The Midnighters (Series) by Scott Westerfeld

Book 1: The Secret Hour
Book 2: Touching Darkness
Book 3: Blue Noon

Fifteen year old Jessica Day has just moved from Chicago to Bixby, Oklahoma. School is just starting and she's already beginning to be part of a group of popular kids at school. Then, one night, she finds herself awake at midnight and looking out her window at a cat. The cat seems to want her to follow it outside, and she does. It's been raining, but now the rain drops are fixed in place, hanging in the air. Outside, she wanders through something she sees as magical and wonderful -- until the cats turns into something else and begins chasing her. As she runs away, the magical time ends and she walks home in the pouring rain.

As she tries to understand what she experienced, she meets up with some not so popular people in the school, and, from them discovers that for some, Bixby has an extra hour which they call the "secret hour" which occurs at midnight. At that time, people who were born at exactly midnight have an hour of time that no one else knows about or can perceive. The problem is, that's when the monsters come out.


Together, the five Midnighters (each with his or her own special talent) try to understand exactly why the Secret Hour came about, what the various monsters are trying to accomplish, and how to stop them. Being a book for younger readers, you're pretty sure none of them are going to die, but as the series progresses the situations become more and more dangerous, and it becomes more and more likely that one or more of the Midnighters won't survive the final battles.

As in some other book series, these books are really just parts one through three of the same book. (These more so than even the Mediator series by Meg Cabot. While you could read just one of those books and get a whole story, you can't do so with the Midnighters. None of the three stands on its own.)


Scott Westerfeld writes books that have very original ideas. If the idea of a "secret hour" isn't itself unique (something I'm not certain about), what he does with the idea is. We have teenagers, all with their own faults and strengths being forced to go beyond anything they ever believed they could accomplish. They have their petty disputes and jealousies, romances and friendships, and everyone feels left out of the group at some time. Yet they always know that they must work together. They know that their lives may depend upon one another and each must trust that the others will do what they would do. In short, these kids are very believable as kids, even if they do have an awfully heavy weight placed upon them.


I like Westerfeld's writing. In the case of these books, he often switches viewpoint from character to character to give us, the readers, more information about what other characters are feeling and doing. The technique works very well, especially with the character Dess. As she is the loner of the five, most of the time we see her only with the entire group, so handing off the narrative to her allows for some needed insight.


What you won't find here is a lot of very complex plot or intricate interrelationships between people. But that's okay. The age group he's shooting at is probably around thirteen, and that explains the straight forward plot of the books. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying what he's written in bad or even boring -- it isn't. It completely fits what I believe the author was trying to do, which is write an exciting story for young teens. And Scott Westerfeld completely accomplished that. More than accomplished it, for the Midnighters is a fast moving, exciting story for pretty much anyone.


Rating: 7.7/10