Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Midnight Is the Darkest Hour

I’m an Ashley Winstead superfan (ever since reading The Last Housewife! Maybe my favorite thriller ever?) so it pains me that I really didn’t love this one. I found the pacing and narrative too slow and too local — the main character seems almost willfully naïve, both in the flashbacks (which, fine, teenage kid raised in a bigoted evangelical church, I get it) and, more irritatingly, in the present. The setting is vivid and the characters are interesting! But I felt over and over like this could have been considerably shorter — edited for less repetition, for hemming and hawing that, even if it perhaps felt necessary to Winstead for character building(??), wasnt always the same. I think this book somehow gets a little stuck between trying to be beautiful in the language and world-building and leaning into Winstead’s huge skill as a craftsperson of plot, tension, and thrill. There was a really exciting crescendo for a bit toward the end (though the end itself…..huh?), so I bumped it up to 3 stars — but the majority of the book felt like a 2ish-star slog to me. I thought Sarah Welborn’s southern-accented audio narration was really well done, even if it somehow also underlined the things about this book that didn’t really work for me (repetition, fluffy/insubstantial inner dialogue, etc.). I will still pre-order and read Ashley Winstead’s other books (I’ve read all but one romance from her backlist — her romance writing is really good!)! But this one was not a fave for me.

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mmhender2's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No

3.0

This book wrestles with themes of morality and justice, religion and law, and gender roles. The plot kept me engaged. There were aspects of the writing I liked and others felt too heavy handed. I think the book would be better without the Twilight stuff, but the conversation with the author at the end of the book put that into a different perspective for me. If you want an easy crime thriller to read, you may enjoy this.

Personal note: I'm over religious fundamentalists being the bad guys. I think it's too easy of a concept these days. Give me someone who is more nuanced.

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auri_underthing's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Well. That was quite something. I can’t tell if I liked the ending or hated it. I feel like the author tried to make the book very descriptive and atmospheric but for some reason it didn’t work for me. I think that’s just me though.
An incredible story. I loved how morally grey it all was.

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eacrunden's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Very, very dark just like other books from this author, and wouldn’t say the end doesn’t spark some frustration BUT very engaging and gripping, with a willingness to go places a lot of writers aren’t

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lauracatereads's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book was WILD. (P.S. for sure check the trigger warnings on this one).

At no point did I have any idea where exactly it was going until about 70% through in which I knew exactly where it was going and it had the biggest “oh shit?” moment of a book I’ve read in a very long time.

Where to start on this book? First of all, this is for the girlies who were raised in oppressive, fundamentalist churches in the South. Raise your hands my fellow Jezebel spirits. 🙋🏼‍♀️ This book would not have been remotely the same without the setting and what a wickedly beautiful one it is. Swamplands, humidity, supernatural storms, LSU references, Bible bumper hypocrisy, the Piggly Wiggly? You name it, Bottom Springs has it.

These characters were wicked and I loved it. Not morally grey, just straight up kinda morally evil. I had to sit there most of the novel and say “Cool motive, still murder” and yet Winstead writes it in such a compelling way and paints Ruth & Everett with just enough of a sentimental light that you want to sit there and say that it was all justified. (TBH, it kinda was

although Everett was totally a complete and utter psychopath

Also the finale??? should not have given this book any bad reviews, it was FANTASTIC. I love an unresolved ending. If you don’t have the imagination to make an ending for yourself than you simply just aren’t much of a reader. Anyways, nothing good starts in a getaway car 😉

Ruth Cornier, you would’ve LOVED Preacher’s daughter by Ethel Cain. Everett Duncan, you would’ve LOVED I Did Something Bad by Taylor Swift.

The only thing stopping me from 5⭐️ is the combo of Ruth’s naivety and the constant miscommunication trope that could’ve saved them so much.

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malliexreads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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