This book deserves a lot of kudos for not really being like anything I've read before. Five Midnights is a story set in Puerto Rico about a group of boys who are all part of the same gang (or used to be). They are being killed off one by one before their 18th birthdays, supposedly by a mythical creature called El Cuco. Our main characters are Lupe, the teenage niece of the policeman investigating the case and the cousin of one of the victims, and Javier, one of the boys who was in the gang but has cleaned up his act.
I very much enjoyed the tone and atmosphere of this book. I thought the plot was paced well and I was intrigued by the story as more and more details unfolded. Some of the characters were developed brilliantly and that helped propel the plot forwards. I did however struggle to keep track of several of the characters, and I'm not sure if this was due to my unfamiliarity with Puerto Rican names or whether this was because several members of the gang blended together. I'm inclined to go with the latter since it was specifically the boys I kept mixing up and I thought Lupe's interactions with a couple of them were very similar at the start.
The overall mystery was interesting enough to keep me reading, although I feel like the solution was revealed very early on which was a bit of a shame. There's not a lot of possibilities for what could be going on and it becomes pretty easy to work it out. The story is strong enough without the mystery though to still be an engaging read, although I would have liked more of both the mystery and monster aspect to be played up.
Overall, I did really like this book and I recommend checking it out if you like the sound of the blurb. It executes the concept it promises well and it has a wonderful setting which is described in a lot of loving detail with a lot of expert knowledge. I liked being introduced to mythology I had never heard about before and this was a refreshing and enjoyable read.
Overall Rating:
.5
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