Ruth Cornier grew up in the Deep South in a community ruled by her preacher father. Her best friend is the "bad boy" from the other side of the tracks. When bodies start showing up in the swamp, all eyes are on him! Ashley Winstead weaves a dark, disturbing tale that the reader can't put down.

Ruth Cornier is a naïve small-town preacher's daughter entangled in a web of unsolved murders. The only things the townspeople fear more than the God and the Devil are the myths that haunt the area, like the story of the Low Man, a vampiric figure said to steal into sinners' bedrooms and kill them on moonless nights. Then a skull is found in the nearby swamp. The story alternates between the present and various points in Ruth's childhood and teenage years. This is a dark tale that attempts to tale several big topics such as religious zealotry, abuse, and corruption, and perhaps the author was overly ambitious in her attempt to incorporate so much into a short novel. There are many morally gray characters and several downright evil ones, and I didn't connect with a single character. The author is rather heavy-handed in her attempts to hammer home the moral message of the novel, which detracted from the flow to the story. There is some closed-door romance. I absolutely hated the ending of the book. This is the first Winstead novel I have read so I can't compare it to her other works.

Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of from Sourcebooks via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ashley Winstead can do no wrong in my eyes at this point. This book was wonderful! Kept my attention and I would definitely recommend to others.

This was sooooo boring. The story was all over the place. Was I read a religious book, a drug dealer book, or a small town romance?

WOW, all i can say is WOW. ashley winstead is the queen of page turners that leave you guessing until the very end and keep you thinking for a long time afterwards. this book felt like season one of true detective had a baby with twilight and i couldn’t get enough.

Enjoyed but didn't love. Dark mysterious and somewhat disturbing, it was interesting enough to keep me reading but wasn't all that suspenseful or thrilling. Would I recommend it to anyone? Mmmmmm probably not, just wasn't a favorite for me. My thanks to the publisher for providing a copy for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Great characters and unique story. It hooked me early and didn't let up. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Ashley Winstead has stepped it UP! The writing in this was so good, I reread so many lines purely because of the writing. I went into this book blind and let me just say, I LOVED the vibes. It’s gothic, it’s mysterious, it’s downright infuriating at times. The conversation around religion, especially the extreme religion in this town, was so well handled I loved it. And let’s be honest, the Twilight love was great! There were parts I didn’t feel as connected to and the ending took me by surprise in a way I didn’t really enjoy but overall I enjoyed the story!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for early access!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!

I’m really happy to see others enjoying this so much. I just could not get into it. I’m not sure if the whole preachers daughter trope wasn’t for me or if it was just too slow. This is not my first work by this author and I’m thinking it’s just not for me.

In the little town of Bottom Springs Louisiana, fear spreads among the God Fearing residents. A vampiric figure known as The Low Man, is killing sinners on moonless nights, or is it really a flesh and blood neighbour of Bottom Springs?

Librarian, Ruth Cornier, daughter of the local fire and brimstone preacher, Pastor James Cormier, of the Holy Fire Baptist church, finds herself at the centre of this mystery when a battered skull is discovered in Starry Swamp, surrounded by mysterious carved symbols.

Ruth has become involved with Everett, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Everett has a dark past, and Ruth’s daddy warns her to stay away from him, but it’s not going to happen, because these two have found in each other, their true soulmate.

Ruth and Everett delve deep into the town’s many secrets to attempt to solve the crime, but it will set them against some surprisingly evil townsfolk and put their lives at risk.

This novel is so atmospheric, and has a feel of Bonnie and Clyde, mixed with a touch of horror. On the surface, Bottom Springs appears to be a pious, God Fearing community, but dig a little deeper and you’ll find that evil reigns supreme. You’ll never know who to trust or what’s coming next but I doubt you’ll be bored. The ending is something you’ll either love or hate! I thought it fit the storyline perfectly. Recommended.

3 stars

Not great.
I wanted to love this, I loved Winstead’s other books, but struggled with this one quite a bit. I felt no connection to any of the characters. Another issue I had was the pacing was inconsistent. One minute I was really into it, the next I didn’t want to pick it back up. I’m ok with a nice slow burn or a fast paced thriller, but this just didn’t work for me.

This might be my most devastatingly disappointing books of all time. I honestly DNF'd at 40% because I felt no attachment to the characters and the plot was dry. The audiobook didn't even help either.

A thriller read that follows small-town librarian, Ruth and her speckled past. When her past comes knocking on her door, she must look deep into everyone she knows and trusts and finally work to seek the truth.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an advanced copy of this novel.

I went in to this “Midnight is the Darkest Hour” blind and I think you should, too. The way I love Ever and Ruth! There is so much longing in this story and the author does a beautiful job writing it. She also nails the way society views teenage girls, growing up in the swampy south, and an ultra-religious upbringing. I was thinking about this book when I wasn’t reading it. I personally did not like the very end, but still 5 stars!
Thank you to NetGalley and Source Books for providing this ARC.

Honest review incoming… this book was not for me. Which is soul crushing because I raved about The Last Housewife last year - it was in my top 10 for 2022!

My explanation for why I didn’t love this one is below and includes minor spoilers. I won’t spoil major plot points, but I do say a little more than what you get in the book description.

⚠️ Minor Spoilers below! ⚠️

✨ The Good: This book is like if Where the Crawdads Sing was crossed with Twilight and a little bit of True Defective season 1. For a lot of people, that’s going to be a huge selling point! For me, the first two would be a con because I’m not a fan of either of those.

This book is an atmospheric read! There’s legit praise from me!

✨ The Bad: I just cannot deal with male characters who are way too fictional, and female main characters who are too naive. This is a personal hangup that’s hard for me to get past! Both of these characters felt like caricatures of stereotypes that didn’t feel real. Ruth is just too naive for me to root for. Her childhood obsession with Twilight makes her seem so much younger than she actually is, and it was cringy. Then her best friend Everett is too fictional - he reads and recites poetry, he has the fierce protectiveness over Ruth, he doesn’t own a cell phone or a watch, he could immediately smell that another man had been in Ruth’s house (what was that!?). It felt way too unrealistic for my taste.

✨ The Ugly (here’s where I get a little more spoilery): For the love of everything holy, take Twilight out of this book!! If I never have to think of Twilight as a book again (or as a time of day!)… it would be too soon.

⚠️ I understand you were supposed to wonder if Everett was a vampire, but I never once wondered if he was a vampire!! It’s just not that kind of book! Now take Twilight out of the plot and make us wonder if Everett is the Low Man instead - now that would be SO much more compelling! ⚠️

There are a ton of good reviews for this one, so you might love it even if I didn’t! Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for my honest review.

Creepy and complex, this book is everything I wanted in a southern gothic novel for spooky season. A must-read.

When a skull is found deep in the swamps around Bottom Springs, Louisiana, it only validates both the fire and brimstone preaching of the local Baptist minister and the local legend of the Low Man- a vampire-like monster said to haunt the swamps and kill the less than righteous in their beds. Luckily for Bottom Springs, local librarian Ruth Cornier (daughter of said Baptist minister) realizes that if this mystery is going to be solved, she needs to be the one to do it. With the able help of her friend Everett, who has untapped mysteries of his own, Ruth sets out to find out what exactly it is that lies at the heart of this mystery- and this town.

I love a cultish theme and this one hit with the religious plot. I have read Winstead's romances, but this was my first thriller. I will definitely pick up her others. & that ending!!

no one is more distraught than me that I didn’t love this book.

for me there was too much mystery and not enough thrill, I usually struggle with stories that have a flawed religious system at its core and this was no exception.

however the last 30% was absolutely incredible, if more of the story was paced like that this rating would be much higher! because this story was incredibly interesting don’t get me wrong, the reverends daughter learning about the corruption in her small town and tearing it all down, but I struggled to get through the first half.

that ending absolutely shattered me! incredible and devastating in equal measures.

I would recommend this book but it is my least favourite Ashley Winstead book.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

Ruth Cornier nurses a rebellious heart beneath her placid exterior as a good preacher’s daughter. Growing up restricted and practically friendless in Bottom Springs, Louisiana, she sought escape in books, occasionally snagging a contraband novel despite her father’s efforts to cleanse the local libraries of “sinful” titles. When she’s fourteen, she discovers Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. In its pages she reads about the kind of love she’d never imagined, prompting her to open her heart eagerly to novelty and danger in the cause of romance.

This, alas, has the unfortunate consequence of putting her in the path of newcomer Renard Michaels only three years later. Inexperienced with men, she willingly goes along with his suggestions until they turn into a nightmare. Her classmate and fellow outcast Everett Duncan rescues her, forging a bond that only grows stronger as they grow older. They make an unlikely pairing – she the town librarian, he the tearaway unironically called the Devil’s son – but their connection is undeniable, even when he finally disappears one heartbreaking summer that has Ruth prostrate with grief at the thought of having lost his friendship.

At twenty-four, Ruth figures it’s time to move on. But then a trapper dredges up the skull of a murdered man from the swamp, setting the entire town ablaze with fear. The townsfolk naturally turn to Ruth’s father for comfort:

QUOTE
This is Southern Baptist country, and people are prone to unease, apocalyptic and overly associative, seeing holy warnings in the smallest of things, like the pattern sugar makes when spilled across a counter. My father is where you’d expect him, in the middle of the crowd, the tallest person here, thick, tanned, and already gleaming in his cuffed white dress shirt. As the sheriff speaks, the hands of the townsfolk find my father, until he looks like a massive sun radiating spokes of people. They lay their palms on his shoulders and forearms as if he is an anchor, his holiness a shield to protect them from the coming news. I cannot recall ever touching or being touched by my father that gently.
END QUOTE

As terrified as she is that her guilty secret will be exposed as the investigation into the skull continues, Ruth can’t help but feel relieved, if not ecstatic, at Everett’s sudden return in the wake of the discovery. After all, he had just as much to do with the skull in the swamp as she did. He, however, is less thrilled to learn that in his absence, she’s begun a romantic relationship with a sheriff’s deputy, a relationship that just so happens to have been rubber stamped by her religious parents. Ruth argues that her romance with Barry is the perfect way for her to get behind the scenes information about the on-going police case. Besides, she and Everett are just friends, aren’t they? But as the best friends scheme to keep their involvement with the skull a secret, they realize that the many feelings they’ve tried to hide over the years just won’t stay buried.

I’m not sure whether I would have reacted so viscerally to this novel were I not in a very sympathetic frame of mind to Ruth’s at the time of reading it, but I do know that that ending was one of the best pieces of writing and meta-commentary I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing as a thriller reader. Ashley Winstead imbues what could be just a very fun, surface-level contemporary Southern Gothic with both thoughtfulness and poignancy, inserting a surprisingly essential postmodern dialog with the reader into a heartstopping narrative of desire and belief. She dissects why people make fun of teenage girls and their interests in such a way that even a Twilight-skeptic like myself is convinced to give the property a second thought, with passages like these where Ruth muses on the appeal:

QUOTE
<i>This all-encompassing love for all the wrong men–what’s in it for you?</i> The truth was, I longed to kiss people like Edward Cullen, vampires and heartbreakers who could hurt me, kill me, men who walked the knife’s edge of life, because what I really wanted–what I’d wanted from fourteen, even before I had the language to describe it–was to suck the marrow out of them and carry it myself. Forget puberty, forget growing up into a woman. I wanted to drink their threat, hold that volatile substance in my chest. Swallow their danger and become the danger myself. Vampire, viper; all that power, mine.
END QUOTE

Teenage girls are one of society’s easiest targets for mockery. Ms Winstead argues that this is because of the way people would rather banish and ridicule their own softest feelings rather than admit to caring and hurting and being weak. It’s a shockingly strong thesis on which to build a gripping work of Southern noir that grapples, thoughtfully and profoundly, with questions of justice and morality and love. I adored Midnight Is The Darkest Hour, even as it broke my heart.