THE MIDNIGHT KNOCK, does several #Deathtober-y things, none well

THE MIDNIGHT KNOCK
JOHN FRAM
Atria Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$14.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Publisher Says: A locked-room mystery meets white-knuckle horror in this mind-bending thriller, where strangers must survive a deadly night in a remote Texas motel.

In the frigid west Texas desert, weary travelers converge at a lonely roadside motel nestled at the foot of a massive mountain. Ethan and Hunter have left behind a corpse, a fire, and a horrific act of violence. Kyla and Fernanda are fleeing for the border. Stanley and his granddaughter are returning from Mexico with a mysterious man in hot pursuit. All of them are on the run from something. All of them are hiding something.

And somehow, they’re all connected to the motel’s other guest, an enigmatic woman named Sarah Powers.

Within hours, Sarah is dead. The strange twins who run the Brake Inn Motel inform the surviving guests that her murder demands justice. The guests are given an ultimatum: uncover the killer by midnight—or die when the protective lights around the motel go out.

Because something very old and very dangerous lurks in this corner of the desert. And it’s hungry.

But nothing at the Brake Inn Motel is quite as it seems. As time ticks away, alliances fracture, secrets unravel, and the guests will not only have to confront the violence of the past—they will need to face the darkness within themselves.

A masterful blend of psychological tension, supernatural horror, and layered storytelling, The Midnight Knock pushes the boundaries of what a mystery can be. And with its unforgettable climax, this novel cements John Fram as a contemporary master of the genre.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: Gore for the sake of being gory isn't my usual fare; I'm no fan of "supernatural" stuff because I don't believe it's real; but a locked-room mystery, now...with those fripperies added on, let's see how this plays out.

Okay.

Why the people just...accept...that there's a deadline against which they're required to work Or Else puzzled me. So that one woman died...why should that mean anyone else will? Why not just shove past those overbearing twins and start walking til you have cell service?

I'm not the platonic ideal of a reader for this story, as you see. I'm pretty much off this storytelling beam for good from when Groundhog Day-type time loops start happening. The Ship-of-Fools trope was really powerfully evoked by everything from the setup to the ragging on gabardine as a suiting-material choice. I'm sure someone not prone to laughing at Saw movies because they're so deeply dumb will get much more out of the read than I did.

That said, I thought the rural West Texas setting was effective, for me anyway. It's a dry, unnervingly empty place, and the place being at the foot of a mountain is unsettling amid so much nothing-much. It wasn't enough to overcome my reality fetish but it was a solid choice.

When I'm told a story is a locked-room mystery, I expect there to be a serious, logical, undeniable reason the cast can not...not do not, not choose not to...leave. I also expect the mystery to make daytime-world, no spookieghouliewoo-woo reasonable sense. Not delivered. Plus I did not care about the affront to Ma'at that was this victim's murder. I was glad she was dead.

So on balance, I'll say you know your spooky-season reading needs so are best equipped to determine the fit between you and this story. I don't regret reading it, but I still wish I'd got the promised mystery at the least.