Book Review: The Midnight Club

THE MIDNIGHT CLUB | Christopher Pike
02.01.1994 | Simon Pulse
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Rotterdam Home, a hospice where teenagers with terminal illnesses went to die, was home to the Midnight Club – a group of five young men and women who met at midnight and told stories of intrigue and horror. One night they made a pact that the first of them to die would make every effort to contact the others…from beyond the grave.

The minute I found out Mike Flanagan was planning to create an adaptation for The Midnight Club I knew I needed to read it! 

I read a handful of Christopher Pike’s books when I was younger, but I don’t remember picking this one up before. My reintroduction to Pike’s work was a fun, interesting, and at times sad journey of getting to know the members of The Midnight Club. While the reader gets to know certain members, like Ilonka, in greater detail, I thought there was more than enough to connect me with each of the five teenagers. Their situations are tough to read about, but the bond they’ve found together is heartwarming. 

Pike gives the readers an interesting tale into the exploration of what happens after we die. Just like in real life, every character has a slightly different take. I loved that several of the stories that were told revolved around this topic as well, giving not only a real-world take, but also a fictionalized version from the teens. I do wish that there were more stories and that we had had more time with the characters, but perhaps that was the point. Life is fleeting and you never know how much time you’ll have.