The Midnight Club

In The Midnight Club, terminally ill teenagers reside in Rotterham Home, a hospice known more for its despair than hope. Each night at midnight they gather to tell terrifying stories, creating their own pact: the first to die must prove there’s life after death by making contact from beyond the grave. When one of them dies, the rest—bound by friendship, fear, and desperation—seek proof that spirit lives on. Pike delivers a haunting mix of grief, courage, and supernatural longing in this emotionally rich YA horror.

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 show more 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. show less

I watched the Netflix show before reading the book, and can't help but compare the two. The book is a lot simpler in many ways, devoid of evil cults and conspiracies and secret rooms. It's a stark account of a group of terminally ill teenagers coping with their chronic pain, declining health, and impending doom.
My biggest problem was the very YA-ish tone of the writing. Although the content didn't pull any punches, I still couldn't shake the feeling that the reader was being talked down to.

Rotterham Home is a hospice for teens with a variety of terminal illnesses. One small group, consisting of Ilonka, Anya, Sandra, Kevin, and Spence, gets together every night at midnight to tell stories. Spence's stories always feature some form of mass murder, Anya's story has more of a supernatural bent, Kevin's is a multi-part story about an angel who becomes a mortal out of love for a young woman. Ilonka, meanwhile, always tells stories based on her memories of her past lives. Although she says she's never met anyone in this life that she's known in her past lives, that's a lie - she recognizes Kevin as someone she's met and loved in all or most of her past lives. Unfortunately, Kevin is currently dating a pretty and healthy show more cheerleader.

Almost every member of the group has a secret gnawing at them, something they must deal with as best they can in the little time they have.

I had forgotten how much mysticism was in some of Christopher Pike's books. This particular one had a LOT. Ilonka had repeated dreams of sitting at the feet of some guy she called the Master, who philosophized at her and tried to get her to stop looking at the past or longing for the future and instead focus on the present. Weirdly, her reincarnations resulted in her being both the Master's mother and his first disciple. The two past lives readers got to see the most of took place in ancient India and ancient Egypt (sort of). Then there was Kevin's angel main character, Sandra's evangelical upbringing, and lots of mentions of God.

Speaking of Sandra, evangelical readers would probably be annoyed by this book, since she comes across as the least likeable and most hypocritical character. Oddly, she was also the only character to find Spence's stories disturbing. Considering Pike's usual inclusion of murder and/or horror in his books, I initially thought Spence's stories were going to lead up to some kind of murder mystery, but that wasn't exactly the case. (There was a tiny bit of mystery, but it was more of a minor detail than anything.)

I'm not really sure what else to say about this. The one bit where Ilonka had a bunch of magic-filled dreams of past lives was weird, and the far-future ending felt weak and tacked on. This was a bit of an "issue" book, dealing directly with subjects like teenage sexuality, homosexuality, and AIDS, in addition to the more obvious issues of death, serious illness, and mortality. (And yes, the gay kid dies, but so does everyone else. The things he said to Ilonka would probably seem dated in some areas but would unfortunately probably still ring true in others, particularly rural areas. Considering the promise Ilonka made to him, it bugged me that, as far as I could tell, he didn't get a happy cameo at the end.)

All in all, this wasn't the book I expected it to be and wasn't one of my better Pike rereads, but it wasn't bad. Just don't let the cover trick you into thinking it's horror, or you'll be terribly disappointed.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Instead of being a freaky tale of ghosts and death, as the cover might have you believe, this is actually a rather sweet love story about growing up and forgiveness. I'm not sure how Pike did this (and maybe I was just feeling emotional this week), but this book is nicely written, engaging, and often very moving. In this book, Pike gives himself a nice structure for filling the novel with nicely told mini-stories, which puts a little less pressure on his main characters, and allows their characters to develop and their relationships to evolve with out the full crush of Pike's usually rather ham-handed descriptions. If you are looking for the usual Pike novel, this probably isn't for you, but I really found it worthwhile.

[full review show more here: http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2010/05/midnight-club-by-chirstopher-pike-1994.htm... ] show less

If you’ve watched the Netflix series, don’t expect the same story in the book, though many of the book’s elements are present on screen. Also, the book’s publicised as a horror, and it most definitely isn’t that. It’s about teens coming to terms with their terminal illness. It’s profound, touching, and bittersweet, and a significant accomplishment — creating a book about death for teens that’s thought provoking. However, sometimes I felt drawn in and at others as though I was standing very much outside. I couldn’t help feeling that, if written today, it could have been so much more, and that some slight issues are terribly dated because of bigotry, which the author was clearly, and rightly, addressing. Taking these show more issues into consideration, the book would have been more outstanding when published than it is now, but still worth reading. show less

Unique. Powerful. Sad.

The back blurb misleads potential buyers because with this type of book they would have expected creepiness. Instead the actual book is serious and potent. It's...well, it's a drama about death. Not only death but the possibilities of reincarnation and the connection the dying have with each other in a hospice house. Bleak, depressing stuff - but it's realistic and there's a strange beauty to it all.

One of my favorites from the author, this is a book that shows how creative he can be with the most amazing array of things. Sometimes the stories dragged on with the Midnight club and I was wondering the point, but I found the ultimate message proved to be how much life the teller of the stories had and how we all can show more be connected in bizarre ways.

Slower paced but a great drama piece - kudos to Pike again. show less