Reviews for Middle Of The Night
by Riley Sager
Library Journal
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In 1994, 10-year-old Billy was kidnapped, leaving best friend Ethan with nothing but a recurring dream and a knife hole in the side of their shared tent. Billy was snatched while the boys were camping out in Ethan's back yard, which left the close-knit cul-de-sac residents of Hemlock Circle reeling. Now, 30 years later, as Ethan moves back home, he can't help but feel that Billy is still here, toying with him, begging him to remember the events of that night. Did Ethan really not wake up, or could he be blocking out what happened? Worse, could he have recognized the killer? Flashbacks from various characters will keep readers guessing, even if Ethan's childhood scenes feel a bit too mindful for the average 10-year-old. Themes of survivor's guilt and grief are touched on and add a heartfelt, empathetic aspect. While the paranormal element would have benefited from more exploration, it adds a pleasant chill as the tension gradually builds, ending in head-spinning reveals. VERDICT Red herrings abound, and there are twists aplenty in Sager's latest (following The House Across the Lake). His signature style will leave readers dizzyingly satisfied.—Elisha Sheffer
Publishers Weekly
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Bestseller Sager (The Only One Left) expertly doles out chills and pathos in his mesmerizing latest. In 1994, when Ethan Marsh was 10 years old, his best friend, Billy Barringer, was kidnapped from the tent where both boys were sleeping in Ethan’s New Jersey backyard and never seen again. Thirty years later, Ethan’s marriage has ended, his parents have decamped to Florida, and he’s returned to live on the well-to-do cul-de-sac where he grew up. Still plagued by nightmares about Billy’s disappearance, Ethan comes to believe that someone may be lurking in the shadows of Hemlock Circle: neighbors’ motion-sensor lights flick on for no apparent reason; he senses a presence “linger in the way certain smells do” when he’s out for night walks. His paranoia increases when someone tosses a baseball into his yard, the private signal Billy used to give him when he wanted to play. Could Billy have returned? Or is his kidnapper back for seconds? Sager takes his time ratcheting up the tension, peppering in crucial flashbacks that flesh out Ethan and Billy’s friendship and painting a three-dimensional portrait of Ethan’s fractured mind in the present. This standout work of psychological suspense confirms that Sager has few equals when it comes to merging creepiness and compassion. Agent: Michelle Brower, Trellis Literary. (June)
