The third installment of Meg Gardiner’s UNSUB series chronicles the legion of the night – the Midnight Man. Striking in darkness, he invades homes, murders the parents, and psychologically damages the surviving children. The Midnight Man shows up in a black hoodie and baseball cap, his face obscured. The children remember one detail – all the eyes. Eyes painted on his hands and all over the walls in their parents’ blood.
Serial Killer Showdown
The well-loved Caitlin Hendrix of the first two books is here to help hunt this serial killer and get answers for the orphaned children of the Midnight Man cases. Caitlin has more in common with the killer as she uncovers his secrets. How many victims will emerge before Caitlin can capture the Midnight Man?
I am a huge fan of Gardiner’s UNSUB series and the first two books were easily five stars. I raced through the pages and reeled in the answers I received. Gardiner’s third additional to the UNSUB series is great, but doesn’t live up to the first two novels completely.
Without spoiling any of the novel’s reveals, the UNSUB in this book is just as interesting as the other two novels. Why does he orphan children? Why is his symbol an eye? How is he evading the police so easily? All of these questions about the Midnight Man kept me turning the pages well into the night. What lacked for me was the novel’s ability to keep me engrossed in the in-between, in the internal musings of Caitlin and her team. This novel did not feel as dynamic as the other two.
Fan of Criminal Minds?
I’ve always felt that these books were similar to Criminals Minds but in word form. Criminal Minds has interesting UNSUBs and a team and their inner workings that interests you as well. This is where I felt The Dark Corners of the Night did not live up to its predecessors. The UNSUB was thrilling, but the team working on the case was less than. I know Caitlin has more to her because I’ve seen it in the other books. That part of the narrative just wasn’t there this time around.
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I will say though, the UNSUB of this novel is killer. No pun intended – sort of. The darkness that surrounds the Midnight Man and his circumstances make this one a must read. Fans of the UNSUB series will see everything they know and love here. I wish it reached all the way up to meet the other books in the series at a five star rating, but it still makes it to four.
This series will make an amazing television show for Amazon for sure. Fans of Criminals Minds must check out these novels and the new series that is coming soon to Amazon.
(4 / 5)
Sarah Moon is a stone-cold sorceress from Tennessee whose interests include serial killers, horror fiction, and the newest dystopian blockbuster. Sarah holds an M.A. in English Literature and an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing. She works as an English professor as well as a cemeterian. Sarah is most likely to cover horror in print including prose, poetry, and graphic forms. You can find her on Instagram @wellreadredhead18.
“In the distance, she heard her husband in the backyard call for her , but she was not that woman anymore, that mother and wife. She was Nightbitch, and she was fucking amazing. It seemed she had been waiting for this for a very, very long time.”
-pg 89, Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
Nightbitch is the debut novel of Rachel Yoder about a stay-at-home mother coming to terms with the loneliness and brutality of motherhood. The main character, only referred to as The Mother, begins to undergo a frightening change as she sinks deeper into a depressive state. She transforms into Nightbitch, an animalistic creature full of anger, bloodlust, and freedom. The Mother must utilize the help of a strange book and a group of multi-level marketing mommies to harness her newfound strength before she loses herself or her family.
The novel is a stunning commentary on the everyday violence of motherhood centered within the context of werewolf and mystical woman mythos. The Mother spends much of the book contemplating her future and the abandonment of her dreams. Specifically, she grapples with the loss of her ability to create art, her longtime passion. On a larger scale, Nightbitch examines how many women are asked to stop being individuals after having children and only become mothers–existing only in the presence of their child. The message is clear, poignant, dark, and at times, hilarious. The prose and structure of the book are abnormal, however, it works with the overall messaging and plot.
As far as negatives go, Nightbitch was pretty ambiguous. This was by design, and created an aura of magical mysticism around many of the characters and events. The Mother is the definition of an unreliable narrator. However, towards the end of the book, I would have liked a little more clarity in what certain characters knew.
Nightbitch is a must read for any parent. As a non-parent, I highly recommend it for those interested in feminist horror or more avant-garde approaches to horror narratives. Those who don’t like books with heavy introspection or ambiguous storytelling may enjoy something else, however I still think it is an interesting read nonetheless.
“Dread washed over me. Had she been sitting there, watching me sleep, the whole night? Her skin gleamed like candle wax in the light; then she grinned and whatever color her eyes had been before, now they turned red. In an instant, her skin transformed, dried and desiccated into leather, and her teeth grew long and needle sharp.”
-pg 214, The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas
My only minor criticisms would be the resolution was fairly quick and mostly offscreen. Though maybe I’m just saying that because I wanted to keep reading, even after the book ended! I also found myself slightly annoyed at the characters for not picking up on some of the more obvious clues to what had happened in the house.
A thoroughly enjoyable gothic (and dare I say, romantic) novel that kept me on the edge of my seat, I highly recommend The Hacienda. If you enjoy haunted house tales, you will enjoy this book.
Are their traditions innocent or are they darker than they seem?
The Plot
Harry, short for Harriet, is a British writer gaining popularity after the publishing of her first novel. She meets Edward, a member of the widely known Holbeck family, and the two strike up a relationship. The Holbecks are high powered executives, running family businesses that bring in massive amounts of wealth. When Harry learns she is pregnant, the couple decide that it is finally time for her to meet the family.
During her first meeting with the family, Edward’s father, Robert gives Harry a vintage tape that he says holds a story that he’d like her to listen to. As Harry listens to the tape, she begins to believe that the Holbecks have done some very bad things.
As she continues visiting the family, their strange traditions are revealed to her. The games that they play traditionally involve darkness and fear. Can Harriet find out the truth about the mysterious Holbecks?
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The Verdict
Catherine Steadman outdoes herself in The Family Game. She creates such a mysterious family in the Holbecks and their dynamics are intriguing. Readers will follow Harry as she tries to determine the truth about Robert’s misdoings. The cast of family characters are a wonder to watch. We’ve all always wondered what the extremely rich live like. Harry shows us their virtues and misdeeds.
The novel really remarks on the power of wealth and the wealthy’s ability to commit audacious crimes and pay for them to go away. Robert, as the patriarch of the family, is a prime example of such. As Harry begins to discover that Robert may be confessing to a series of murders on the cassette tape, she must decide how to proceed. She knows that the power that Robert holds cannot be taken lightly.
As Harry navigates potentially deadly Christmas traditions, she races for the truth, unable to forget once she finds it. Harry is such a compelling character – a developing mother willing to risk life and limb to protect her unborn baby. Harry is brave and unapologetic and is a true testament on how to write a female main character.
It was very difficult for me to decide between 4 and 5 Cthulus, so we will call it 4.5. This is a novel I highly recommend thriller lovers check out.
(4.5 / 5)
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