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Midnight Is the Darkest Hour

Midnight Is the Darkest Hour, October 2023
by Ashley Winstead

Sourcebooks Landmark
400 pages
ISBN: 1728269962
EAN: 9781728269962
Kindle: B0BTMXDL2N
Hardcover / e-Book
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"A deftly crafted and engrossing Southern gothic thriller..."

Fresh Fiction Review

Midnight Is the Darkest Hour
Ashley Winstead

Reviewed by Evie Harris
Posted October 18, 2023

Thriller Psychological

Bad things have happened in the small town of Bottom Springs, Louisiana.  People have been murdered and people have disappeared, but that is just the tip of the iceberg as Ruth Cornier and Everett Duncan will soon discover when a skull surfaces in a swamp.  Is their secret about to be revealed?

Ruth, the only child of a preacher, and Everett, the son of a mean drunk, are fascinating characters who will surprise and shock readers over and over. Both are outcasts but for different reasons. On the surface, it appears they have nothing else in common. As the narrative progresses, it becomes evident that this isn't the case at all. Their relationship is unconventional and often perplexing.  As for the rest of the characters, for the most part, they are amongst the most flawed group I have ever encountered.

MIDNIGHT IS THE DARKEST HOUR by Ashley Winstead is a deftly crafted Southern gothic novel that brings to life a small town whose population believes in swamp monsters, fears the devil, and with the right amount of encouragement, will take the law into their own hands. Winstead brings to readers an intense examination of the complex question of what is right and wrong.  This unique thriller deals with issues of power, corruption, and justice. Well plotted and engrossing, this dark and powerful story is well worth reading.  Highly recommended.

Learn more about Midnight Is the Darkest Hour

SUMMARY

From the critically acclaimed author of In My Dreams I Hold A Knife and The Last Housewife comes Midnight is the Darkest Hour, a gothic Southern thriller about a killer haunting a small Louisiana town, where two outcasts—the preacher's daughter and the boy from the wrong side of the tracks—hold the key to uncovering the truth.

For fans of Verity and A Flicker in the Dark, Midnight is the Darkest Hour is a twisted tale of murder, obsessive love, and the beastly urges that lie dormant within us all...even the God-fearing folk of Bottom Springs, Louisiana. In her small hometown, librarian Ruth Cornier has always felt like an outsider, even as her beloved father rains fire-and-brimstone warnings from the pulpit at Holy Fire Baptist. Unfortunately for Ruth, the only things the townspeople fear more than the God and the Devil are the myths that haunt the area, like the story of the Low Man, a vampiric figure said to steal into sinners' bedrooms and kill them on moonless nights. When a skull is found deep in the swamp next to mysterious carved symbols, Bottom Springs is thrown into uproar—and Ruth realizes only she and Everett, an old friend with a dark past, have the power to comb the town's secret underbelly in search of true evil.

A dark and powerful novel like fans have come to expect from Ashley Winstead, Midnight is the Darkest Hour is an examination of the ways we've come to expect love, religion, and stories to save us, the lengths we have to go to in order to take back power, and the monstrous work of being a girl in this world.


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