When Isa gets a late night cryptic phone call from her cousin, Alette, she is surprised to learn later that the phone call was made after Alette has already died. Swept off to London to handle her cousin's affairs, she finds herself caught up in a plan laid out in Alette's will - one that she finds a bit difficult to carry out. But she shortly learns there was much more to her cousin and her cousin's life - and death - than she'd imagined.

I recently read Natasha Mostert's Season of the Witch, which I very much enjoyed, and I wasn't too surprised to find this book just as enjoyable. Mostert has quite a skill for crafting a mystery/suspense novel with paranormal elements and romantic overtones, and it's very easy to get caught up in her books. I definitely recommend this to those interested in any one or more of those qualities because I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

(eGalley provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.) ( )

(This review can be found on my blog The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl).


When I read the blurb for The Midnight Side by Natasha Mostert, I thought I was in for a scary ghost story. However, it's not really scary, and there's not much ghost in it. While it wasn't a fantastic read, it was still a decent one.

Isabelle (Isa for short) and Alette are cousins who have always been fairly close. As children, they would lucid dream together. When Alette dies in a car accident, Isabelle flies over from South Africa to England since she was Alette's sole beneficiary. Alette leaves three envelopes for Isabelle asking her for to do a big favor. Things become a bit more complicated when Isabelle develops romantic feelings for Alette's ex. Unknowingly, Alette has put Isabelle in danger. Will Isabelle make it out alive or will she suffer the same fate as Alette?

I don't really get the title. To me, it doesn't really seem to fit the book at all. Nothing special takes place at midnight, so the title is a bit misleading and confusing.

I'm not a fan of the cover at all. Besides showing Big Ben which is in London where the story takes place, the cover doesn't relate to the book at all.

I felt the world building was believable. There's been documented cases of lucid dreaming and receiving telephone calls from the dead. Besides the supernatural aspects, the rest of the world building was believable as well. The only thing I found a bit hard to believe was that Isabelle would develop romantic feelings for Alette's ex after she told her how he treated her. Plus, Alette was not only Isabelle's cousin, but they were like best friends. I suppose it does happen in real life, but it was a bit too instant to be 100% believable.

The pacing was a bit hit and miss throughout the first two-thirds of the book, but when it got to the last third of the book, the pacing steadied out, and I was hooked until the very end of the book.

I was a little bit confused with the story line. In my opinion, it was as if the book couldn't decide if it wanted to be more of a paranormal story or a psychological thriller. Alette leaves Isabelle instructions on how to bring her ex-husband's company crashing down. Isabelle must decide if she wants to comply with her deceased cousin's wish or listen to her heart. During this, Isabelle keeps receiving calls from Alette from the other side as well as Alette appearing in her dreams during lucid dreaming. There is a plot twist that I never saw coming. There's also no cliff hanger ending.

I thought the characters were all well developed. Even if Alette was a bit selfish, I still admired her determination. Isabelle is more of a follower instead of a leader which is why she does what Alette wants her to do. I started off not liking Justin, but by the middle of the book or so, I realized what a large heart he really had. Michael seemed like a good friend, but to me, he seemed to be a bit too...caring if that makes sense.

As for the dialogue, I felt that it flowed very well. In fact, I wish there would've been more dialogue instead of description. I think that having more dialogue would've made this book a bit better. I don't remember any swearing in this book, and the violence is mild.

Overall, The Midnight Side is a decent read. I think it would've been better with more dialogue and less description. I would've also liked more paranormal elements in the book, but that's just a personal preference.

I'd recommend this book to those aged 18 who are fans of the psychological thriller as horror fans probably won't be too impressed.

I'd give The Midnight Side by Natasha Mostert a 3.5 out of 5.

(I received a free ecopy of this title from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review). ( )

A very good book about obsession and manipulation. It kept me guessing until the end. I enjoyed the lucid dreaming parts, I have been interested in psychic and lucid dreaming phenomena for years. I'm not much for poetry, and the 16th century romantic poetry at the start of each chapter was a bit boring.

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How much worse are suitors, who to men’s lust
Are made preys? O, worse than dust or worms’ meat,
For they do eat you now, whose selves worms shall eat. – John Donne, Thou shalt not laugh in this leaf, Muse (British Poet, Satirist, Author, 1572-1631)

The sin of pride may be a small or a great thing in someone’s life, and hurt vanity a passing pinprick, or a self-destroying or ever murderous obsession. – Iris Murdoch (British Novelist and Philosopher, 1919-1999)

We’re going to start a rumour. It’s easy: here’s how. And thus starts a tale of twisted obsession, of ghostly presence and lucid dreaming. A tale of suffering. But whose? And how far will obsession live within the soul? To the grave? Beyond?

Too late hee would the paine asswage,
And to thick shadowes does retire;
About with him hee beares the rage,
And in his tainted blood the fire.
Edmund Waller -The selfe-banished – (English Poet and Politician,1606 – 1687)

Isabella, or Isa to her friends, lives a life of quiet desperation in South Africa. The mistress of a married man for the past thirteen years, Isa has set aside her own needs for those of her lover, Eric. Eric, who has just died, leaving her with nothing but heartache.

In the night, as she lies dreaming, the phone rings, a flat, atonal sound, odd and strangely off-key, and the crackling voice of her cousin, Alette comes through. Alette, the wild and flighty girl with whom Isa was raised. Alette the strong, Alette the vibrant. And, as Isa is soon to learn, Alette who is two days dead.

Now back in London to close Allete’s estate, Isa receives a message from Allete along with a copy of her will. A very odd and devastating message, which leads Isa to carry out a twisted scheme against Jason, Allete’s ex-husband – an ex-husband whose tortures Allete lays out in a letter, sealed for only Isa.

Lucid dreaming, African mysticism. Alchemy and premonitions. Mostert’s The Midnight Side is a brooding, atmospheric tale of suspense and psychological thrill, full of the kinds of fear and gloomy atmosphere sure to lure in even the most jaded of readers. Isa wanders through the halls of her dreams, following orders, reaching out . . . and changing within herself. The Vigyan Bhairava Tantra, the seventh sutra, says, “ . . . reach the heart at the instant of sleep and seek direction over dreams and over death itself.” Is Isabella following her heart? Or are the dreams of death drawing back the soul of her beloved cousin?

What cruelty, wasted love – love which lies only in recompense? Mostert speaks to deep waters of the mind, dark corners of the soul, the ruin brought on by wounded and damaged souls. And yet, her journey also showcases the beauty and drabery of London itself, with it’s fogs and rains, the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery of the British Museum, the odd libraries and collections, the tea shops and cathedrals. The mass of cultures and foods and beliefs. A brooding city of history and blood and loss and joy, all wrapped up in banks of fog and fire, melancholy, and old, old guilt.

What Isa does and doesn’t do, thinks and feels and suffers leads you through murky darkness, fear, and the question, or promise, of forbidden destiny.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review. Highly recommended. ( )

This was an excellent read. I received it free as a member of Net Galley, and I'm so glad that this helped me discover this author.

The Midnight Side is a story about two cousins that share an incredibly close bond. One cousin, Alette, meets an early demise and calls upon her cousin, Isa, to carry out her final wishes. The story is told through the viewpoint of Isa, although there are a few chapters that tell other characters' side of the story. The synopsis references the "phone calls from the dead". That premise had the ability to get cheesy really quickly, but the author intertwined the supernatural in such a way that made it very believable. And creepy.

I loved that the characters did not behave as I thought they would. I'll admit, at certain points I was disappointed in their actions, but I loved that the story kept me guessing.

Overall, this was a great story! It reminds me of "The Silent Wife" in the complicated relationships and the mystery surrounding the series of events, but I have to say that I liked this one even better. ( )