Review: Under the Midnight Sky

Title: Under the Midnight Sky

Author: Anna Romer

Publisher: 1st May 2019 by Simon & Schuster (Australia)

Pages: 416 pages
How I Read It: ARC book
Genre: mystery

My Rating: 4.5 cups

Synopsis:

Chilling secrets buried deep in wild bushland drive this thrilling new novel from bestseller Anna Romer

When an injured teenager goes missing at a remote bushland campground, local journalist Abby Bardot is determined to expose the area’s dark history. The girl bears a striking resemblance to the victims of three brutal murders that occurred twenty years ago and Abby fears the killer is still on the loose.

But the newspaper Abby works for wants to suppress the story for fear it will scare off tourists to the struggling township. Haunted by her own turbulent memories, Abby is desperate to learn the truth and enlists the help of Tom Gabriel, a reclusive crime writer. At first resentful of Abby’s intrusion, Tom’s reluctance vanishes when they discover a hidden attic room in his house that shows evidence of imprisonment from half a century before.

As Abby and Tom sift through the attic room and discover its tragic history, they become convinced it holds the key to solving the bushland murders and finding the missing girl alive.

But their quest has drawn out a killer, someone with a shocking secret who will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.

My Thoughts

‘... at Ravensong we’re the stars in the midnight sky that everything else revolves around.’

I am a HUGE Anna Romer fan, her books are always amazing - her latest is no different.  Under The Midnight Sky is her fourth novel and once  more delves deep into mysterious occurrences in the Australian setting.

Anna presents us with another captivating psychological thriller, that will keep you guessing right to the very end. Comprised of two timelines, that not only compliment each other, but will also converge to a very enthralling conclusion. The secrets of Deepwater Gorge will slowly unfurl with a haunting and mesmerising tale that I highly recommend.

Anna is now a proven master storyteller who weaves a tale full of suspense and slowly unravels long buried secrets that have impacted on both past and present characters. There are plenty of twists that will keep you second guessing. This is crime fiction at its best, where the use of setting provides some mystic gothic overtones on a small country town.

Combined with the mystery, Anna brings not only the setting of a bush landscape but even the house itself to life, they seem like characters in themselves, taking on a story of their own. A little romance is offered but does not take away from the core of the book. Do yourself a favour and partake in this dark mystery full of secrets, trauma and families in a tragic tale, but not without glimmers of future hopes.

‘Was there a source of evil, a source of blame? Or was there just a long chain of random events, leading a person inevitably towards their fate?’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.