Scan barcode
A review by briktaylor
The Back Door of Midnight by Elizabeth Chandler
3.0
Dark secrets one was by far the entire reason I got into this series. I found it some years ago and ended up reading it multiple times. It was one of those books I could go to when I wanted a good read but didn't want a new story. In 2015 I found out she had three more stories in the Dark Secrets collection but didn't end up getting the chance to pick them up till summer of 2016.
It is now spring of 2017 and I've finished The Back Door of Midnight and I was let down. The book started off well and I had high hopes for this collection going out with a bang. Anna was an excellent character, although her random issue with being called a redhead seemed unnecessary. Especially because you never get any explanation as to why it bothers her so much. In my opinion you were suppose to assume it was her rebelling from her birth family but she has been away from them long enough that it shouldn't have caused an issue with her own image.
I liked that her and Zack were mostly not a rushed relationship, however the fact that in the end they're all of a sudden in love and passionately kissing makes all the earlier scenes feel wasted. The worst part for me though, and the main reason I'm only giving three stars is the sloppy ending. Chandler attempted a plot twist that had she spent more time may have actually been as intense and surprising as it was meant. But she didn't use the correct character development or relationship development for Marcy and the Anna, so it seemed more off than upsetting when discovering she was the killer and Anna's cousin.
Following that poorly executed plot twist, she also took Aunt Iris out of her mental instability too quickly to be realistic. All of a sudden Aunt Iris wasn't becoming overwhelmed by her fears or anxieties. Neither was she becoming distracted by the voices and all of a sudden she could form coherent and intellectual sentences. Chandler tried to write it off as her being at peace but after the thirty or so years she spent like this for her to magically transform over night is unrealistic and takes away from the opportunity for Anna to build a stronger bond with Aunt Iris while helping her slowly recover.
Overall it was a great story, with some well written characters. It just had more potential than Chandler took the time to explore
It is now spring of 2017 and I've finished The Back Door of Midnight and I was let down. The book started off well and I had high hopes for this collection going out with a bang. Anna was an excellent character, although her random issue with being called a redhead seemed unnecessary. Especially because you never get any explanation as to why it bothers her so much. In my opinion you were suppose to assume it was her rebelling from her birth family but she has been away from them long enough that it shouldn't have caused an issue with her own image.
I liked that her and Zack were mostly not a rushed relationship, however the fact that in the end they're all of a sudden in love and passionately kissing makes all the earlier scenes feel wasted. The worst part for me though, and the main reason I'm only giving three stars is the sloppy ending. Chandler attempted a plot twist that had she spent more time may have actually been as intense and surprising as it was meant. But she didn't use the correct character development or relationship development for Marcy and the Anna, so it seemed more off than upsetting when discovering she was the killer and Anna's cousin.
Following that poorly executed plot twist, she also took Aunt Iris out of her mental instability too quickly to be realistic. All of a sudden Aunt Iris wasn't becoming overwhelmed by her fears or anxieties. Neither was she becoming distracted by the voices and all of a sudden she could form coherent and intellectual sentences. Chandler tried to write it off as her being at peace but after the thirty or so years she spent like this for her to magically transform over night is unrealistic and takes away from the opportunity for Anna to build a stronger bond with Aunt Iris while helping her slowly recover.
Overall it was a great story, with some well written characters. It just had more potential than Chandler took the time to explore