One night in 1993, Amy babysits Mira and Ben on Beacon Street while their mother, Eleanor, has a night out. Everything seems to be going well until the mysterious phone calls and visitors appear. By the end of the night, there is one dead body, and little Ben is standing in the pool of blood.

This classic 90s-style slasher was enjoyable to read. It was campy, and I wondered, "What happened at midnight?" I felt like the characters were well-developed and the story had good pacing. I loved the ways Emily made it feel like 1993 and her draw on horror films. I felt a little nostalgic. I was also pleased to learn that something actually did happen at midnight - the title is not a misnomer. I also appreciated the Jewish representation. I could tell Emily put some of herself in the story and made it her own.

Where I thought this book could have improved with its use of point of view and timeline. I appreciate Emily using different POVs and timelines to tell the story and keep it interesting - not just another omniscient narrator. They also added important context to the night's events. I think the way that they were used convoluted the story. It became difficult to follow the thread of the story. Maybe if the thread of the story was the events of the day and the flashbacks were anything previous, it would have been a little tighter.

I love an 80’s babysitter slasher movie and this gave all the scary movie vibes! I definitely don’t want to give too much away but this was a fun in a scary movie kind of way and I was in.
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Thank you #harper and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars, rounded up.

i feel like I had high expectations for this one but ultimately, this one left me wanting more.

although it’s a short read the pacing is slow, with multiple POVS in both past and present, which I didn’t think added a whole lot to how things ended. And the ending, a bit abrupt, the action happens the last 10-20 pages or so and even then, that’s really all we get.

while I appreciated the horror references and atmospheric feel of this story, I think it left a lot to be desired.

October 1993. One night. One house. One dead body. When single mom Eleanor Mazinski goes out a for a much-needed date night, she leaves her two young children—sweet, innocent six-year-old Ben and precocious, defiant twelve-year-old Mira—in the capable hands of their sitter, Amy. The quiet seventeen-year-old is good at looking after children, despite her anxiety disorder. She also loves movies, especially horror flicks. Amy likes their predictability; it calms the panic that threatens to overwhelm her.
The evening starts out normally enough, with games, pizza, and dancing. But as darkness falls, events in this quaint suburban New Jersey house take a terrifying turn—unexpected visitors at the door, mysterious phone calls, and by midnight, little Ben is in the kitchen standing in a pool of blood, with a dead body at his feet.
Senseless novel. Don't recommend this one.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial and Paperbacks for giving me an advance copy.

I’m going to keep this review short and sweet, just like the book.

Fans of horror movies that center around the babysitter trope, think Halloween or Better Watch Out, are definitely going to enjoy this one! I loved the setup of a babysitter home alone watching two young kids and the series of events that lead up to a dead body. The fun in this story is the journey to who that dead body belongs to. I had a great time guessing as the plot moved back and forth throughout the night from alternating perspectives. I liked that the reader got a glimpse into the past, so that they could try to pick up on clues that would lead them towards the grand reveal.

This book might be small, but it also packs a great examination in the psychological effects of fear and the lengths we will go in situations where this reaction is highest. Each of the characters adds a solid take on this, as we get to know each of them and watch them experience the events of this October night together.

The year is 1993 and Amy is babysitting 8 year old Ben and 12 year old Mira. As the evening progresses, things take a turn and Amy doesn’t feel in control of the situation. As unwanted visitors arrive, and a madman threatens them, Amy is on edge, and when someone breaks in and threatens her, someone is going to end up dead. Verona blends early horror films and trauma together to give the reader a creepy vibe throughout. Short and entertaining, but the ending was a bit too abrupt leaving me wishing for more. Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Very clearly a first novel written by someone trying to fill up a word count quota. Many words are repeated one after the other and it just comes off as lazy and a tad annoying at points. I was excited for this book to come out for about a month and my hopes were dashed quite quickly.

The writing in this book is so well done that the reader will really feel like they are in the house on this fateful night. The jumping timeline only upped the suspense because a chapter will have you on the edge of your seat, and then you flip the page and it takes you forward or backward a couple hours to fill in some holes and ramp up the suspense. I would say this is perfect for horror movie fans because of all the slasher movie references. A really fun time.

Midnight on Beacon Street was not what I expected it to be. I didn't hate it but also didn't love it so I'll give it 3 stars.

For the most part I really enjoyed this book, although it wasn't quite what I expected. It was focused more on the characters and some chapters seemed unnecessary when we would go back in time, even for such a short book. I don't have much to say about it, other than it was an enjoyable way to spend a few days.

Lots of classic horror movie nods and 90's nostalgia give this debut suspense enough juice to keep the pages turning, but I felt the overall execution was disappointing. I thoroughly enjoyed the parallels to several classic movies such as Halloween and the story has shades of Scream, and author Emily Ruth Verona knows how to keep the suspense taut. However, the time jumps were distracting and missed some of their potential in the overall plot. For the horror movie fan, Verona creates a story ripe with opportunities to analyze and dissect. For example, perhaps it's on purpose that the time jumps left me disoriented. But unfortunately I was in the mood for more of a murder-suspense-thriller, and this wasn't quite thriller-y, suspenseful, or murder-y as the description and the first chapter led me to believe. It was an interesting story and I'm thankful for the opportunity to read it, it just felt anticlimatic to me. But I think fans of meta-type reads and thoughtful suspenses will want to pick this up.

**Thank you, NetGalley and publishers, for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.**

Midnight on Beacon Street ended up being more of thriller for me but I still enjoyed the vintage 90s vibes and all the horror movie references! This was a fun short thriller to fly through! More of my thoughts are in my reading new horror and thriller reading vlog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlTNAkallfI&t=1203s&ab_channel=KatrinaBrown

Thank you, netgalley for this arc!

Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona was an excellent debut thriller!
I loved the 90s slasher vibes! This actually makes me want to flop down on my couch and watch all the horror films.
I really enjoyed the YA aspect. I thought it added a whole new level of anxiety.
A terrifically assured and pulse-pounding novel.

Thank You NetGalley and Harper Perennial for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Heart pumping opening chapter, but kind of fell off after that.

Don’t get me wrong, I did read this in one sitting and it did a great job at keeping my attention, however it amounted to a whole lot of nothing? The first half gave me Skinamarink vibes (which is a movie I love dearly). On that same note, I really liked the horror movie references and name drops throughout! It added a fun element.

I was constantly trying to figure out what the climax of the book would be and what path it would ultimately take us down, because it tries to mislead you into a few different scenarios. There were some enjoyable elements, it was just the ending just made me go “wait, that was it?”

Verona creates a vibrant '90s vibe of a home invasion on a night in the life of a babysitter. A babysitter who is infatuated with horror movies which makes it more compelling. The first chapter hooks you, leaving you mystified about what went on that led to the end. As Verona takes you through the day before midnight going back in time to tell the story of the events that occurred as the clock ticks. With rich characters and an intriguing plot, this was an easy book to devour in a short time. In the end, one questions how well you know someone. Verona creates a compelling novel that I would recommend to others.

This felt super choppy and was hard for me to get into. For that reason, I chose to DNF. I loved the concept and ideas, and hope to try this author again in the future.

Midnight on Beacon Street follows Amy, a teenager and career babysitter (haha). The story does have a dual timeline. The first is jumping back and forth between different times of the present day, leading up to midnight, which is an evening in October when Amy is babysitting Ben and Mira. The second timeline occurs six years prior when Amy had a new, cool babysitter–Sadie. Oh, I forgot to mention that Amy is obsessed with slasher movies and wants to go to film school, how cool is she? Plus, Eleanor, the mom she’s babysitting for, isn’t a regular mom, she’s a cool mom, and she lets Amy invite her boyfriend, Miles, over while she’s babysitting. Well, when Miles shows up with his brother, his brother’s girlfriend, and her sister, the evening starts to take a turn.

I loved the vibes of this book, really capturing that early 90s feel and it was a bit meta (a la Scream) with Amy’s obsession with slasher movies. Did I mention this is a horror book?

While it’s a shortie, it packs a big punch and some fun twists, will make you nostalgic if you’re a 90s kid, and has some relatable characters. Amy suffers from generalized anxiety/panic disorder (me too, girlfriend), and I think Verona captured that experience SO well. And it’s one you don’t see often. There was also some interesting play there on the fact that GAD/GPD can make you feel nervous and scared for no reason, but then Amy also has plenty of reasons to get scared throughout this story. Very fun, very 80s/90s slasher movie-esque. I’m a fan and highly recommend this bad boy to horror book and movie fans!

A big thank you to NetGalley and Harper Perennial for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I was excited to start Midnight on Beacon Street. From the synopsis it seemed like it had everything that I was looking for in a book. The cover gave it spooky vibes, the setting reminded me of an old slasher movie, and the characters seemed compelling. However, it ended up falling flat for me. Once the "big bad" was revealed it seemed like the book was over way too quickly and without enough closure. Don't get me wrong, I think an open ended ending can be great, but this one just left me like, "what? really?". I liked the alternating timelines and narrators, but overall I just wanted more. More suspense, more true fear.

I didn't necessarily _dislike_ Midnight on Beacon Street, I just wanted more from it. It was a fun way to spend a weekend, but that twist was a lot out of left field and I don't understand the motivation.
That being said, the retro vibes were fun and it made me call my little brother so, 3.5 stars.

What a debut from Verona! This was a quick read with good pacing. As the synopsis promises, Midnight on Beacon Street is a love letter to horror/slasher films. The story is told through switching POVs between Amy and Ben with each chapter progressing in different ways (Amy’s moves towards midnight up to the climax while Ben starts at midnight with the climax-without revealing anything of course-but then moves backwards). It was a unique and interesting way to tell the story!

The writing could sometimes be too repetitive and descriptive, especially in Ben’s chapters. I preferred Amy’s since Ben’s had a lot more telling instead of showing.

The twists were predictable, I wasn’t really surprised by any of them and guessed them a few chapters before it was revealed. But I did appreciate how the story unraveled!

Despite the predictability and telling over showing, it was an enjoyable read and one that I didn’t want to put down! Highly recommend if you want a quick, entertaining thriller. I’m excited to see what Verona writes next