Midnight

Product Information

It’s very… well, not Wilson. I think the problem in this book is the character’s motivation for her plot. Wilson’s characters are normally full of life but Violet is flat, and quite honestly, I don’t like her. She’s too simple.

Ok, I have done something I have never done in a book review before, I have given 2 versions of synopsis. I have done this because I feel that the Goodreads synopsis promises the story as something better than it is. Wilson did really well on this. Reading it again though, I don’t feel like I connected as much as I used to. I still love Violet, I still remember connecting to her so much, she made me feel so much better about being such a book lover – reading books was my escape from the world, and connecting to Violet made that so much more enjoyable. I just feel like she could have done more. There were a few loose ends not wrapped up, which are gonna bug me for a little while. I feel a second instalment in the Midnight bookverse would help a lot with that. The author Wilson is an intriguing character himself, coming into writing relatively late after a lengthy career in teaching following a youthful dose of Vietnam. His own autobiography would, I suspect, be a fascinating read, but his age, experience and viewpoint can be detected throughout this book without ever overwhelming it and giving it just the right degree of a philosophical, almost elegiac, undertone.

Double Act won the prestigious Smarties Medal and the Children’s Book Award as well as being highly commended for the Carnegie Medal. The Story of Tracy Beaker won the 2002 Blue Peter People’s Choice Award. The ending is kind of rushed, too, but perhaps an open ending, where we don't know most of the characters' fates, is realistic? In a story about fairies? Take a shady but thrilling ride along the corridors of the smooth stone walls of La Cabaña of Che Guevara Thrilling and horrific, with a dose humorous irony. Wilson's Midnight Mass is a return to the grisly, purely evil side of vampiric lore. And it's a welcome addition to a genre inundated with romanticized depictions.

F. Paul Wilson doesn't stop at one set of monsters. He also gives us the Cowboys / Vichy / Serfs. These are the dregs of humanity - biker gangs, drug dealers,�� violent criminals, city traders - who keep the vampires safe by day and wrangle the human cattle in exchange for being turned into vampires after ten years of service. Dad bared his teeth in a silly smile. He’d swapped his dark tunic and trousers and white working shirt for this equally naff evening uniform of satin-striped suit and frilly shirt. He wore a clip-on bow instead of his clip-on tie. And a clip-on face, pink, jovial, jowly, always Mr Plod the Policeman. The protagonist of Midnight is Violet a naive 13 year old. The book was published in 2003 and that’s got something to do with it, I think. It was the time when cellphones weren’t ubiquitous yet and people still wrote letters to authors instead of stalking them or talking about/to them online. Violet adores reclusive author Casper Dream, the author of the beautifully illustrated fairy books. She loves the fictitious universe created by him. She draws inspiration from it and sews fairy dolls. As you can see she isn’t your boisterous teen but quiet and artistic. Midnight offers interesting insights into the mind of a writer and on creating imaginary worlds which appealed to me greatly. She’d been his pet chinchilla. He’d had her for five years and loved her more than anyone. He’d never cuddle any of us, not even Mum or me, but he’d sit for hours with Muffy curled on his lap. Will rarely confined her to her cage. She had a habit of burrowing beneath a cushion or under the bed so you could never fling yourself down anywhere in case you squashed her. Will insisted she was fully house-trained but Muffy still had many accidents. I tried not to make a fuss when I sat on her small hard droppings.

Keep in touch

In the end, as a reward for caring for her, Bindweed grants a wish for Mab and she meets her father once again. Mab realises he is an absolute, cowardly loser without any self esteem or strength…. How had she not seen it all along? Her and her mum and brother do a runner and go home. Then and there, they realise that their father didn’t deserve them and their peaceful, cosy warm lives. They continue living on, with their mums new boyfriend and Bindweed meeting her cult, I mean family, once again.

I don’t think this is the worst book I have ever read. It reads as an old classic in the way of the characters’ simple growth and personality but I don’t think I would give this to a child who is 8 years old. Maybe one who is 14-15. Will - Violet’s 15-year-old brother, almost 16, who found out he was adopted last Christmas and has become highly sardonic and antisocial towards his family, especially his father. He has an unpredictable behaviour, some moments he’s incredibly patient while other times he won’t even bother holding a conversation, but it’s consistent throughout the book that he enjoys torturing and manipulating Violet into his twisted games - admitting that ‘they’re all for [his] delight.’ He is said to be quite handsome as half the girls and some of the boys in school like Will, though he doesn’t care much for them. He is good at maths, history and French - and can sew to some extent, as he repaired Violet’s fairies at the end of the book. So who does Wilson set against this growing empire of evil? Sadly the 'good guys' read like the start of a joke and they end up being cliché heavy. The 'good guys' are: I think what went wrong in this story is the multiplot storyline Wilson attempted. Violet has an obsession with fairies created by her favourite author Casper Dreams, struggles to make friends and is emotionally abused by her brother—who just happens to be adopted and uses that as his excuse for his behaviour. The fairy tale book elements and fantasy illustrations in 'Midnight' are very nice. And there is a slight fluttering of queer details throughout; not just with Violet's interpretative feelings towards her new friend Jasmine, but she also mentions that boys as well as girls are in love with Will, and that campy men play in the pantomimes she's been to, and then there's Jasmine's dad's versatile theatre and TV acting career. I appreciate the message that boys and men can do and like whatever they please. Masculinity and femininity, and gender, are societal constructs, after all.I don’t mind multiplot storylines as long as the main plot gets resolved and to me, the most important one here would be the relationship and emotional abuse between Will and his sister. Well, you can take yours down the road and round the corner but I’m sitting right here.’ Will sat in Mum’s chair, one leg straddling an arm.