It’s time to review Midnight is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead, but first…
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Rating: 5 out of 5
Genre: Thriller, 5 Stars
Reasons to read it: Twilight, best friend romances, and cults.
Wow.
If you were craving a reread of Twilight, then this might be the book for you.
If you liked Where the Crawdads Sing, this also might be the book for you.
If you’re obsessed with religious brainwashing and cults like me… you get the point.
Finally, a fucking 5 star read that game me a hangover for days. I couldn’t read all weekend, forcing me to binge my book club book in 24 hours. Yep… that was an intense session, but I don’t regret it.
Yes, I know there are problems with the book – especially in terms of the protagonist’s decision making – but I love it with all of my heart. No one ever said Twilight didn’t come with its own problems, yet we still love it. I know I said I wouldn’t read anymore thrillers… Winstead made me a liar. Again… worth it.
What carried me through was the writing. Top notch. Immersive. Descriptive. Not spelling things out. Showing the emotions. Letting the scenes play out in my head like a movie. And was there ever a man from my fantasies? Hi Ever…. My name is Kait. No. I wasn’t heavily influenced by his emo state *she said sarcastically*.
Ruth is a troublesome character. She did the number one sin in my writing bible, letting things just happen to her, which made her actions hard for me to accept. She’s delusional in an unbelievable way. You can poke holes in everything that she does, turning her actions into plot points to move the story forward. To let the setting work for Winstead. When I got my head thinking about it, I was able to pull together a much better idea behind the reasons things happen that I can’t tell you here because it would give the story away.
Removing Ruth as an issue, Winstead has this uncanny grasp of religious brainwashing and the power churches hold in Southern America. Lots of PTSD from my childhood resurfaced. I have lots of stories. Her writing reminded me of Grady Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (and if you haven’t read it yet, you need to). We get the same female rage (from the reader) and the same fear that Hendrix put on his page. And for those that don’t know it, I would say that what happened is very accurate.
Windstead does a great job juggling a large cast, giving layers to all the characters, even if they weren’t on more than one page, and the time jumps worked for me (a rare comment when I hate flashbacks as a way to tell a story). I would like to give the gold star for your next summer read. Funny, since this book also takes place in the summer.
And if you’d like a deeper dive into aspects of Midnight is the Darkest Hour, then check out the second half of my video on Youtube where I do a spoiler segment.
Otherwise, make sure to check out my link to Bookshop.org to grab your copy.
Happy Reading!
Kait