that has in no way influenced my review.

A new book from Riley Sager is always something to look forward to! Sager is one of my favourite authors after I read his incredible debut, Final Girls, waaaaay back in 2017. Since then I have recommended Final Girls to countless other readers who always, always enjoy it. Since then several of Sager's other books have appeared on my 'end of year top ten' lists, so a new book from this author is a confirmed highlight of my reading year.

Middle of the Night is another triumph for Sager! An emotional, tension-laden tale of a tragic event that, thirty years later, still deeply affects Ethan, our lead protagonist. Returning to Hemlock Circle dredges up memories for him which were never really that far from the surface. As children he and his best friend, Billy, used to camp out in a tent in the Marsh's back garden on Friday nights. One morning, Ethan woke and Billy was gone. Billy's side of the tent had a tear in the fabric, it looked as though it had been cut with a knife. Billy's disappearance was never solved. Unable to escape the memory of that night, haunted by nightmares and insomnia, Ethan begins to notice peculiar things in Hemlock Circle. Are his neighbours the people he always thought they were, or are they hiding a terrible secret...?

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. I loved every second I spent with Middle of the Night. As things start to get stranger and stranger, Ethan puts all of his efforts into finding the truth. Many of his neighbours are still the same people who lived on Hemlock Circle the night Billy disappeared. Plus the small group of kids who he used to hang around with have all grown up and have differing memories of what happened that fateful day. Told in the past and the present, the reader watches as the truth slowly unfolds. But this is a Riley Sager novel so expect the unexpected! With ghostly goings-on, a building unease as you approach the denouement and a shocking reveal that I certainly didn't see coming, Middle of the Night is a superb, psychological suspense novel, wonderfully written characters, a strong sense of place and a compelling storyline. And it was fantastic to have a male lead character in a Riley Sager novel. The first male lead I think we've seen from Sager! Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of Middle of the Night. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

[Review will be published on 30th January 2025]

Usually I love Riley Sager's writing but I really struggled to get into this one, at the 100 page mark I still felt like the story was a bit slow and should have been more developed for how far through I was, especially considering its a thriller. I still enjoyed middle of the night and will be picking up other books that they release, I just felt like this one fell a little for me compared to some of Riley's other works.

Who needs dinner when you have a book that pulls you in like "Middle of the Night"? 😍🚆 I was on my way home, completely absorbed in Ethan's quest to find out what happened to his childhood friend Billy. The suspense is real, and I’m here for it! #PageTurner #BookAddict

Truly beginning to think Riley Sager can do no wrong.

I loved this. I love a small town thriller. They just have such an eerie and cosy feel to them. This book has dual timelines between past and present for Ethan, Billy, and Billy’s fate.

I won’t lie, I accused every single person under the sun during the time I was reading this book. No one was safe from being a suspect, and it turns out i’m not very good at being suspicious because I got it very very wrong.

Fantastic wee thriller with a lot of twists and turns.

Sager at his best.

Thank you to the publisher and @netgalley for the e-arc.

✩✩✩✩

I’m a big fan of Riley Sager and have highly rated all his books I’ve read. Unfortunately though, I wasn’t a fan of Middle of the Night. While the premise was intriguing, I felt the story was very slow and repetitive and I found myself struggling to get through it. I did eventually finish it and even the ending just fell a bit flat for me. That being said, I will still pick up his next book without hesitation!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager was an enthralling experience that kept me on edge from beginning to end. The novel masterfully intertwines past and present, unraveling a decades-old mystery that haunts the protagonist, Ethan Marsh.

The story begins with a chilling event: one summer night in 1994, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend, Billy, are camping in Ethan’s backyard. By morning, Billy has vanished without a trace, leaving behind a slashed tent and a community in shock. Thirty years later, Ethan returns to his childhood home on Hemlock Circle, still tormented by the unresolved disappearance. As he settles back into the neighborhood, strange occurrences begin to unfold, suggesting that the past is far from buried.

Sager’s writing is both atmospheric and suspenseful, drawing me into the eerie suburban setting where secrets lurk behind every closed door. The character development is particularly compelling; Ethan’s struggle with insomnia and his obsession with uncovering the truth make him a relatable and sympathetic protagonist.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This thriller was intense from start to finish. The characters were well-developed, and the mystery kept me guessing. The final twist was both shocking and satisfying.

This book was fantastic at grappling with grief and letting go whilst still being gripping. As someone who's read a lot of this genre, it wasn't the biggest twist or anything like that, but was still unique in the direction it took. The flashbacks were great and really worked for me.

This is my second Riley Sager read and I really enjoyed it! A dark mystery that kept me desperate to know what had happened. Slightly slow but overall a great read and would recommend.

Riley Sager just KNOWS how to write a spooky story!! I was really invested in this one, I felt really connected to the characters and found the mystery super compelling. In this we follow Ethan, returning to his childhood home which is also the scene from which his best friend went missing 30 years earlier. Ethan begins to relive the night Billy was taken, trying to figure out what really happened to Billy as a series of unexplainable event start to make him believe his spirit may be contacting him. Overall I thought this was a great mystery, with super spooky vibes, although the ending wasn't super crazy or shocking, I'm giving this a 3.5 - rounded up to a 4!

As always, Riley Sager delivers an exciting, easy to read but keeps you on your toes read. Brilliantly done, fab characters and the end was brill!!! Loved it

Disappointed. I've always admired Riley Sager for his twists and turns but this one? This one was really great underwhelming. Maybe I set the bar too high I'm not sure but this one just felt mundane.

Ethan has returned to his childhood home where, 30 years previous, his best friend went missing from a tent they were sharing in his garden. Going back to the place where one of the biggest and most haunting moments of his life happened is enough to unsettle anyone, but then things start happening in the house. Things that make Ethan think that his best friend is back.

Let me preface this review by stating how much I love Riley Sager. I look forward to every new book release and I’m yet to be disappointed by one of his books. The perfect blend of supernatural and thriller, they’re always fun and easy to read. Middle of the Night is what we’ve come to expect from Sager. I wouldn’t say it’s my new favourite but I enjoyed the characters involved in the book, alongside the flashbacks to the nineties and the nostalgia that came with it. The mystery was interesting and I did audibly gasp at something unexpected, which is always a bonus!

If you’re looking for an interesting crime thriller with likeable characters and a supernatural hint, Middle of the Night is a must!

This was my second Riley Sagar and overall I had a good time time with it. I liked the small town vibes and going back and forth between the present and the past and you find out what happened to Billy. I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character I did find him a little bit boring in places, but I did like the twists we got and I would have like it a little bit more darker in places but it was a quick read and I think a good intro for someone who wants to try a thriller 3.5 stars

This book has been my least favourite from this author. I felt the plot had great promise but never delivered. I enjoyed the storytelling through two timelines and the friendships amongst the children seemed authentic. However, I struggled to finish it and wouldn’t be able to recommend it.

My thanks to the author, the publisher and to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review Middle of the Night.

"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."

-

Over the last few years Riley Sager has safely earned a space on my auto buy author list, so when this appeared on Netgalley I snapped it up! before I even read the blurb

After the initial 'but whyyyyy would you leave your 10 year old child in a tent overnight' I settled into the story quickly, sucked into Sager's familiar writing style which I really enjoy. He has a way with words which effectively creates atmosphere without being too convoluted, and writes well rounded characters. I like that they have (somewhat) realistic reactions to things, which helps reel things in when the plot gets a little out of hand at times!

As with all his other books Sager successfully hooks you in with constant clues - often red herrings - and drip feeds you reveals along the way. I read this as a buddy read and we were continuously making guesses and getting it wrong! especially when you are given multiple POVs. I liked that we got to see what happened that night from all the different angles, which was done in a way which did not feel repetitive. And was a reminder that things are hardly ever what they seem from the outside, especially if you are only witnessing a small piece of the puzzle.

Middle of the Night is a page turner, super creepy at times (there was a super eery part at the start of the book which involved street lights which was very effective!) and creates such a big build up that I expected to be a bit disappointed with the ending... which did fall a little flat - BUT at the same time I was glad of. It felt as if the journey of the story itself was the point, and so I decided I quite liked the subtle ending!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

I feel very meh about this one. The story was interesting enough to keep me reading but it’s not the best of Sager’s work and it left me a bit disappointed.

The pacing is incredibly slow and the writing is often repetitive, with the same few things happening over and over again with little variation in the way it’s written. This book does have a brilliant atmosphere, which is as per when it comes to Sager, and a lingering, creeping sense of dread from the start. But, ultimately, so little actually happens here and what does happen, happens so slowly that I did find it hard to read much of the book in each sitting.

The characters felt flat and bland to me. Ethan didn’t really have much of a personality aside from “traumatised” and the side characters felt like NPCs with little going on. The only character I liked, much like other readers, was Henry because he was so cute.

Some of the plot threads in here went nowhere. Why introduce a creepy institution if we’re not going to explore it more and it has ultimately nothing to do with the mystery.

I liked how the book discussed grief and felt this was really well explored and I was surprised by all of the twists and turns.

Ultimately, this didn’t excite me like other Riley Sager books, which is a shame.

I normally really enjoy Riley Sager's books but unfortunately this one just fell a bit flat in my opinion. I didn't connect to any of the characters, wasn't particularly invested in the outcome and nothing really happened throughout the entire book. The pacing was super slow and I just felt like it dragged on for ages and was quite repetitive. I ended up having to switch to an audiobook version in order to finish the book as I just couldn't keep my attention on actually reading it physically.
I would still recommend Sager as an author in general, just not this book specifically.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager features Ethan Marsh, whose best friend disappeared when they were children camping out in his family garden. Ethan and Billy were best friends and they regularly camped in Ethan’s back garden. Someone had slit the tent and taken Billy, who was never seen again.
As an adult Ethan still has night terrors and insomnia, when he returns home to Hemlock Circle thirty years later he notices strange things happening in the middle of the night.
Someone seems to be roaming round in the middle of the night and there are signs of Billy’s presence, is someone playing a cruel prank?
The mysterious occurrences prompt Ethan to investigate what really happened that night. He then finds that not everything was as it seemed and more people were part of his childhood memories.
A fascinating look back at a childhood, when friends and neighbours were not what you remember,until you ask people who were there with you do you find out what really happened.
Highly recommended