The Midnight House

A tour of a very cynical, brutal secret world. Everyone has done something evil, except some are even worse than others. Slightly hypocritical in that the hero has an attack of morality, as he functions at his most violent capacity. Yet, like a black widow spider, you're held in thrall watching these despicable people do their dirty deeds. If this is what the CIA is like, God help us.

The Midnight house, Alex Berenson's fourth spy novel featuring CIA super-agent John Wells, continues his action-packed yet sophisticated take on the sprawling War on Terror and its frightening collateral consequences. Here Wells is called upon to investigate the serial murders of a disbanded eleven-member interrogation squad, whose well-financed torture methods were designed to break terrorists in a secret Polish military prison without traceability to its backers in the Pentagon and three-letter-agencies. The FBI is already on the case, and it is clear to Wells and his supervisor, Ellis Shafer, that they are being asked to conduct a parallel investigation to further some political agenda well above their pay grades.

As with the show more previous Wells novels, the writing is first rate, and Berenson's knowledge of the military and intelligence community allows him to maintain a realistic, authentic feel throughout. The plot, however, suffers from being part thriller, part mystery, with chapters alternating between Wells's present-day investigation of the murders and flashbacks seen through the eyes of those involved in the interrogations. The effect is a hodgepodge of scenes in which the reader knows more than the investigator Wells, diminishing the intensity and fluidity that could have been achieved by holding true to either the thriller or mystery format. Even so, this is a timely, entertaining novel that highlights the psychological toll that torture techniques exact on prisoners and interrogators alike. show less

Disappointing. That’s my unfortunate review of Alex Berenson’s “The Midnight House.” The previous three books got ratings of 4s and 3.5. “The Midnight House” suffered from what many other “recurring character” novels suffer from—a character who was once interesting and unique becoming very plastic and boring.

In this one, somebody’s killing off a team who took part in an off-the-books super-secret interrogation house in Poland. I don’t know what Berenson’s point of view is on the subject—whether we’re supposed to be shocked at some of the techniques used or be cheering on the interrogators, but we do get a pretty good look at ways we try to get info from terrorists without “leaving physical marks.” Anyway, show more John Wells, who started out in “The Faithful Spy” as an embedded Al-Qaeda operative, is sent to investigate the killings. The problem with the book is that anyone could’ve done this. It’d be like having Jack Bauer looking for a lost cat. I mean, really? Can’t we find something better for Wells to do?

So my poor rating more reflects the use of Wells than the story itself, although it’s not all that interesting either. I’m not going to run out and get Berenson’s next Wells book “The Secret Soldier” any time soon as I’m afraid it’ll be more of the same. show less

First and foremost, Berenson is an excellent writer. His deft novels really shine in a genre that prefers sensational plots to good writing. Fortunately, Berenson delivers plots that don't take a back seat to any, along with the writing chops to make the reading experience pleasurable.

The tone of The Midnight House isn't really suited to a climactic gun battle, although there is no shortage of tense episodes. Instead, it's more akin to the movie "Courage Under Fire" (absent the Rashomon angle). A sad story is slowly revealed. The resolution is neither surprising nor shocking, but overall, it's satisfying and authentic.

I think Berenson's first novel, The Faithful Spy, is one of the best of its kind. It would be hard to match that, much show more less top it. His subsequent novels haven't quite reached the same heights, but they're pretty close.

The Midnight House is, in some ways, a departure from the previous novels, but it's also very consonant with them too. This matches the American national mood fairly closely, I think. show less

About an hour ago I finished The Midnight House, Berenson's fourth book in the John Wells saga.
Must say I absolutely loved it but I have been a fan since the first book which I believe was The Faithful Spy.
For me he writes intelligently and semi-fast paced that seems to suit my reading style.

In short I would recommend this book to anyone who thinks there is always two sides to a story and that power corrupts.

All in all a brilliant fourth book and I wait now for the fifth which I believe is to be titled The Secret Soldier.

This was far too much of a standard mystery than the thriller that I wanted to read. I also found the author's jumping from point of view to point of view character a bit distracting, especially as the chronological sequence of these narrative switches detracted rather than enhanced the story. I understand it was done to draw out the mystery, but it just didn't work for me.

This is the fourth book in a series about John Wells, a CIA agent. This is the first of the series I have read. (I was provided a free copy for review through the First Reads program on GoodReads.com.) As a result of reading this one, I have bought three more in the series. I didn't encounter any problems as a result of not reading the previous books. There were a few blanks that I will get filled in later (i.e., what's the deal with Exeley? What's the story regarding Times Square? )

John Wells is called in to investigate when members of a top secret interrogation team start dying. The story alternates with the present and Wells and his partner working the investigation and back top 2008 and the interrogation of prisoners at the Midnight show more House in Poland. I was not able to figure out who did the killings and why prior to the reveal. This book gets into some of the ethical issues surrounding the interrogation teams.

Another book is coming out in the series -- "The Counterfeit Agent" -- and I really look forward to reading this one. show less