Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris

Posted 10 June, 2014 by Heather in Blog, Heather, Heather Book Review / 11 Comments

Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine HarrisMidnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris
Series: ,
Published by Penguin on 2014-05-06
Genres: Action & Adventure, Adult, Contemporary, Fantasy, Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Paranormal
Pages: 320
Format: eBook
Source: Borrowed From Library
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
3 Stars

FIRST IN A NEW TRILOGY

From Charlaine Harris, the bestselling author who created Sookie Stackhouse and her world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, comes a darker locale—populated by more strangers than friends. But then, that’s how the locals prefer it…

Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It’s a pretty standard dried-up western town.

There’s a pawnshop (someone lives in the basement and is seen only at night). There’s a diner (people who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there’s new resident Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he’s found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his own).

Stop at the one traffic light in town, and everything looks normal. Stay awhile, and learn the truth...

My Thoughts:

Have you ever started reading a book and felt like you were dropped right in to the middle of the story, even though you were reading the first chapter? Felt like you somehow missed a set of books before the one you were trying to read, so you felt so out of the loop that your frustration was so palpable you wanted to close the (digital) pages and not look back for a few days? Well, that’s how I felt when I started reading Charlaine Harris’ latest book Midnight Crossroad, book one in a new mystery trilogy that follows up her highly successful Sookie Stackhouse series.

Featuring a set of quirky characters that live in a small town in Texas where the only rule is that no one asks about your past, the main focus at first appeared to be a mid-twenties psychic  named Manfred who just moved to Midnight. While he gets acquainted with his landlord Bobo, who also owns the Pawn Shop next door that employs a Vampire and a pretty kickass woman, the story also explores the disappearance of Bobo’s girlfriend–until her body turns up. And seems like it takes forever for the dead body to show up. Until then, the book basically follows Manfred as he interacts with the resident witch, restaurant owner, local handyman gas station owner and his kids, the Reverend, and the Salon/Antique store proprietors.

With frequent point of view changes–which are done cleanly and without confusion–you’re hopping around from character to character as they try to figure out who killed Bobo’s girlfriend. Even with all of this time devoted to these characters, I didn’t connect with any of them and they felt two-dimensional and underdeveloped. It’s pretty sad when the character that I loved the most was a sarcastic witches familiar feline. By the end of the book, I finally got a good feel for everyone and I was really enjoying it, but it took a bit of work to get to know everyone.

I give Midnight Crossroad a three out of five. Lacking the emotional tension and depth that I’ve come to love from Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series, I didn’t feel like the stakes were that high in this book. Too many characters and too much jumping around made it hard to connect with any of them while trying to establish a new world. I’m glad that I borrowed this one from the library, especially since the last half of the book shows such great potential and improvement over the first half. I will be borrowing the next book from the library too.

Rating 3

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Heather

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I'm a PhD chemist who loves sarcasm, music, and books-paranormal, mystery, thriller, suspense, horror, and romance. Most of my free time is spent at the martial arts studio these days--whether practicing Combat Hapkido or reading books while watching my son's Taekwondo classes, or even working up a sweat with Kickboxing for fun. Goodreads

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11 Responses to “Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris”

  1. Thanks for this review. I’ve been eager to hear some feedback on this newest book from Harris. I have seen the book advertised and promoted for a while now, but this is the first I’ve really hard about it from a reader’s perspective.
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    Anne 6/10/2014

    There’s 269 reviews currently on Amazon and 540 on Goodreads.

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    Heather 6/10/2014

    The reviews on Amazon and Goodreads are really a mixed bag. I was quite disappointed in Charlaine Harris’ latest effort since I’ve quite enjoyed her other work.
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  2. Anne

    I also gave the book a 3 star (OK rating) on Amazon. The mystery comes to light way too far in the book and none of the characters were really interesting. We don’t get to truly know any of them.

    Got it from the library and don’t really care of the sequel is released (it’s supposed to be a trilogy). If it is, I’ll probably get it from the library again, but won’t be nibbling on my nails waiting for it to come in. I have a hard time giving up on a writer I’ve enjoyed in the past.

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    Heather 6/10/2014

    I’m so glad that I borrowed Midnight Crossroad from the library and didn’t waste my money on the book. I certainly won’t be in a hurry to read the sequel, and like you, I’ll just borrow it from the library too. I’m hoping the second installment is better.
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  3. I have to admit that I set the book aside – more than once – for the same reason. Knowing that it gets better helps, thanks!

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    Heather 6/10/2014

    I wasn’t in any hurry to read Midnight Crossroad, even though I had to return the e-book back to the library. I took a long time to read it when I usually only take a few days to read a book of this size. It was so boring in some of the beginning parts that I just couldn’t continue for long. But once I hit about halfway, it wasn’t so slow paced after that.
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  4. Your review bums me out a bit. I’m a huge fan of the Sookie Stackhouse books. I had high hopes for this book too. I know I will still read it, but its definitely dropped down on the must read list for the year.
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    Heather 6/10/2014

    I really loved the Sookie Stackhouse book, but even the last couple of those started to lose steam and sparkle. I had high hopes for Midnight Crossroads, but it just didn’t live up to the great pacing and character depth that you got in her other series.
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  5. YES! This is how I felt, too. I think there’s potential but it was slow and, really, kind of boring. Too much set-up and not enough plot. Too much description and not enough action. I was totally meh on this one.
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    Heather 6/10/2014

    Such wasted potential in Midnight Crossroad, but it left me feeling like I was bored back in the small town that I grew up in, just hanging out during the summer back when there was no internet with nothing to do. Not much forward drive with hardly any character depth. Meh is right…
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