The Midnight Show refers to a late night comedy sketch show (think Saturday Night Live) and takes place at the dawn of the 1980's. The story focuses on the more than forty year unsolved mysterious disappearance of one of the shows original cast members, Lillian Martin, and is the focus of a cover story being written by a tenacious writer for Rolling Stone. The format the story is told is through interviews, newspaper clippings, and other various forms of correspondence.

I am old enough to remember the nascent years of Saturday Night Live, so I couldn't help but compare some of the cast members and skits to those in this story. I admit that I didn't get what was enigmatic or humorous about Lillian. She didn't seem particularly remarkable and like most forms of art, comedy is subjective as well as being a product of its zeitgeist. However, her brand of comedy just came across as absurd. Albeit, I think that was its goal. As we learn about Lillian and those who held close, personal relationships with her, we see its effect on her comedy as well as her mental health.

The writing style was clever, but I felt too many voices were speaking at once. For example, if an interview was taking place with one person in a coffee shop, there would then be parts of interviews with five other people (who weren't at the coffee shop) featured in the same transcript. The authors were adept at giving each character their own unique voice and personality. However, the format jumbled all the voices together.

I also can't say that I was satisfied with the conclusion. Lillian wasn't a character I was rooting for, nor did I feel any compassion for her. If anything, I felt apathetic in the end.

I give this book three stars. The writing was good, but the story just wasn't for me.