I have read a lot of thrillers and unfortunately this one did not hit the mark. It started off with promise, with a group of ballerinas that have something to hide but it just dragged after the first few chapters. I ended up jumping to the end to see if it was worth sticking around for, but I had already guessed the ending and the characters weren't compelling enough to read more. A disappointment.

In September last year, Jessica Knoll released "Bright Young Women" - a story of a survivor of a sorority massacre, loosely based on some of the murders by Ted Bundy.

Return to Midnight by Emma Dues is along the same line, a survivor of a house massacre has to deal with the aftermath. This story, however, has a few twists that help move the plot along a bit. Margot is one of the three survivors of the Midnight House Massacre. During her senior year of college, her friends and fellow ballerinas plus their boyfriends were brutally murdered.

10 years later, Margot is living with her mother, as she has been since the murders. She's been slated to write a book, from her perspective, about the murders and her friends.
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This does a good job of building a world, both in 1999 and in current times. Where it falters for me is that I knew what Margot's great secret was before it was revealed in the last half of the book. The twists were good and somewhat unexpected - as was the final reveal. While I enjoyed this story as a whole, I couldn't help but compare it to the Jessica Knoll book that I loved.

Margot was an interesting character. She clearly held a ton of guilt from the night of the murders, but she still was brave enough to return to the house to try and figure things out. Cooper was a good secondary character, but after "an incident" he kind of faded in the background. I wanted more of the interaction between the two writers.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

Return to Midnight is a fast-paced, gripping thriller full of twists and suspense. Almost a decade ago, five college students were killed in what has become known as the Midnight House Massacre. Now, one of the survivors has decided to return to the scene of her friends' deaths in order to write a book from her perspective for the first time. Margot hopes that by giving her truths, she will be able to find closure and move on from the tragedies; however, she soon begins receiving threats and feels as if she is constantly being watched. What secrets are Margot hiding? Who is behind the threats? Who doesn't want the truth of the massacres and the Midnight House to come to light?

Return to Midnight is well-written and fast-paced. The characters are well-developed. The interactions between the roommates and the descriptions of their relationships are very realistic. The chapters alternate between the past and present, which adds to the overall plot and mystery. The author provides plenty of suspects and keeps the reader on their toes. Return to Midnight is definitely a "can't-put-down", "read-in-one-day" thriller. I will be recommending this book to anyone looking for a well-written thriller with a cast of intriguing and morally gray characters.

3.5 rounded up.

I liked the mystery and setting a lot, that’s what kept me hanging on. The writing style and inner monologues got in the way.

Energy: Menacing. Undecided. Disapproving.
Scene: 🇺🇸 Fictional Oxford University in Ohio.
Perspective: We follow our main character in present day returning to the house where most of their roommates were murdered Yr 4 Uni, along with flashbacks to her time in the house before the massacre.

🐺 Growls: Unfun dumb MC (and inconsistent). Flowery writing style that interrupting itself with over-the-top simile.
🐕 Howls: Repetitive explanation of minor things. Repetitive withholding of major things.
🐩 Tail Wags: The setting, especially Midnight House. The slowly evolving eeriness. Action scenes.

🤔 Random Thoughts:
Too explainy. We get the rationale for our MC writing/interviewing/visiting someone so many ways and all say the same thing. Then withholding about the mass murder we already know happened, but no details, but the writing acts like we don’t know there was a mass murder for way too long in the book. Either take it out of the synopsis or move the story along if you plan on using withholding as a suspense device.

Lazy cliffhangers. We get a clue to ‘see’ a pic, then a statement on how they didn’t know it was the last time they’d be seen together. Cut to commercial? There’s a reason we all pay for streaming over cable…it’s a book, it’s so unnecessary to be that dramatic and it makes me not want to read the next chapter if it’s always a fake-out.

The writing style is too simplistic and flat. Cuticles and coltish legs everywhere 😅

Too interruptive and clunky of a writing style. The character dialogue starts, is interrupted by inner monologue, background, memories etc, then suddenly a quoted answer and I forget the original context and it loses momentum/realism/flow.

The inner monologue was also annoying. Our main character is terrified, hiding in a room…then happily walks out to the FRONT porch where everyone can see her and interact and there’s not rationale or transition to why she’s no longer afraid or hiding?

Thankfully the action scenes worked. Not filled with endless villain monologue or escape-trap loops. Some of it I didn’t predict and even when I did it was interesting to watch.

🤓 Reader Role: Overhearing on the periphery. Lots of being left out of the loop. The MC talks to us then drifts off and starts talking to herself and we’re just standing around waiting for her reaction or for her to answer someone’s question.
🗺️ World-Building: Built a foundation for imagining, but later on had highly detailed layout in mind that could somewhat shatter your imaginings. Prime candidate for having a layout/floorplan at the beginning of the book.
🔥 Fuel: What happened in the Midnight House? Who survived and who didn’t? Who was responsible? Are they save living there now?
📖 Cred: Plausible-ish

Mood Reading Match-Up:
October chill. Senescing leaves. Carved pumpkins. Ballet shoes. Classical music. Footsteps overhead. Boozy cocktails. Rain on umbrella.
-New adult murdered roommates mystery
-Romantic suspense with sprinkling of forbidden romance and enemies to lovers

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Content Heads-Up: Murder. Stalking/peeping. Sexual harassment (unwelcome advances, power dynamics, groping/grabbing). Vomit. Alcohol. Overdose. Potental false accusation. Blood. Gore. Loss of sibling/adult child. Loss of friend. Home invasion.

Rep: White Americans. Cisgender. Heterosexual.

📚 Format: Advance Reader’s Copy from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC!

3.5 ⭐️ with a 5 ⭐️ ending = 4 ⭐️ overall!


This book was so good!! The beginning was a little slow and for me, I wasn’t completely hooked until about 70% when it all started unraveling, but the build up is worth it! I will say the ending was pretty abrupt, but overall, definitely worth the read!

This was a very intriguing read and I overall really enjoyed it. I liked the way it went back and forth between timelines so you could get an idea of what was going on leading up to the pivotal event and what was happening the future as the result. This book had a great way of both withholding information until it was time to reveal things, but also giving you just enough that you could figure things out. I had a good time trying to figure out the "whodunnit" of this novel and would recommend it.

Emma Dues and I have in common a love for horror movies, so it's with a heavy heart that I must admit I expected more from such a good premise.

It's not like I didn't like it; in fact, I did.
But it's one of those cases in which you see things coming, and even if you try to focus on the here and now, you've already seen them happening, you already know how it will end.

The narration is good, the flashbacks are good, and the seed of suspicion about every possible character is well planted - even if they're a little flat; I'd have skipped the possible love affair, but I get what the author was trying to communicate with it.
Full disclosure, for a moment I thought the ending was going in the complete opposite direction - which I can't say or I’ll spoil the whole thing - and I really loved it, but it only lasted a couple of chapters and left more questions than before. For example, what is the point of all that sleepwalking?

Anyway, I’ll still recommend it.

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley, who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

I enjoyed the writing of this author and story and the descriptions. The dialogue was a little bit stilted and corny at times. The "villian" was cartoony and felt like we never got true closure.

Ten years after the Midnight Massacre, Margot decides to return to the Midnight House where her friends were killed. As one of the survivors, she plans to share her story and reunite with the others. However, danger arises, tensions mount, and Margot begins to doubt who she can trust.

"Return to Midnight" by Emma Dues is an exciting debut with a gripping dual timeline and intense suspense. Margot's struggles and emotions were portrayed realistically. While the story took some time to pick up, once engrossed, I raced through it in two nights. Overall, I had a great time with this book and look forward to more from the author.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC.

A gripping read that kept me turning the pages. I love a complicated friend group filled with secrets, as well as a creepy murder house and more. Definitely recommend!

Almost gothic in structure this College-based story is horrific and will get under your skin.

The Midnight House marks the place where five Ohio university students were murdered 10 years ago. Margot is a survivor of the night and has decided to finally write about the experience. She comes home to reconnect with her family and with other survivors - two who have surprisingly purchased the Midnight House!

As Margot begins her research, someone is stalking her and leaving her threatening notes. Is it because she is getting closer to the actual killer?

Because Margot still wonders if the man in jail is the real murderer of if he is still out there... #thomasandmercer #returntomidnight #emmadues

Very very engaging and interesting. I liked it way more than expected, especially the dynamics in the backstory parts, although the main character and her mom were interesting too!

Return To Midnight is a satisfying mix of Pretty Little Liars and I Know What You Did Last Summer told in alternating time lines between present day events and the lead up to a series of grizzly murders 10 years in the past.

I could not put this book down. It’s a fun read filled with classic thriller tropes, complex characters, and a good amount of twists. The main character is likable enough to illicit sympathy with the reader and the side characters are interesting enough to keep the reader thinking.

Emma Dues’ writing flows very nicely. I felt that locations, characters, and nonverbal queues were presented very clearly. Dialogue was a bit of a different story. While most of the dialogue felt authentic to the situation, there were moments where it felt forced or repetitive, but this was easy to overlook.

One thing I wish this book did better, is help the reader become more acquainted with all the characters in the beginning. The book can feel a bit overwhelming in the first 50 pages. There are a handful of character and while it is clear moving forward how distinct each of them are from each other, it was confusing in the beginning to try and remember who was who.

Overall, I had a great time reading this book and I cannot wait to read future works by Emma Dues.

*Huge thanks to Emma Dues, Thomas & Mercer, and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced ebook of Return To Midnight in exchange for honest review.*

Another book about a person returning to the scene of a tragedy that has haunted their life and left them hiding secrets and left with unanswered questions.
Ten years ago students were murdered in what is now known as the Midnight House Massacre. Margot is given the opportunity to return to where it all happened and decides she is going to write a book about it. Welllllll then the threats start coming in that they will out her lies if she follows through on the book. I could not connect with this story, characters, direction of the book, but mostly the ABSURDITY of Margot’s choices throughout the book. It was the classic cheesy horror movie where Margot is “running from the killer into a basement full of chainsaws” and everyone is yelling WHAT are you doing?! So many of the choices and scenarios she puts herself in are beyond questionable and none of the people around her seem to say a word about it.

This book took way too long for me to get invested in any way and even then I didn’t feel a connection to Margot or where her story was going. Unfortunately this led me to lose interest early.

This overall was a miss for me.

Thank you to the Author, Netgalley, and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC.

This book wasn't bad per se, especially for a debut novel. I think where the author did well was in writing suspense and with the final twist -- I did not expect that. Some of my theories ended up being wrong which was pleasantly surprising because I often find thrillers/mysteries aren't actually that suspenseful. However, when it came to the main 'bad guy' who was revealed, I felt kind of... underwhelmed? Like, okay, anyone could have guessed that -- and not even in a 'bad plot twist' way but in a way that just did not feel interesting. I also think this book takes a lot of reference from other thrillers such as The It Girl, but it just doesn't... quite... measure up. The whole time I just felt like I was rereading a first draft of The It Girl, not an independent novel. Also, the characters? I hated all of them. They were all awful. I don't usually mind morally gray (or just like morally evil) characters if there's a reason for them or if it adds something to the story. However, I got the feeling that we were supposed to like and sympathize with the main character. I just simply did not, nor did I like A SINGLE ONE of the side characters. And it wasn't in a fun 'ooh everyone is awful' way where you keep wanting to read more, but in a way that made me want to slap every character in the face because what were they doing??? This entire 'Midnight House Massacre' would have never happened in the first place if a single one of the group decided to be a good person back in college. None of them did.
That being said, however, I did really enjoy the pacing and the plot of this book. I feel like it's been a while since a thriller has actually hooked me the way this one did, so for that alone I would recommend it.

Oh my god, I LOVED THIS. Honestly, I was so close to not reading this. It had been on my shelf for the longest time and was about to expire in literally a few hours; whatever possessed me to give in and start reading this at midnight (title reference, haha), I'm so glad for it. I completely devoured this in one go and could not put it down.

The thing is, I'm not usually drawn to mystery/thrillers, so when one of them is an instant hit for me, I wonder why I don't read more of the genre. Return To Midnight is literally the perfect example. I believe it's the first mystery/thriller I read this year and it's easily in my top five for 2024 so far. I don't think it's going to move too far from there in the future as well, honestly.

What was not to love in this? The premise was so good — a friend group full of secrets that would do anything for each other, coming to heads on an intense night where most of them are murdered. Years later, the only survivors come back to the same place as new secrets about that night and their friends unravel. The buildup to this was SO GOOD. It seemed simple enough in the beginning, but when more people (and more crimes ??) were added to the mix, I was hooked.

The twists weren't the most mind-blowing part of this, except that last one. I didn't see it coming until it was at the reveal and it suddenly clicked, and 30 seconds later I read it. When I tell you my jaw was DROPPED. Even though the twists weren't abundant, especially in the first half, I appreciated the context that was built in the first half, before throwing in the plot twists and reveals. There was a connection built with Margot, the protagonist, and with her other friends in the flashback chapters. I loved the alternate chapters between the present and that night (I'm such a sucker for timeline switches).

Finally, I have to mention Aaron. Truly broke my heart, but it was so realistic. There wasn't a lot about him and we don't actually see him until the final stretch of the book, but it was written so so well. The emotions the characters were feeling was described so that the reader could empathize with them, agreeable or not, and that's always such a hard thing to do. Exploring Margot's dynamic with Remi and Kyle was also so interesting, as was their secret and its subsequent reveal.

I was just really obsessed with this book as I was reading it, and it's a definite recommend for me. Easily one of my favorite books this year, and one of my favorite mystery/thrillers as well. Getting back into the genre one book at a time!

RETURN TO MIDNIGHT is a fantastic thriller by debut author Emma Dues that combines my favourite things about the genre - complicated characters and deftly woven plots that keep you hanging on for more. RETURN TO MIDNIGHT is a binge read sort of book - it does take a bit to get into, but once you're a hundred pages or so deep, you'll be full absorbed into finding out what happened.

If you're a big fan of true-crime but make it fiction style narratives, pick up RETURN TO MIDNIGHT!

Years after the massacre of her friends in their college house, Margot decides she's finally ready to tell her story by publishing a novel. In order to do this, she decides she must return to the scene of that horrific night. Her friends Remi and Kyle, who also survived the attack, now own the old house and invite Margot to visit. Alternating between the present and the past leading up to the night of the murders, Emma Dues creates a high stakes story about past mistakes never truly letting us free. Highly recommend!

The adrenaline from the ending of this book really got me. I’m not going to be able to sleep for awhile- those last few chapters were a ride!

This book appears to borrow from a high profile murder case that occurred recently and gripped the nation. While I think it may have been too soon, I can’t say it didn’t keep me enthralled- I finished the book in about 24 hours and did not see the final twist coming.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it. I was a little thrown off initially by the ballerina aspect of it but it didn’t take up too much of the story. I feel like it was somewhat predictable but also an entertaining read