Thirteen Days of Midnight (Thirteen Days of Midnight trilogy)

by Leo Hunt

In a devilishly dark and funny debut, a teen finds himself the unwitting beneficiary of eight enslaved and angry ghosts seeking bloody vengeance.

When Luke Manchett’s estranged father dies unexpectedly, he leaves his son a dark inheritance: a collection of eight restless spirits, known as his Host, who want revenge for their long enslavement. Once they figure out that Luke has no clue how to manage them, they become increasingly belligerent, and eventually mutiny. Halloween (the night when ghosts reach the height of their power) is fast approaching, and Luke knows his Host is planning something far more trick than treat. Armed with only his father’s indecipherable notes, a locked copy of The Book of Eight, and help from school outcast Elza Moss, Luke has just thirteen days to uncover the closely guarded secrets of black magic and send his unquiet spirits to their eternal rest—or join their ghostly ranks himself.

• ISBN10: 0763678651
• ISBN13: 9780763678654
• Publish Date: 25 August 2015 (first published 2 July 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Candlewick Press,U.S.
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780763678654

Reviews

[limabean74]

Just not for me. I was having a hard time connecting with the MC. Really wanted to like it. It just wasn't working for me.

[meowstina]

I received an advance reader’s copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

After deceit and a few tricks, Leo realizes he is now the leader of eight ghosts. Unfortunately, not all of them see it that way. Leo’s inexperience causes a lot of trouble, but he has Elza for moral support and suggestions. His decisions usually cause even more problems, which can be frustrating, but it advances the plot. The story and writing are pretty average, but both factors kept me reading. Overall an okay book.

[pamela]

This book should have been right up my alley. It should have excited me. It should have spooked me. It should have done a lot of things. But it didn't. Not any of them.

Thirteen Days of Midnight is a novel rife with possibility. It has a brilliant draw that makes it sound like an amazing blend of Caspar the Friendly Ghost and The Woman in Black. Pacts with the devil, necromancy, hauntings and inheritance. What 's not to like? The real issue with this book is that it just didn't go anywhere, or do anything. I can see what Leo Hunt was trying to achieve, but he just didn't quite get there. Everything happens too quickly meaning that the plot lacked depth. And the motivations for anyone doing anything were virtually non-existent.

Hunt's characters lack personality and motivation. They also don't react to things in a healthy or normal fashion. While I realise that Luke Manchett, the protagonist, is estranged from his father it would still be natural for him to feel some upset at his death. I know many people estranged from their families who still grieve when one of them dies. It is normal and natural, it is normal to regret and be saddened for a relationship that will never again have the chance to be. But Luke goes to school, laughs with his friends, doesn't tell him mother that her husband is dead, goes to see a lawyer alone about his fathers' estate (this alone was completely ridiculous...). The characters' behaviours were simply implausible. Not to mention that the whole novel felt like a manifesto on bad parenting.

The plot itself seems like it should be exciting but simply wasn't. Luke inherits money that we never see. He has friends who we barely meet. There is a love triangle that never happens. Some ghosts that never haunt. Luke is never afraid of the ghosts. There is no period of coming to terms with anything. A female character is introduced as the outsider and within a scene she and Luke are best buddies. The Book of Eight, a necromantic tome is helpful in a three day dream sequence we don't get to read about. Luke becomes a necromancer and never does any actual necromancy except some casual animal cruelty. All back story is given in monologue rather than organically through the text and none of the characters have any personality. And this doesn't even begin to take in to account the unexplored moral implications of soul slavery and the obvious physical manifestations of violent death and physical abuse that show them selves of the ghostly bodies of Luke's host. All these elements could have been something, but instead were a collection of scenes that did nothing and somehow led to a resolution with an implausible non-choice. I just wanted each of these elements to be so much more...in fact to be anything!

Thirteen Days of Midnight has the beginnings of a great book. I would have said that this is the first draft of an exciting novel. It's such a shame it made it to publication in the state that it's currently in, because I do not doubt that it will not fail to disappoint. What a let down.

http://iblamewizards.com/review-thirteen-days-of-midnight-by-leo-hunt/