It has been almost ten years since five students were brutally murdered at a small college campus in Ohio. The murders took place in what the media ended up calling the Midnight Murder House, and survivor Margot Davis has been avoiding it ever since that horrible night.

As the anniversary nears, Margot finds herself compelled to write about what took place in the Midnight Murder House, even if it is just to confirm they caught the correct man. To do it justice, she knows she will have to return to the house and look for the answers herself. Of course, soon after her return, she begins receiving threatening notes. Someone does not want her searching for more answers, but how far are they willing to go to stop her?

Overall, this is an entertaining read. Margot is a frustrating character who falls victim to many genre tropes (why is she running down to the basement instead of outside to safety?), but the flashbacks help to build suspense. Additionally, some elements of the book, particularly relating to the surviving roommates, feel a little ripped from the headlines. This could be off-putting for some readers.

This is a fast read and a decent thriller, making it a solid choice for a vacation read.

Just like Meredith Gray this book is a bit twisty and I like it. Thank you Netgalley for this arc. I had a good time reading.

The story follows Margot, a survivor of a horrifying massacre at her shared home with fellow ballet members. Along with her friends Kyle and Remi, Margot finds herself back in the home nearly a decade after the tragedy, trying to relive the moments for her book about the murders. But as she delves deeper into the past, she receives threatening messages warning her to keep her secrets hidden or face the consequences.
Enter Cooper, a journalist who becomes Margot's unexpected ally in her quest for the truth. Together, they review the events leading up to the massacre and compare notes, trying to uncover the real story behind the murders. Was it really Margot's friend Aaron, who is currently serving time behind bars for the crimes, or is there a more sinister force at play?
The author does an excellent job of building tension and suspense throughout the novel. The complex relationships between the characters add depth to the story, and Margot's inner turmoil and guilt over the events that took place make her a relatable and compelling protagonist.

A great debut novel!

📚 PRE-PUBLICATION BOOK REVIEW 📚

Return to Midnight
By Emma Dues
Available to Purchase: August 27, 2024

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

📚THE SYNOPSIS:

Nearly 10 years ago, 5 Ohio university students were murdered in an off-campus Victorian home. The media dubbed it the Midnight House Massacre. Ever since, survivor Margot Davis has wanted to forget it, until she’s compelled to write her side of the story and return to Midnight House.

It’s a chance for Margot to reconnect with other survivors, heal trauma, and dispel the ugly conspiracy theories of obsessed true crime fanatics. But when news of Margot’s book gets out, she receives a threatening note that demands she stop lying. Or else. It chills Margot’s blood. Because she hasn’t been telling the whole truth. As sinister threats continue, a journalist comes to Margot with new suspicions about that October night. Now, to save her own life, Margot must reveal well-guarded secrets—ones that, for good reason, she’s been too terrified to share.

📚MY REVIEW:

From start to finish, this book was creepy, scary, and chilling -- everything you want when you pick up a thriller! There was a paranormal vibe throughout, which made it hard for me to read this book at night. I guess I'm fine reading about serial killers and murders, but the idea of a ghost? Nope, too scary. 🙄😂

This book jumped around with different time periods, which helped tell Emma Dues' story with heart-pounding foreshadowing as clues eked out slowly. There was an unreliable narrator too, which is fun because you're never sure you can trust the perspective of the person telling the story. The ending had several WILD twists that I didn't see coming AT ALL - I love when a book isn't simple to figure out!

But...I was REALLY unsettled by so many details of this story being so eerily similar to the Idaho College Murders, still in the headlines. Honestly, I expected an author's note at the end saying the book was loosely based on those murders. No spoilers, but if you closely follow the Idaho Murder case, you'll see it. I'm curious to hear what other true crime fans think!

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this copy in exchange for my honest review!

This was a fantastic thriller! Although it is a concept that has been done a lot recently, I was surprised by how captivating this book was and how quickly I was trying to read it to see what would happen next! It was so engaging and I couldn’t put it down. I definitely would read other books by this author again!

Arc for review. To be published August of this year. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for an early look into Return to Midnight. The debut novel from Emma Dues.

This eerie thriller had me hooked from the first chapter and I couldn’t put it down. A horrific massacre, 3 survivors and a whole lot of guessing and second guessing everything you thought you had figured out.

This book is told in two different timelines. One following Margot journey 9 years post massacre where she is revisiting the source of her trauma to write a book and clear the Rumors about what actually happendat the Midnight House. The second is the days leading up to the massacre where we see Margot and her roommates navigate their senior year of college and uncovering secrets among friends.

I couldn’t put this book down. I ended up reading it in a workday. Between clients, on my lunch. I could not stop..The more secrets I learned, the more my brain was trying to put the pieces together, and when I thought I had it figured out, there another secret.

After reading so many thrillers you tend to figure things out pretty early so I love when an author can completely baffle my mind and throw something new into it that I haven’t seen.

This was an easy 5 star read and a debut novel as well. I’m looking forward to future reads from Emma Dues.

Very atmospheric and eerie. Excellent characters. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

What a great book. Kept me guessing right to the end, the author had me on the edge of my seat, feeling the sense of fear and paranoia along with the characters. Fast paced and a very enjoyable read.

I really enjoyed the dual timelines, the suspense, and the slow unravelling of the secrets that Margot was keeping.

I did feel like the ending was a bit anticlimactic, but overall the story was good and I was eager to continue reading.

A gruesome massacre, few survivors and a traumatised, unreliable MC make for a fast paced thriller in “Return to Midnight”.

I loved the 2 different timelines as a way to build tension, I kept turning pages to find out Margot’s secrets. This had so many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, just when you think it’s done, there are more surprises! I was grateful for my newborns nighttime feeds so I could have more time to progress through the story 😅.

Set for release August 27th and I definitely think it’s worth the read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC!

You don’t need to wait for the sun to rise to finish reading Return To Midnight as this book is a page-turner; you will hardly notice you’ve reached the end. Considering that from start to finish, this book lives up to its genre — it’s a thriller. Oh, how I love how everything feels so direct, without giving away too much. This book has truly made me love unreliable narrators even more. The narration is so good that everything in my imagination feels so vivid. It beautifully aligns with Margot’s character as a writer.

She may have been struggling because of her past, but her narration makes her so easy to hear and understand. I can’t even dislike her for her moments of weakness and fearfulness as they are defeated by her grit to face what’s haunting her, and her devotion to hold the barre and the pen despite everything. It’s wild how someone can be so powerless yet so strong and brave at the same time.

This book also delves into two timelines, and Margot is sufficient to explain what transpired during those times. She has introduced her friends effectively that if there really is a person who deserves to give voices to them, it should be Margot and Margot only. I am honestly impressed with how Emma Dues breathed life into Margot’s character. Although there were parts of the book where I was able to predict what could have happened, I counted it as a fulfillment for going along Margot’s journey to discovering the truth.

And I still can’t get over the final arc! This is truly a fantastic read. Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this ARC!

As an avid horror fan, the premise of this novel quickly caught my eye. A gruesome massacre with unreliable survivors with past and present point of views? Count me in!

Margot decides to revisit one of the worst moments of her life to recount her side of events. The problem is - is she telling the truth? Someone out there knows and Margot begins to receive threats as suspicions rise. I found myself not trusting Margot, but wanting to.

Emma Dues does an incredible job transitioning between present and past events. I've found that some books like this become confusing and difficult to keep up with. That wasn't the case here, as it was done so well that it created the perfect level of suspense. In fact, the suspense was built so well that the ending was a slight let down as I was hoping for a more grand reveal. That said, it didn't take away from the story and was well worth the time invested to read this.

A massacre with few survivors? A final girl who may just be telling lies about the night in question?! Absolutely sign me up!!

This was an excellent debut, I really enjoyed Emma Dues writing style. Very easy to read and follow, with alternating chapters from the past and present. The events leading up to the massacre on the day of, and the events following ten years on when Margot, one of the survivors, is still attempting to heal.

To do so she has decided to write her version of events in a tell all novel, to finally share her side of the story, as well as those of the victims instead of giving the accused killer the lime light.

The only problem is she keeps receiving cryptic notes with a deadline telling her to “stop lying, or else”. On top of that there are various fan theories online that dub herself and the other two survivors as potential killers themselves. Is the wrong person in prison? And if so who actually did it?

When Margot returns to the scene of the crime to relive her past, things go from bad to worse. I really enjoyed the suspense and the mystery surrounding the night of. I couldn’t wait to reach the chapters where we got a first hand view of the events unfolding in real time.

I liked Margot, I also enjoyed how she was somewhat an unreliable narrator due to her trauma responses a long with a life long case of sleep walking combined with her night terrors. What is real and what’s in her head? Which are lies and what is the truth?!

I definitely recommend giving this one a read!

Publish date: 27 Aug

Thank you to Emma Dues, Thomas and Mercer and NetGalley for the EARC!

I really enjoyed this story. Margot was a great main character, and I kept turning the pages, wanting to know what secrets she was keeping. The ending was filled with twists and turns and felt cinematic. I’m looking forward to reading more from Emma.

Full transparency, I DNF’d this at 11%. The writing was not good and the story was boring me. I really did not care how it ended. We got a few flashbacks scenes that honestly did nothing to drive suspense.

Ten years ago, five students from Oxford University in Ohio were murdered in a creepy Victorian house the girls lived in in what is now known as the Midnight House Massacre. Margot Davis was a survivor, now she’s a writer and while she’s tried to forget what happened she’s decided to write about the Massacre.

This brings her right back to Oxford and Midnight House and back to the other two survivors. She has to fend off conspiracy theories about what occurred and she meets up with a newspaper writer who wants to write a story about the event. And Margot is getting threats about telling the whole truth about what happened. And she hasn’t been.

OK, the Margot of today is just about the stupidest person to walk on Earth. Um….CALL THE POLICE, Margot! Call the police about twelve times. You are a writer. You are not a trained investigator. You are also an idiot and I, frankly, can’t believe that you and the boy wonder haven’t been killed ten times. I might do it myself because you are too dumb to walk around.

Have I mentioned that Margot is not wise? This is not terrible, but read only if you want to punch Margot. Some people like that sort of thing. I liked that the girls were dancers. There. I said something nice.

Harrowing Proportions..
The Midnight House Massacre has never been forgotten. In fact, the Midnight House itself still stands and is now occupied by two survivors. Margot Davis, novelist and another survivor of the massacre, makes a return to the crime scene in pursuit of the truth. Tension fuelled, disturbing and often downright terrifying - the pacy narrative never lets up nor drops off for a second - with a deftly drawn and credible cast of characters, a well imagined sense of place, a plot bubbling with often unexpected and surprising twists and a house which becomes a dark character in its own right. A one sit read of harrowing proportions that is impossible to put down.

Wow this was such an amazing read! As soon as I started I knew I needed to know the truth and this absolutely hooked me and made sure I didn't put it down until I was finished.

Whoa! I was not expecting this to be so…well, thrilling! This had me at the seat of my pants wondering what was going to happen next. The characters were well-crafted and the plot deep. Highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing this book, with my honest review below.

Return to Midnight was an eerie thriller that kept me up racing through it! Emma Dues is coming on the scene with a phenomenal debut, exactly capturing the feeling of cold water dripping down your back in a book.

Margot, Kyle, and Remi are the sole survivors of a brutal killing in the ‘Midnight house’ Margot and Remi shared with fellow ballet during college. We know all three are hiding a secret, and that Margot is writing a book about the murders, set to be released on the tenth anniversary of the killings. But someone knows her secret and she has a fear that the real killer is still free. This was little reminiscent of the ID murders though I don’t wish the survivors of that the same experience Margot goes through. A very well done novel, we alternate between the past at various timelines leading up to the murder to the murder itself, alongside the present as Margot gets more involved with the current day mystery.

This had so many twists and turns I didn’t see coming and really capitalized on creepy settings to put me on the edge of being really scared (night reading doesn’t help)! I highly recommend this for thriller readers though I will say it reads a bit younger, I still think the murder and tension built would appeal to any age.