Book review: The Midnight Side by Natasha Mostert

A phone call from the dead. Lucid dreaming. A ghost manipulating the London stock exchange. And a truly frightening story of love gone wrong.

THE MIDNIGHT SIDE is a chilling tale of a seductive woman who, even from the grave, is able to manipulate events to her satisfaction. A haunting story of obsession and revenge, Natasha Mostert’s novel is an intricate psychological thriller with an ending that will leave you breathless.

Note: I received this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

All in all, it was an entertaining, creepy mystery with a great dose of thrill. However, the case of Alette’s death wasn’t all that difficult to solve. It had been quite easy to figure out who killed her and how manipulative she turned out to be, even dead. I did feel sad for poor Jason though.

I don’t like meddling with ghosts and after life stuff in real life, but reading about it in fiction books is actually entertaining. The Midnight Side provided a great journey that I found enjoyable.

Writing style:

The novel is written in a 3^rd person POV, and has an omnipresent narrator. From experience I know that the 3^rd person POV in a contemporary book is difficult to pull off, but Natasha Mostert turned out to be a fully capable writer, who makes the reader immerse in her stories.

Story line:

Isabel lives in South Africa, miles away from her cousin, Alette, who resides in the UK. So when Isa receives a phone call from Alette, it’s nothing unusual to her. Then she receives a different call, informing her of Alette’s death, from two days earlier. With Isa’s travel to the UK begins this mystery of murder, manipulation and ghostly ambitions.

Themes:

-Lucid dreaming as the string connecting the living with the recently deceased

-Obsession with someone is dangerous and usually tragic

-manipulation as a means to succeed in accomplishing one’s plans

Characters:

Isabel (Isa) – not surprisingly, she was portrayed to be the dependent cousin. When they were younger, Isa couldn’t spend a day without getting Alette’s approval. She could never deny Alette’s games of dare.

When Isa decided it was time to stand up for herself, although a bit late, she proved that she had a backbone when one was needed.

Jason, Alette’s ex-husband, who couldn’t escape his late wife even after she was dead, had to deal with a deathly obsessed person who just wouldn’t let go. Fending off a ghost seemed to be a difficult task.

Michael was another obsessed  character. He was quite obvious with his affection for Alette and I knew all troubles that seemed to haunt Isa came from him.

Alette – a ghost who just wouldn’t find peace until she brought revenge to the people she thought had forgotten her. She didn’t care how much pain she caused or who she caused it to. As long as she had the upper hand, everything was fine with her. Apart from her being dead, that is.

In conclusion:

Creepy from the very beginning, The Midnight Side kept giving me the chills to the very end.

My rating is: