Anthony Hains
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Mr. Midnight: a review

2/22/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
Caitlyn Connelly, a young Tampa attorney and her police officer boyfriend embark on a journey to Boston to find her birth mother. Given up for adoption was a newborn, Cait has always wondered about her biological parents. When a private detective discovers that her birth mother is still alive in Boston, the ‘chase’ is on.

In Boston, a young man named Milo hunts the streets of Boston for victims to take part in his sadistic and terrifying hobby. He is a serial killer dubbed Mr. Midnight by the media, and his ideal prey is young women. Mr. Leverone’s description of this character is chilling. When Milo is ‘onscreen’, the reader is held captive by his presence.

Cait and Milo would not seem to be the types who closely share something highly personal. But, they do. Both are bombarded by telepathic visions that appear with little warning.  The visions can be intrusive, but generally not harmful of frightening – until Cait arrives in Boston. Then, things become incredibly jarring for both of them. Of course, they know nothing about one another, but that will change, and the revelations are life threatening.

The story has a couple of unique features which propel the plot. The unpredictable impact of The Flickers (as Cait calls the visions) contributes an unnerving feel to the inner lives of the characters. These unbidden images often come out of nowhere and the author’s descriptions help the reader to develop surprising empathy for the plight of the Cait, and even Milo, as they are at the mercy of these intrusions.

I was surprised that The Flickers did not play a bigger role in the climax – I was anticipated a huge telepathic “nuclear exchange” that didn’t happen. I wasn’t disappointed with the conclusion, but I was hoping for more of a jolt than what happened. I felt that the author unnecessarily padded the latter part of the work. A number of peripheral characters are introduced, a homeless alcoholic dwelling in the same abandoned building as Mr. Midnight and multiple police officers (I think there was at least three). Each is given a fairly extensive backstory which really wasn’t necessary. In all cases, the result was a slowing down of the pace. Finally, readers should know that the narrative contains some pretty gruesome depictions and descriptions of a young man torturing young women. I suspect some readers love this type of horror. I am not a huge fan, so the passages did little for me.

Overall, not a bad DarkFuse publication. A 3.5ish rating.


1 Comment
Daniel Towers link
2/22/2014 12:46:13 pm

Good review. It provided enough insight for me to want to read the book. Thanks.

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    Anthony Hains is a horror & speculative fiction writer.

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