This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend. Read the full disclosure here.
Book: “Through the Midnight Door” by Katrina Monroe
Publishing Info: Poisoned Pen Press, August 2024
Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: As emotional as it is haunting, Through the Midnight Door explores the sometimes-fragile bonds of sisterhood and the way deeply rooted trauma can pass from generation to generation.
The Finch sisters once spent long, hot summers exploring the dozens of abandoned properties littering their dying town―until they found an impossible home with an endless hall of doors…and three keys left waiting for them. Curious, fearless, they stepped inside their chosen rooms, and experienced horrors they never dared speak of again.
Now, years later, youngest sister Claire has been discovered dead in that old, desiccated house. Haunted by their sister’s suicide and the memories of a past they’ve struggled to forget, Meg and Esther find themselves at bitter odds.
As they navigate the tensions of their brittle relationship, they draw unsettling lines between Claire’s death, their own haunted memories, and a long-ago loss no one in their family has ever been able to face.
With the house once again pulling them ever closer, Meg and Esther must find the connection between their sister’s death and the shadow that has chased them across the years…before the darkness claims them, too.
Review: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for sending me an ARC of this novel!
Given how much I enjoyed Katrina Monroe’s previous novel “Graveyard of Lost Children”, I definitely had any new books that she would be writing on my radar. So obviously when Poisoned Pen Press reached out with “Through the Midnight Door” I was eager to accept and get my hands on it. I always love having an author whose works I can look forward to, and I had pretty high hopes to be freaked out once again while also being put through the emotional ringer.
This was a bit of a tone shift from Monroe’s previous novel, as while that one did feel like a straight up horror story, “Through the Midnight Door” feels a bit more like a dark fantasy with horror elements. But that was fine, because the horror elements were ON POINT, with very creepy visuals being described, a building sense of dread, and a lot of moments that had some solid jump scare moments in book form. I am very freaked out by descriptions of body movements being strange or jerky or things along those lines, and there were a few beats that had me wound up with how Monroe executed this trope. And as a dark fantasy it also worked really well, with weird dreamy aspects (like keys that can appear in the strangest, and sometimes nastiest, ways, or an impossible house with many doors) that pepper throughout the story that makes it feel almost fairy tale-esque. Dark fantasy is absolutely my favorite fantasy sub-genre, and this story definitely has an eerie fantastical air about it. I do wish that it had been a little more scary at times, but hey, that’s a personal preference and probably based on my own expectations.
As I was reading this, I was getting some serious “The Haunting of Hill House” vibes, the Mike Flanagan miniseries version, as we are not only exploring a literal haunting, but also the ways that our past, our childhood experiences, our family dysfunction, our trauma and grief, can also haunt a person. As we follow Meg and Esther as they are trying to find out what happened to Claire in the present, we also get glimpses into their childhood not only in regards to the impossible house that changed their lives, but also into their relationships with their parents, the losses they suffered, and how their traumas have shaped them as well as how it all shaped Claire. Meg and Esther love each other but are also in constant hurt and wary of each other, and following them as they are trying to confront their past and trying to leave it behind has a pretty solid emotional punch. Monroe has once again effortlessly conveyed the layers and complexity to her characterizations, and I found Meg and Esther to be very realistic and easy to understand, motivation wise.
“Through the Midnight Door” is another heart-rendering spooky tale from Katrina Monroe. Not as scary as I had hoped, but it absolutely hit the right levels of pathos and family angst and healing.
Rating 7: Less frightening than anticipated, but still an emotional gut punch with some creepy moments, “Through the Midnight Door” is a dark fantasy family drama sure to appeal during the upcoming Halloween season.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Through the Midnight Door” is included on the Goodreads list “Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2024”.
The Library Ladies 