Middle of the Night

middle of the night is a thriller told like a ghost story. ethan marsh lives on a suburban cul-de-sac in a picture perfect new jersey town. it’s the 90s- he plays with the neighborhood kids, he has a babysitter, the mothers meet up to talk about their kids every morning. what could be more ideal? until one night, ethan and his best friend billy are having their weekly tent sleepover in ethan’s backyard and ethan wakes up alone. billy is nowhere to be found, there is a slash in the tent, billy’s shoes are still where he left them the night before. the edges of their perfect suburban world seem to crumble from beneath them. maybe the town is not as perfect as it seems? when ethan returns thirty years later, following a breakup, he’s still searching for the answers. he’s haunted by the dream of that night- after all, he was the last person to see billy before he disappeared. he was laying right beside him in that tent! filled with guilt over their last conversation, the events of that final day, and what he might remember subconsciously about billy’s kidnapper- ethan sets out to find the truth once and for all. he uncovers a lot about the neighborhood and the people in it, and the reality is that the town he grew up in has a lot of secrets that would rather stay hidden. i thought some of the writing was chuegey- like billy’s last words were so cringey. it makes sense because he was a young kid in the 90s but it’s just soooo cringe. the twist was also so predictable. there was nothing that made me gasp- i kinda read it and was like “ok i expected that”. the most exciting part for me was whether or not the ghost of billy was real- as ethan seems to believe he feels his presence all throughout the novel. overall, not my favorite sager but it was a quick read for me.