Plot
During July 1994 a young boy named Billy goes to explore the grounds of the Hawthorne Institute, a parapsychological research facility, accompanied by his best friend Ethan, teens Ashley and Ragesh, and another kid, Russ. Billy is caught by the institute staff, but bonds with the leader over ghosts. Later that night Billy and Ethan camp out in Ethan's backyard. The two fight over Billy's belief in ghosts before going to bed. The next morning Ethan wakes to find the tent slashed and Billy missing. Despite widespread media attention and multiple searches, Billy is never found.
Twenty years later Ethan returns to his family home after his parents move to Florida. While Billy's parents left long ago, Russ still lives in the neighborhood, and Ashley has returned with her 10-year-old son Henry to care for her ailing father. Ragesh is now a police detective and informs Ethan that Billy's remains have been discovered at the bottom of a waterfall on the Institute grounds. His body shows evidence of blunt trauma. Ethan decides to look into matters and finds that Russ's brother Johnny had died of a drug overdose the year before Billy's disappearance, causing him to wonder if the deaths are linked.
Ethan begins to experience unusual, seemingly paranormal events and expresses a desire for Billy's death to have been caused by paranormal means, as it would help him process the death of his wife, as she died a year prior of an aortic aneurysm. He recreates the night of Billy's disappearance and realizes that Russ had been the who sliced open the tent, as he had resented the boys' closeness. Ethan confronts Russ, who is arrested. Billy's brother Andy returns to town and abducts Henry after learning that Billy's body was found. Ethan learns that Andy staged the paranormal events and that Andy is taking Henry to the waterfall where Billy's body is found.
Ethan and Ashley confront Andy, who accuses Ethan of killing Billy. Seeing that he is threatening to drop Henry, Ashley confesses that she was the true killer, as she had accidentally struck Billy with her car. Billy had been trying to return to the institute after his fight with Ethan. Ashley hid his body at the falls and lied to her parents that she had hit a deer. Henry falls into the water and is rescued by Ethan, who feels a supernatural presence helping them.
One year later, Russ has departed Hemlock Circle, while Ashley is sentenced to ten years in prison for vehicular manslaughter, with the possibility of parole after eight years. She encourages Ethan to legally adopt Henry, and the pair move in together.
Background
After seven novels with a female main character, Middle of the Night is Sager's first novel with a male protagonist. Also unusual for Sager, the story is told from multiple points of view. [1] Like the book's protagonist Ethan, Sager lived on a cul-de-sac in Princeton, New Jersey at the time of writing; he was inspired by "the idea of writing about a place that everyone thinks is so safe and so quiet and nothing bad ever happens". [2]
The book's cover features artwork by the Spanish-American artist Alberto Ortega. [3]
Reception
Middle of the Night spent three weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list in the "Hardcover Fiction" category. [4] Gabino Iglesias, in the Times, wrote that Middle of the Night was "a creepy and unnerving thriller that flirts with the supernatural", calling Sager "a master of twists". [5] USA Today's Felecia Wellington Radel gave the book three out of four stars; she called it a "twisty mystery" with "many sudden turns" and "suburban secrets", but was disappointed that the book's deeper questions "largely go unanswered". [6]
In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called Middle of the Night a "standout work of psychological suspense" which "confirms that Sager has few equals when it comes to merging creepiness and compassion." [7] Library Journal's Elisha Sheffer said that the story's paranormal element "adds a pleasant chill as the tension gradually builds", and that Sager's "signature style will leave readers dizzyingly satisfied." [8] Kirkus Reviews gave Middle of the Night a negative review due to the book's red herrings and "a complicated resolution that raises more questions than it answers", calling it "intensely boring" with a "punishingly slow" pace. [9]
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