MIDNIGHT ON BEACON STREET by Emily Ruth Verona is an impressive debut that pulls readers into nineties nostalgia and horror movie references. Complete with an anxious babysitter, two young children, weird neighborhood burglaries, and unexpected visitors, the horror movie setup is complete, and Amy must find it within herself to make sure she protects the children while surviving the night. Single mom Eleanor Mazinski has had a rough life. She is heading out for a night on the town and leaving six-year-old Ben and twelve-year-old Mira with their thoughtful and capable babysitter, Amy. The night starts well, but when Amy’s boyfriend stops by for a visit, he brings his obnoxious brother and friends with him. Amy eventually throws them out, but another unwanted visitor appears at the door, and Amy must overcome her anxiety to take care of the situation. After resolving this bad situation, Amy hopes the remaining hours will go by uneventfully, but when she hears a door suddenly creak open, she knows she’s entered her horror movie, and she must, like any good horror movie final girl, protect the children and make it out alive at all costs. MIDNIGHT ON BEACON STREET is a fun, entertaining trip back to the nineties filled with horror movie references and late-night scares. Told from Amy’s and Ben’s alternating viewpoints and several flashbacks, characterization and backstory become the keys to understanding why Amy, Mira, Ben, and the other characters behave the way they do. It may take a moment to get into the storytelling style, but it's worth the effort. Ben and Mira are children of divorce and abuse, and the way they view the world as protective and insecure is well portrayed. The babysitter, Amy, is plagued by anxiety and finds comfort in the controlled chaos of horror movies. As the night progresses, Amy becomes the heroine in her own movie. From the mysterious “Shh” to hang-up phone calls to the dead body on the kitchen floor, MIDNIGHT ON BEACON STREET ratchets up the twists and suspense and proves to be an entertaining debut thriller.
A suspenseful and entertaining debut thriller—and love letter to vintage horror movies—in which a teenager must overcome her own anxiety to protect the two children she’s babysitting when strangers come knocking at the door.
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.
In this dazzling debut novel, Emily Ruth Verona moves back and forth in time, ratcheting up suspense and tension on every page. Chock-full of nods to classic horror films of the seventies and eighties, Midnight on Beacon Street is a gripping thriller full of electrifying twists and a heartwarming tale of fear and devotion that explores our terrors and the lengths we’ll go to keep our loved ones safe.
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