Saturday, October 7, 2023

10.7.2023 - Midnight is the Darkest Hour

 Midnight Is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead

Many thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark and Tantor Audio for gifting me an audio ARC of the new book by Ashley Winstead, and perfectly narrated by Sarah Welborn - 4.5 creepy stars!

In Bottom Springs, Louisiana, librarian Ruth Cornier has always been an outsider, even in her own family.  Her father is a fire-and-brimstone preacher at Holy Fire Baptist and has controlled all of Ruth and her mother's actions.  Then there are the myths that are powerful throughout the small town, especially the story of the Low Man, said to steal into sinner's bedrooms and kill them.  When a skull is found in a swamp next to mysterious carved symbols, the town is really thrown.  But Ruth and her friend, Everett, have secrets and power of their own.

I loved this creepy, southern Gothic-feel thriller.  The males dominate the women, there is the power of a fundamentalist religious group, small-town myths and legends, violence and abuse, and everyone has secrets.  Ruth and Everett have kind of a Bonnie and Clyde feel and bears the question - when are bad things justified?  This was a tense thriller and that ending - wow!

No comments:

Post a Comment