Christopher Pike

In a hospice for the terminally ill, five teenagers, who meet every night to tell each other scary stories, make a pact that the first of them to die must try to contact the others from beyond the grave.

The Midnight Club

lea da silva

one of the most beautiful books i have read about the human heart/condition, grief, death & loss. very glad i decided to read it

Ryan LaFerney

Compared to most Christopher Pike books, The Midnight Club offers very little in the way of traditional thrills and chills. But it does have is a lot of heart. The book is, in essence, a powerful and thought-provoking drama about death, interconnection, and what it means to be alive. It's harrowing and beautiful but not particularly spooky.

The synopsis of the plot is a bit deceptive. The Midnight Club begins at Rotterdam Home. We are introduced to a group of five young teens, all of whom suffer from terminal illnesses. To pass the time, they form a storytelling club, meeting up every night to exchange spooky tales (hence the Midnight Club title). This eventually leads them to make a pact, promising each other that whoever dies first will try his or her best to make contact from beyond the grave.

I went in expecting a supernatural tale of spooky contact from beyond the grave and this really isn't a supernatural story per se. In reality, The Midnight Club actually reaches far beyond this initial setup. Pike tells stories within the main story, crafting a beautiful and philosophical tale about life and death. But reader be warned: the supernatural is not the prominent exploration within this story.

This is a heavy read. Not a light hearted teen slasher or a safe R.L. Stine book. This is a different type of YA, written at a time, when YA was not being taken seriously: It's a philosophical, harrowing tale of companionship, suffering, and life. A must-read for young and adult readers alike.

And this is a perfect type of tale for Mike Flanagan to turn into a TV show.

Siya S

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 (thanks to the ending) 

This book might be a victim of a very bad case of misleading PR. The synopsis seems to try too hard to bend this book into something it's not. It's nothing like Stranger Things and it's not at all scary. Let's say it's a YA book about a group of kids trying to deal with a terminal illness in their own ways, which was through exchanging creative stories with one another at "The Midnight Club", and let's leave it at that.

It felt to me like the kind of books English Teachers would assign us to read back in highschool - the language is simple and easy to read, with a lot of coming-of-age themes and oversimplified philosophical concepts throughout. And I guess that's why I did not enjoy Ilonka's rambling about the 'Master' and the 'past lives' bits at all - it lacked nuance, felt too out of place, and got so repetitive it's a little forced. 

That being said, I did see that this book could have been great if it was 100-150 pages longer. The beginning felt endless but the ending was a little rush. I wish I could get to know more about the side characters so that they didn't feel so flat and unimportant like a garnish on a plate. I particularly liked Anya and Spence, because they felt like real human beings with real struggles. Kevin was ok in a tragic, cute love interest way, but he's so bland and badly written it's sad. 

Speaking of which, Ilonka was a horrible person and I didn't care about her at all (ok, maybe a little because I'm not a monster). I didn't understand where she's coming from, most of the time? Like, hello? Also, her obsession with Kevin wasn't great - but I guess that's kind of the point because none of this mattered in the end. 

5/10 fingers crossed the series adaptation does it better.

riven

I will admit that I did love this book throughout. It was well written and the story was terribly sad but still beautiful. However, it was rather misleading. The cover and the description both indicated that it would be a good spooky read and it wasn’t at all. I was expecting spooky and am rather upset that it wasn’t. But otherwise, it was a great book to get through.

Rowan Myers

It's impossible to comment on this book without nostalgia tinted glasses, but an attempt is being made. I didn't remember so much interpretation of Hinduism in this book, and it surprised me. It's one of those things that kinda feels weird but I don't know why? I was also surprised by the sheer amount of talking about sex for a book recommended to eleven-year-olds. But that's probably just me pearl clutching in my middle age. I do have to remind myself through gritted teeth that ableism was just more common in the 90s and that Pike seems well-intentioned. The main concept remains intact and is still interesting many years later, but the surrounding dialogue aged like milk. I suspect every IP from the 80s and 90s has aged this way, so it's nothing too egregious.

Avila Ashland

“If you honestly feel you have done something so terrible that you cannot be forgiven, then I am willing to share your sins with you.” 

Picked up The Midnight Club in anticipation for Mike Flanagan’s adaptation. This book is nothing I expected it to be. It was heartbreaking and beautiful and I can’t wait to see what Flanagan does with it. I’m expecting to be a crying mess - even more so than I was reading the last two chapters. 

The cover made me expect an R.L. Stine like story but it was so much more than that and discusses a lot of heavy topics. I do wish some parts were more fleshed out but overall I recommend this book :) 

(4.5 ⭐️)

this was amazing i can't wait for the show ik mike flanagan is gonna kill this

This book broke my heart. Reading the back of it, you know very well that it will and yet the amount that it did surprised me. At times it’s difficult to follow the tales but on the other hand, all of the stories sound like they’re being told by teenagers. As they should be! The last few chapters really get to you and also give you this difficult to describe sense of hope. Books like these are why I love the horror genre and it’s many sub genres.

Becca Futrell

The Midnight Club

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