Midnight

A Novel of Terror

By: John Russo

Narrated by: A. J. Carter

From the author of Nights of the Living Dead and The Majorettes... John Russo.

The little creatures came to play, and now in fresh-dug graves they lay.

Cynthia and her three little brothers had heard the stories of their grandpa, who could summon demons and compel people to die with a curse.

So, when the children discovered they, too, had the ancient power, they knew what to do.

At first, they caught smallish demons who had assumed the shapes of rabbits and birds--and then larger demons, like the ones who resembled little Jimmy Peterson or his pretty red-haired sister.

Now they are growing, their powers swelling, nourished by adult dreams and desires. Soon they will gather their own kind from the earth’s dark corners. Soon they will prepare their rituals….the blood-red ceremonies performed one by one at…Midnight!

©1980 John A. Russo (P)2019 Capricorn Literary / Burning Bulb Publishing

Vintage Horror Vibes That Still Hit

The Narration was awful.. why the southern accent??
That being said
A gritty, no-frills 80s horror that feels like a classic B-movie on page.
Midnight delivers exactly what you’d expect from a John Russo story. It’s raw, a little rough around the edges, and carries that unmistakable Night of the Living Dead-style energy that defined a lot of early horror.
The story follows Nancy, a teenage girl running from an abusive stepfather, who ends up hitching a ride with two guys headed to Florida for spring break. What starts as a desperate escape quickly turns into something much darker when their path crosses with a family of occultists preparing for a disturbing annual Easter ritual.
This book doesn’t spend time building a slow backstory. It drops you right into the tension and keeps moving, which gives it that very old-school horror movie feel. The plot is simple, the characters aren’t deeply layered, and some moments lean a little corny, but in a way that feels true to the era rather than over-the-top or exaggerated.
What really worked for me was the nostalgia. It reads exactly like those straightforward horror films from the 80s and 90s that didn’t try to be flashy. They just told a dark, unsettling story and let it unfold.
Overall, Midnight is a quick, entertaining read. It’s not the most complex or polished horror out there, but if you enjoy classic, no-nonsense horror with that vintage feel, this one is worth picking up.

Great story, horrible narrator

I'm a big fan of the original film, and wanted to hear this audiobook of the novelization, written by the film's screenwriter and director. The story is just as good as the movie, but the narrator is one of the worst I've ever heard. He gives every single character in the book, and I do mean EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER, a cartoonish, overly exaggerated, Gomer Pyle-type Southern accent, which the characters in the movie didn't have. It's horrendous and unlistenable. I'll probably buy the Kindle version and finish it that way. I don't ever want to hear this narrator's attempt at "characterization" again.