Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris – Review

May 26, 2014
Midnight Crossroad is the first in a new supernatural mystery series from Sookie Stackhouse writer Charlaine Harris.  it has a very similar feel to Sookie and if you enjoyed that series you will likely get a lot of pleasure from Midnight Crossroad, too.  This new series is set in Texas rather than Louisiana, but keeps that small-town feel.  It centres on the inhabitants of a small town, Midnight, and the secrets they hide.  
 
I’m not certain if this is intended to be set in the same world as Sookie.  It’s perhaps a little early to tell – it could go either way.  There is nothing to say one way or the other.  In any case, it is very enjoyable.
 
What I liked

Ensemble cast.  Unlike The Southern Vampire Mystery series, which concentrates mainly on Sookie, and is told from her point of view, Midnight Crossroad has multiple points of view from interesting characters.  I enjoyed hearing from all of them, and it was interesting hearing the story from different sides.  Each of the characters had his or her own secret and reason for moving to this small town.  Sometimes I did struggle to remember which characters know what secrets.
 
Mr Snuggly the cat.  Adorable!  I loved his point of view.  Let’s just say, he’s not Tara the Hero cat. It gives a good measure of the kind of town Midnight is, that upon learning that Fiji’s cat can talk, after a few seconds of surprise, the inhabitants merely shrug their shoulders and put it down to just one more strange thing in the town.  More, please.
 
The mystery.  While I wouldn’t say the mystery was gripping, I did very much enjoy the way that the focus was put on the effect it had on the inhabitants of Midnight.  The story was quite slow to start, but Harris uses this time well to introduce her characters and the town.  
 
Community feel.  I liked the way the characters came together, supported each other and generally had each others’ backs.  We are introduced to the people of Midnight through new resident Manfred and he, too, quickly becomes part of the community.
 
What I didn’t like

There was nothing I didn’t enjoy about the book.  Perhaps the mystery could have been a little more complex, but in a way this allowed the focus to be on getting to know the residents of Midnight.  
 
I gave Midnight Crossroad a solid four stars out of five and will certainly be following the rest of the series.
 
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