Midnight Rain

Midnight Rain (2004)

James Newman

If horror is about fear, then Midnight Rain is definitely a horror novel, even though not in the traditional sense. If there’s one thing Newman does well in Midnight Rain, it’s building anticipation. Each of the first few chapters ends with tension and suspense, and makes the book very difficult to put down, even for a moment.

But Newman does more than just that. I found Midnight Rain to be reminiscent of some of King's earlier "coming of age" stories (most notably “The Body”, but also the first 1/3 of “It”), in capturing the uncertainty, fear and trepidation of adolescence, when what we would consider easily solved situations as adults are overwhelming, confusing and frightening to the protagonist. Newman captures the powerlessness of youth, the perceived uselessness, fear and mistrust of authority figures -the alcoholic mother, the corrupt sheriff, the fear of being disbelieved by the deputy.

In telling the story, Newman has a vivid attention to detail, though not overdone or distracting. The atmospheric details (“Inside lay a mildewed mattress that had once been white but had long ago gone a sickly yellow-grey”) cushion the revulsion at the more graphic images (“…a pulpy mess of swollen flesh and crimson smears and awful purple bruises.”)

In addition, Kyle’s best friend is an inanimate object, a bicycle. By assigning this bike- Burner- a personality, the devastating loss and later joyous reunion is shared by the reader, and the influence on Kyle’s confidence and security is believable. The subtle reality of this may be lost on reader’s who grew up surrounded by friends, but for those of us who ever spent a Sunday morning as the only atheist-child in an Italian Catholic neighbourhood, we know how important imagination is in creating our own companions from such objects.

The imagination of youth continues through Kyle’s realistic nightmares, and reminiscent of many nightmares of my youth – greatly influenced by the fear and guilt experienced in the real world, and often difficult to distinguish as “only a dream” while you are having it.

And finally, the curiosity – Kyle gains his confidence back and decides to look deeper into the past to find more information on the culprit… using the only resources at his disposal. As more secrets are unearthed, Kyle becomes disillusioned by the revelations, and the mistrust and suspicion of his ONLY ally, his brother, revisits his feeling of powerlessness. We’ve all been there, at some point. We’ve all found out family secrets, learned of the scandalous past of someone close to us. As adults, we are better equipped to handle these discoveries, but as a child the effects can be devastating.

I read Midnight Rain overnight. I fully intended to take my time, savour the book, and make notes as I went through it. When the sun finally came up the morning I finished it, I realized that I hadn’t written one thing. I was so engrossed in it, that I barely took a break. The realization at the end that the whole novel, which seemed to fit a lifetime into 354 pages, covered only a 15 day period came as a shock. I’ve read novels that span generations of a family, yet can’t seem to fill that many pages with such ease.

But, sadly, it’s not all good. I do have criticisms, though very few. Endings of books tend to disappoint me, and a good book can be ruined by an inappropriate ending. That didn’t happen here, but I still felt unsatisfied. Usually, I can pinpoint just HOW it could have been better, what ending would have made the book perfect. That didn’t happen here either.

Warning: Spoilers Below - read at your own risk (preferably after reading the novel!)

The revelations of the brother’s and mother’s involvement fell short for me… I was expecting more. For the mother to be racked with guilt over responsibility, I expected that she played a bigger hand in the Cassie’s death – or at least knew more. For the brother to have kept the secret of a not so distant past from his brother, I expected that perhaps he had a larger role to play as well. I’m glad that they didn’t, but I felt that it could have been explored more, or enhanced in some way. And for Kyle to escape as he did, unharmed, because of a sudden pang of conscience by Henry, I didn’t quite buy that either. Violent, emotionally scarred teenagers who have been controlled, protected and manipulated by domineering fathers don’t get a sudden pang of guilt over killing a kid they barely know. He beat a girl nearly to death, called his father to help him out of the mess, watched while his father snapped her neck, sat back while an innocent man died for his murder, and came close to repeating the whole scenario with another girl… The kid was on the road to sociopathy, and the apple never falls far from the tree. I just can’t fathom that he would turn on his father at that moment for the sake of our protagonist. But then, that may be my fault – my years as a Psych nurse, and general skepticism that any deviant can actually have a change of heart.

If that is the only thing I can find fault with in this book, I have to say I am impressed. I’m not easy to impress, so that is an accomplishment.