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The Midnight Shift
A bestseller in Korea, a biting, fast-paced vampire murder mystery exploring queer love and the consequences of loneliness.
When four isolated elderly people commit suicide back-to-back at the same hospital by jumping out of the sixth-floor window, Su-Yeon doesn’t understand why she’s the only one at her precinct that seems to care. Dismissing the case as a series of unfortunate events due to the patients’ loneliness, the police force doesn't engage. But Su-Yeon doesn’t have the privilege of looking away. Her dearest friend, Grandma Eun-Shim, lives on the sixth floor, and Su-Yeon is terrified that something will happen to her next.
As Su-Yeon begins her investigation alone, she runs into a mysterious woman named Violette at the crime scene. Violette, hot on the trail of her ex-lover, Lily, gives Su-Yeon the answer: a vampire did it. Su-Yeon is skeptical at first, but then a fifth victim jumps from the window and her investigation reveals the body was completely drained of blood. Desperate to discover the cause of the deaths, Su-Yeon considers Violette's explanation—that something supernatural is involved.
The Midnight Shift is a gripping mystery, overflowing with commentary about societal isolation and loneliness, the sharp knife of grief, and the effects of marginalization, perfect for readers of Cursed Bunny; Woman, Eating; and A Certain Hunger.
When four isolated elderly people commit suicide back-to-back at the same hospital by jumping out of the sixth-floor window, Su-Yeon doesn’t understand why she’s the only one at her precinct that seems to care. Dismissing the case as a series of unfortunate events due to the patients’ loneliness, the police force doesn't engage. But Su-Yeon doesn’t have the privilege of looking away. Her dearest friend, Grandma Eun-Shim, lives on the sixth floor, and Su-Yeon is terrified that something will happen to her next.
As Su-Yeon begins her investigation alone, she runs into a mysterious woman named Violette at the crime scene. Violette, hot on the trail of her ex-lover, Lily, gives Su-Yeon the answer: a vampire did it. Su-Yeon is skeptical at first, but then a fifth victim jumps from the window and her investigation reveals the body was completely drained of blood. Desperate to discover the cause of the deaths, Su-Yeon considers Violette's explanation—that something supernatural is involved.
The Midnight Shift is a gripping mystery, overflowing with commentary about societal isolation and loneliness, the sharp knife of grief, and the effects of marginalization, perfect for readers of Cursed Bunny; Woman, Eating; and A Certain Hunger.
297 pages, Paperback
First published June 11, 2021
About the author
Cheon Seon-ran
13 books77 followersBorn in 1993, Cheon Seon-ran is a beloved author by the ‘MZ Generation’ (Millennials and Gen Z) of South Korea. A graduate from the department of creative writing in Anyang Arts High School, she holds a master’s degree in creative writing from Dankook University. She dreams of living in a world where humans become the minority in a world of flora and fauna. She is always thinking what the end of the world will look like, and what is happening elsewhere in the universe. One day, she decides to pen her thoughts down in this novel. A Thousand Blues won the 4th Korea Sci-fi Literature Award. She is the author of several novels and short-story collections.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 504 reviews
October 11, 2025
An inventive blend of murder mystery and vampire narrative centred on a care facility for the elderly in Incheon. Suyeon’s a detective whose close friend and former mentor lives in a unit dedicated to patients with dementia. When a series of patients die by suicide, Suyeon suspects something nefarious behind their deaths, so she ignores her superiors and launches a covert investigation. Her explorations lead her to Violette a French vampire hunter adopted from a Korean orphanage as a small child. Violette has her own, highly-personal reasons for digging into events at the facility.
Cheon Seon-ran’s intricate, character-led narrative unfolds from a range of perspectives, shifting backwards and forwards in time, taking in a sapphic love story, reworked vampire lore, and reflections on mortality, grief and loss. Overall, it’s an unusual mix of fast-paced, supernatural detective story and lyrical meditation on loneliness and the possibility of intimate connection – however fleeting. Cheon Seon-ran weaves in commentaries on contemporary South Korean society from the breakdown of familial bonds and traditional blood ties to growing issues with drugs and organised crime. I wasn’t always convinced by the semi-philosophical elements but still found this fairly compelling, fluid and well-crafted. Translated by Gene Png.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Bloomsbury for an ARC
Rating: 3.5
Cheon Seon-ran’s intricate, character-led narrative unfolds from a range of perspectives, shifting backwards and forwards in time, taking in a sapphic love story, reworked vampire lore, and reflections on mortality, grief and loss. Overall, it’s an unusual mix of fast-paced, supernatural detective story and lyrical meditation on loneliness and the possibility of intimate connection – however fleeting. Cheon Seon-ran weaves in commentaries on contemporary South Korean society from the breakdown of familial bonds and traditional blood ties to growing issues with drugs and organised crime. I wasn’t always convinced by the semi-philosophical elements but still found this fairly compelling, fluid and well-crafted. Translated by Gene Png.
Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Bloomsbury for an ARC
Rating: 3.5
June 27, 2025
a vampire novel where the real monster is isolation. and also capitalism. and maybe memory. and also grief. idk.
there’s murder. there’s a detective losing it. there’s a vampire hunter with unresolved sapphic trauma. it’s weird and a little messy but hits in a way i wasn’t ready for (3.5stars).
thank you to the publisher for kindly sending me an arc <3
there’s murder. there’s a detective losing it. there’s a vampire hunter with unresolved sapphic trauma. it’s weird and a little messy but hits in a way i wasn’t ready for (3.5stars).
thank you to the publisher for kindly sending me an arc <3
August 19, 2025
Women in Translation Month 2025 #3
밤에 찾아오는 구원자
After DNFing some Japanese translated cozies, it is apparent that East Asian horror is still my genre of choice. There is some shit going down at a certain hospital in South Korea: secrets, suicides, and vampires. A win.
We follow a few intertwining POVs, most of which are interesting to me, which is not always the case. I was intrigued by Violette, an adoptee born in South Korea, but raised in France. While the beginning of the story captivated me more than the end, this is a "fun" short read, perfect for both Women in Translation Month (this month) and Halloween (October).
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing
밤에 찾아오는 구원자
After DNFing some Japanese translated cozies, it is apparent that East Asian horror is still my genre of choice. There is some shit going down at a certain hospital in South Korea: secrets, suicides, and vampires. A win.
We follow a few intertwining POVs, most of which are interesting to me, which is not always the case. I was intrigued by Violette, an adoptee born in South Korea, but raised in France. While the beginning of the story captivated me more than the end, this is a "fun" short read, perfect for both Women in Translation Month (this month) and Halloween (October).
📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing
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August 5, 2025
The Best New Books of August in Every Genre:
This Korean bestseller is now available in English! When police officer Su-Yeon learns that four elderly people have died from jumping out a sixth story window at a hospital, she takes the case personally: Grandma Eun-Shim lives on that floor, and Su-Yeon is determined to stop her from facing the same fate. The rest of the police force dismisses the deaths as suicides, but as Su-Yeon investigates, she meets Violette, who claims to be a vampire hunter looking for her ex-girlfriend, Lily. When the next body is found drained of blood, Su-Yeon begins to believe Violette. It’s a vampire murder mystery!
This Korean bestseller is now available in English! When police officer Su-Yeon learns that four elderly people have died from jumping out a sixth story window at a hospital, she takes the case personally: Grandma Eun-Shim lives on that floor, and Su-Yeon is determined to stop her from facing the same fate. The rest of the police force dismisses the deaths as suicides, but as Su-Yeon investigates, she meets Violette, who claims to be a vampire hunter looking for her ex-girlfriend, Lily. When the next body is found drained of blood, Su-Yeon begins to believe Violette. It’s a vampire murder mystery!
August 25, 2025
I was so ready to fall head over heels for this Korean bestseller, with its promises of queer vampire romance and a spooky murder mystery set in a creepy Seoul hospital. I mean, vampires! Queer love! A detective with a chip on her shoulder! It sounded like the kind of book I’d clutch to my chest and sigh dreamily over, maybe even stay up all night reading while sipping sweet tea and pretending I’m in a K-drama. But, alas, this book and I were like that one Tinder date where you show up expecting fireworks and get... a damp sparkler.
Let’s talk about the good stuff first, because I’m not a total grump, and there were moments that I enjoyed. The scenes between Violette and Lily? Those flashbacks to 1980s France were everything. I was living for their gothic, sapphic tension. The quiet, yearning moments where Violette, this lonely Korean adoptee, finds herself utterly bewitched by Lily, the enigmatic, barefoot vampire who makes Korea sound like a fever dream. I could’ve read a whole book of just them staring intensely at each other over candlelit dinners, with Lily maybe or maybe not contemplating a quick nibble on Violette’s neck. Those scenes were the sparkly vampire heart of the book.
But then... the rest of it. The characters outside of Violette and Lily felt flatter than my attempts at baking soufflés. Su-Yeon, our detective, is supposed to be this gritty, lonely cop with a personal stake in the mystery (her grandma’s in the hospital where old folks are yeeting themselves out of windows), but she’s about as compelling as a cardboard cutout of a K-drama lead. I wanted to root for her, I really did, but she’s just... there, brooding and asking questions that don’t seem to go anywhere. And Nanju, the nurse with a secret? Girl, I wanted to empathize with you, but your chapters felt like they were written by someone who forgot to give you a personality. I kept waiting for these characters to pop off the page, to make me laugh or cry or FEEL something, but they were like guests at a party who show up, mumble a few lines, and leave early.
It’s billed as a “fast-paced vampire murder mystery,” but it’s more like a slow-motion train wreck you can’t stop watching. Four elderly patients jump from the sixth floor of a hospital, and Su-Yeon’s the only one who thinks it’s suspicious. Enter Violette, our vampire-hunting queen, who drops the bombshell: “A vampire did it.” But the big reveal about the vampire killings? It lands with all the impact of a soggy paper towel. I was expecting a jaw-dropping twist, something that would make me gasp and clutch my pearls, but instead, I got a half-baked explanation that left me squinting at the page like, “That’s it?” And don’t even get me started on the vampire killings’ connection to Lily. There’s this vague hint that Lily’s tied to the whole mess, but the book just... forgets to tell us how or why. It’s like wanting a nice steak and getting a piece of rubber.
The whole thing feels incomplete, like Cheon Seon-ran had a brilliant idea but got distracted halfway through and decided to wrap it up with a Post-it note that says, “Good enough.” The vampire lore is inconsistent... sometimes it’s creepy and atmospheric, other times it’s like the author forgot the vampires were supposed to be scary. The themes of loneliness and isolation are there, and I wanted to be moved by them, but they’re handled so clumsily that I felt like I was reading a rough draft. I kept waiting for that emotional gut-punch, but it never came.
I will say, the writing itself has a certain moody charm, especially in those Violette/Lily scenes that had me fanning myself. But even that couldn’t save the book from feeling like a missed opportunity. It’s like going to a concert expecting a full-on rock show and getting a local cover band set with half the band missing. It left me feeling like I’d just watched a K-drama that got canceled mid-season. If you’re here for the Violette and Lily vibes, you’ll get a few swoony moments. But if you’re expecting a cohesive, gripping story with characters who leap off the page? Maybe keep swiping left.
Let’s talk about the good stuff first, because I’m not a total grump, and there were moments that I enjoyed. The scenes between Violette and Lily? Those flashbacks to 1980s France were everything. I was living for their gothic, sapphic tension. The quiet, yearning moments where Violette, this lonely Korean adoptee, finds herself utterly bewitched by Lily, the enigmatic, barefoot vampire who makes Korea sound like a fever dream. I could’ve read a whole book of just them staring intensely at each other over candlelit dinners, with Lily maybe or maybe not contemplating a quick nibble on Violette’s neck. Those scenes were the sparkly vampire heart of the book.
But then... the rest of it. The characters outside of Violette and Lily felt flatter than my attempts at baking soufflés. Su-Yeon, our detective, is supposed to be this gritty, lonely cop with a personal stake in the mystery (her grandma’s in the hospital where old folks are yeeting themselves out of windows), but she’s about as compelling as a cardboard cutout of a K-drama lead. I wanted to root for her, I really did, but she’s just... there, brooding and asking questions that don’t seem to go anywhere. And Nanju, the nurse with a secret? Girl, I wanted to empathize with you, but your chapters felt like they were written by someone who forgot to give you a personality. I kept waiting for these characters to pop off the page, to make me laugh or cry or FEEL something, but they were like guests at a party who show up, mumble a few lines, and leave early.
It’s billed as a “fast-paced vampire murder mystery,” but it’s more like a slow-motion train wreck you can’t stop watching. Four elderly patients jump from the sixth floor of a hospital, and Su-Yeon’s the only one who thinks it’s suspicious. Enter Violette, our vampire-hunting queen, who drops the bombshell: “A vampire did it.” But the big reveal about the vampire killings? It lands with all the impact of a soggy paper towel. I was expecting a jaw-dropping twist, something that would make me gasp and clutch my pearls, but instead, I got a half-baked explanation that left me squinting at the page like, “That’s it?” And don’t even get me started on the vampire killings’ connection to Lily. There’s this vague hint that Lily’s tied to the whole mess, but the book just... forgets to tell us how or why. It’s like wanting a nice steak and getting a piece of rubber.
The whole thing feels incomplete, like Cheon Seon-ran had a brilliant idea but got distracted halfway through and decided to wrap it up with a Post-it note that says, “Good enough.” The vampire lore is inconsistent... sometimes it’s creepy and atmospheric, other times it’s like the author forgot the vampires were supposed to be scary. The themes of loneliness and isolation are there, and I wanted to be moved by them, but they’re handled so clumsily that I felt like I was reading a rough draft. I kept waiting for that emotional gut-punch, but it never came.
I will say, the writing itself has a certain moody charm, especially in those Violette/Lily scenes that had me fanning myself. But even that couldn’t save the book from feeling like a missed opportunity. It’s like going to a concert expecting a full-on rock show and getting a local cover band set with half the band missing. It left me feeling like I’d just watched a K-drama that got canceled mid-season. If you’re here for the Violette and Lily vibes, you’ll get a few swoony moments. But if you’re expecting a cohesive, gripping story with characters who leap off the page? Maybe keep swiping left.
July 4, 2026
"Santa had once existed. He died when Violette stopped believing in him. Every year, millions of Santas are born and killed at the same time. Every child must kill Santa on the road to adulthood."
I had high hopes for this one, and it didn't deliver. Well, except that Santa quote.
How do you manage to make sapphic vampires BORING??? I only gave it three stars because the overall story wasn't that bad, but based on my enjoyment level, I'd give this book no more than two.
The Midnight Shift failed to make me care about anything that was going on, least of all the characters, who were so similar that I had a hard time telling them apart.
The pacing was so slow, and it felt like barely anything was happening. The ending wasn't anything spectacular either.
Some of this may be due to the translation, but I feel that, in my heart of hearts I probably wouldn't have liked this book even if I'd read it in Korean so...it is what it is.
I'd still suggest giving The Midnight Shift a try if it's on your TBR (and if you like, say, literary fiction), you might have better luck with it.
I had high hopes for this one, and it didn't deliver. Well, except that Santa quote.
How do you manage to make sapphic vampires BORING??? I only gave it three stars because the overall story wasn't that bad, but based on my enjoyment level, I'd give this book no more than two.
The Midnight Shift failed to make me care about anything that was going on, least of all the characters, who were so similar that I had a hard time telling them apart.
The pacing was so slow, and it felt like barely anything was happening. The ending wasn't anything spectacular either.
Some of this may be due to the translation, but I feel that, in my heart of hearts I probably wouldn't have liked this book even if I'd read it in Korean so...it is what it is.
I'd still suggest giving The Midnight Shift a try if it's on your TBR (and if you like, say, literary fiction), you might have better luck with it.
August 20, 2026
✨"Was death really their last hope?"✨
Such a hard-hitting read. The mystery was really gripping, and I absolutely loved the way vampires were incorporated into the story, but what hit me even more was the exploration of old age and the loneliness that comes with it. Made me think a lot about life in general.
What to expect -
🩸 Police procedural set in modern-day Korea
🩸 Dual timelines
🩸 Strange deaths made to look like suicides
🩸 No leads other than suicide notes mentioning the same "hill of flowers"
🩸 Multiple POVs
🩸 Sapphic love
🩸 Vampires living alongside humans
🩸 Exploration of old age and mortality
We follow Suyeon, who's investigating a series of recent deaths that happened at the same senior care center within a month. All four of the elderly people left suicide notes and were found as if they had jumped from the top of the building to end their suffering and join the cryptic "hill of flowers." No one is willing to investigate these cases further because the victims are elderly people whose own families don't seem to care about them. But something isn't adding up, and as Suyeon digs deeper, she stumbles upon a mysterious woman who claims they're all victims of a vampire. Are they really being killed by some supernatural creature, or by the isolation and neglect from their own families?!!!
First of all, Suyeon as a character was quite interesting to follow. She doesn't have a family of her own, yet she cares so deeply about others. She even takes care of Granny Eunshim, who's also a patient at the hospital, simply because the grandmother used to offer her yogurt every time she visited her store as a teenager. Now the granny has been abandoned by her own son, yet Suyeon takes care of her as if she's family and always makes sure to pay her a visit so she doesn't feel lonely. This kindness and considerate nature is what makes her dig deeper into these cases too, cuz she simply wouldn't believe that they all died in the same way. I really admired this about her, along with her relentless determination to find out the truth, even though her superiors didn't want the case to be reopened.
The mystery leading up to the strange woman and eventually to what's really happening was equally gripping. And the twists were done well too. You might see through some of them once a few characters are introduced, but it still doesn't take away from the intrigue.
The author's way of contrasting the immortality of vampires with the mortality of humans was really impressive. As the years pass, both factions face a kind of loneliness where you slowly drift apart from the people you love, but one happens naturally while the other is created by us.
And I felt like the author portrayed this vulnerability of the elderly so well, along with the struggles they go through every day without having their sons and daughters nearby, slowly forgetting who they are and coming to terms with the fact that death is near. It almost seemed like she was saying that death by a vampire, or anything more violent, would be more welcoming than being abandoned and forgotten by your own family. And that was so hard-hitting, and you can clearly see how much it impacted me cuz I finished this a few days ago and had to sit on it for this long to even write about it.
I have to admit that I also enjoyed the other character, Violette, and her POV. It explored a different kind of loneliness and friendship, and there were so many beautiful lines and moments in her story that I wish I had the physical copy so I could annotate it all.
Overall, this was such a great read that makes you question a lot about life and what truly matters. And I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for a story that's thought-provoking, atmospheric, and filled with a great mystery.
✨Pre-read:
Vampire murder mystery, with commentary on mortality and loneliness?! Seems like something I'm gonna devour🧛🏻♀️🕵🏻♀️✨
Such a hard-hitting read. The mystery was really gripping, and I absolutely loved the way vampires were incorporated into the story, but what hit me even more was the exploration of old age and the loneliness that comes with it. Made me think a lot about life in general.
What to expect -
🩸 Police procedural set in modern-day Korea
🩸 Dual timelines
🩸 Strange deaths made to look like suicides
🩸 No leads other than suicide notes mentioning the same "hill of flowers"
🩸 Multiple POVs
🩸 Sapphic love
🩸 Vampires living alongside humans
🩸 Exploration of old age and mortality
We follow Suyeon, who's investigating a series of recent deaths that happened at the same senior care center within a month. All four of the elderly people left suicide notes and were found as if they had jumped from the top of the building to end their suffering and join the cryptic "hill of flowers." No one is willing to investigate these cases further because the victims are elderly people whose own families don't seem to care about them. But something isn't adding up, and as Suyeon digs deeper, she stumbles upon a mysterious woman who claims they're all victims of a vampire. Are they really being killed by some supernatural creature, or by the isolation and neglect from their own families?!!!
First of all, Suyeon as a character was quite interesting to follow. She doesn't have a family of her own, yet she cares so deeply about others. She even takes care of Granny Eunshim, who's also a patient at the hospital, simply because the grandmother used to offer her yogurt every time she visited her store as a teenager. Now the granny has been abandoned by her own son, yet Suyeon takes care of her as if she's family and always makes sure to pay her a visit so she doesn't feel lonely. This kindness and considerate nature is what makes her dig deeper into these cases too, cuz she simply wouldn't believe that they all died in the same way. I really admired this about her, along with her relentless determination to find out the truth, even though her superiors didn't want the case to be reopened.
The mystery leading up to the strange woman and eventually to what's really happening was equally gripping. And the twists were done well too. You might see through some of them once a few characters are introduced, but it still doesn't take away from the intrigue.
The author's way of contrasting the immortality of vampires with the mortality of humans was really impressive. As the years pass, both factions face a kind of loneliness where you slowly drift apart from the people you love, but one happens naturally while the other is created by us.
"People don’t change just because they grow old. Being old simply means you’ve been on this planet for longer, but people always treat us like we’re from the past. Trapped there. But really, we live in the present, just like everyone else."I'm not gonna talk about the obligation that one should always look after their parents because they took care of them when they were young and that it's the right thing to do and all. What I wanna say is that dementia is becoming more common in Korea and many other countries now, and even though looking after someone who's slowly losing their sense of self is hard (trust me, I know), we should at least make an attempt to let them know that we're there for them and would come to their aid if things get worse. Cuz as terrifying and exhausting as it can be to care for someone with dementia, it's even more painful and scary for the person going through it - to wake up somewhere other than home and have an internal conflict with their own memories every single day, trying to function without the familiarity of their home and family.
And I felt like the author portrayed this vulnerability of the elderly so well, along with the struggles they go through every day without having their sons and daughters nearby, slowly forgetting who they are and coming to terms with the fact that death is near. It almost seemed like she was saying that death by a vampire, or anything more violent, would be more welcoming than being abandoned and forgotten by your own family. And that was so hard-hitting, and you can clearly see how much it impacted me cuz I finished this a few days ago and had to sit on it for this long to even write about it.
I have to admit that I also enjoyed the other character, Violette, and her POV. It explored a different kind of loneliness and friendship, and there were so many beautiful lines and moments in her story that I wish I had the physical copy so I could annotate it all.
Overall, this was such a great read that makes you question a lot about life and what truly matters. And I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for a story that's thought-provoking, atmospheric, and filled with a great mystery.
✨Pre-read:
Vampire murder mystery, with commentary on mortality and loneliness?! Seems like something I'm gonna devour🧛🏻♀️🕵🏻♀️✨
March 24, 2025
I'm a little conflicted about this book. I don't want to crown Cheon Seon-ran as my favorite Korean author, but her book A Thousand Blues is one of the best books I read last year. I loved the story, and it was definitely a fun time, but it was severely undercooked.
The Midnight Shift follows Suyeon, a detective investigating strange suicides taking place at a retirement home. The deceased are all found after jumping from the roof with a suicide note in their own handwriting... and no blood in their bodies or at the scene. Which is a little strange, considering they threw themselves off a building. Luckily for her, Suyeon gets an answer when Violette - a Korean adoptee - shows up and kindly lets her know vampires exist, and that maybe one of the hospital staff is working with a vampire.
Besides the main paranormal investigation storyline, there's also an additional timeline set in France in 1983, following Violette's interactions with a vampire. I found this to be the absolute highlight of the book. I don't know how to describe the vibe, but it was very Carmilla-esque, with an unlikely friendship (with heavy sapphic undertones) that turns very dark, mixed in with Violette's lonely coming-of-age story.
The book felt like a paranormal CSI episode. It was fast-paced without much chewing or world-building, which made it fun, but I had so many questions about so many things (i.e., BIG LONG ETCETERA). It also had some gaps/contradictions that just made me raise an eyebrow while reading (i.e., ).
My two other 'issues' with the book were the characters and the lack of a 'message' in the book. The characters felt a little apathetic to me, especially Suyeon, who just went through the motions and half the time would not even answer when people talked to her. But mostly, I think because we lacked so much context, I just didn't get why Nanju and Violette (and Greta and Ulan) acted one way or another. And... about the 'message'. I just kept mentally comparing it to A Thousand Blues because I sobbed a few times while reading it and I highlighted half the thing, but here? It was just very... meh. Don't trust a vampire. Life sucks, but you're alive so you can do things...? Idk. I wanted more.
I usually don't mention translations unless it's to say something good, but I do want to talk about this one. The translation was great, but at times I'd be reading and I'd stop because I would be confused about some word choices. Also, I thought it was interesting that the words halmoni and ajumma were added sometimes but not always (i.e., sometimes the book talks about 'Granny Eunshim' and then suddenly she was referred to as halmoni). I'm okay with it, but I do think people who aren't familiar with Korean will be a little confused there.
I sense this comes off as a bad review, and I do admit I was a little disappointed, but it was still a great read for me. 3.5 rounded up.
Bits I highlighted:
'Maybe I'd feel better if it was a monster who'd killed him.
'Monster?'
'It's easier to blame the things you don't want to accept on monsters. Your grandfather used to tell me that. He had quite the imagination, that one. He would always tell me how hed met a vampire when he was a kid. Whenever someone went missing, or died, or had a breakdown, hed say that a vampire did it.
____
Santa had once existed. He died when Violette stopped believing in him. Every year, millions of Santas were born and killed at the same time. Every child must kill Santa on the road to adulthood.
Little do children know, Santa is just the beginning.
There are plenty of others after him whom children kill without a sound. Without knowing. That was why every child got lonelier and lonelier as they grew up. The vacancy cannot simply be filled by another human being.
People were not as kind or loyal as those creatures of imagination whom the child killed. An empty heart was the penalty for killing those who'd stuck with them.
*ARC received for free, this hasn’t impacted my review/rating.
The Midnight Shift follows Suyeon, a detective investigating strange suicides taking place at a retirement home. The deceased are all found after jumping from the roof with a suicide note in their own handwriting... and no blood in their bodies or at the scene. Which is a little strange, considering they threw themselves off a building. Luckily for her, Suyeon gets an answer when Violette - a Korean adoptee - shows up and kindly lets her know vampires exist, and that maybe one of the hospital staff is working with a vampire.
Besides the main paranormal investigation storyline, there's also an additional timeline set in France in 1983, following Violette's interactions with a vampire. I found this to be the absolute highlight of the book. I don't know how to describe the vibe, but it was very Carmilla-esque, with an unlikely friendship (with heavy sapphic undertones) that turns very dark, mixed in with Violette's lonely coming-of-age story.
The book felt like a paranormal CSI episode. It was fast-paced without much chewing or world-building, which made it fun, but I had so many questions about so many things (i.e., BIG LONG ETCETERA). It also had some gaps/contradictions that just made me raise an eyebrow while reading (i.e., ).
My two other 'issues' with the book were the characters and the lack of a 'message' in the book. The characters felt a little apathetic to me, especially Suyeon, who just went through the motions and half the time would not even answer when people talked to her. But mostly, I think because we lacked so much context, I just didn't get why Nanju and Violette (and Greta and Ulan) acted one way or another. And... about the 'message'. I just kept mentally comparing it to A Thousand Blues because I sobbed a few times while reading it and I highlighted half the thing, but here? It was just very... meh. Don't trust a vampire. Life sucks, but you're alive so you can do things...? Idk. I wanted more.
I usually don't mention translations unless it's to say something good, but I do want to talk about this one. The translation was great, but at times I'd be reading and I'd stop because I would be confused about some word choices. Also, I thought it was interesting that the words halmoni and ajumma were added sometimes but not always (i.e., sometimes the book talks about 'Granny Eunshim' and then suddenly she was referred to as halmoni). I'm okay with it, but I do think people who aren't familiar with Korean will be a little confused there.
I sense this comes off as a bad review, and I do admit I was a little disappointed, but it was still a great read for me. 3.5 rounded up.
Bits I highlighted:
'Maybe I'd feel better if it was a monster who'd killed him.
'Monster?'
'It's easier to blame the things you don't want to accept on monsters. Your grandfather used to tell me that. He had quite the imagination, that one. He would always tell me how hed met a vampire when he was a kid. Whenever someone went missing, or died, or had a breakdown, hed say that a vampire did it.
____
Santa had once existed. He died when Violette stopped believing in him. Every year, millions of Santas were born and killed at the same time. Every child must kill Santa on the road to adulthood.
Little do children know, Santa is just the beginning.
There are plenty of others after him whom children kill without a sound. Without knowing. That was why every child got lonelier and lonelier as they grew up. The vacancy cannot simply be filled by another human being.
People were not as kind or loyal as those creatures of imagination whom the child killed. An empty heart was the penalty for killing those who'd stuck with them.
*ARC received for free, this hasn’t impacted my review/rating.
August 13, 2025
3.5 rounded up.
I enjoyed this book, but just wanted more from it. I wanted to know more about Eungyeong and Suyeon's relationship, I wanted to know more about Suyeon and her upbringing, I wanted to know more about Nanju (honestly her chapters were my favourite!) and I wanted to see more between Violette and Lily. It's true that this novel doesn't do a lot of world-building, but somehow that made the vampires feel more realistic to me; what I did want more of was reasons to connect to these characters emotionally, and I did feel that the novel was a bit light in that regard.
All in all I did enjoy this book a lot! But I'd recommend maybe waiting until it's out in paperback.
I enjoyed this book, but just wanted more from it. I wanted to know more about Eungyeong and Suyeon's relationship, I wanted to know more about Suyeon and her upbringing, I wanted to know more about Nanju (honestly her chapters were my favourite!) and I wanted to see more between Violette and Lily. It's true that this novel doesn't do a lot of world-building, but somehow that made the vampires feel more realistic to me; what I did want more of was reasons to connect to these characters emotionally, and I did feel that the novel was a bit light in that regard.
All in all I did enjoy this book a lot! But I'd recommend maybe waiting until it's out in paperback.
May 28, 2025
This book is, more than anything, about loneliness. If you're expecting a quick and funny read about vampires and lesbians, you'll probably end up disappointed. Reading it felt like stepping into a fog, my senses dulled, unsure of where my next steps would take me. I was completely in the dark alongside the three main characters, to whom I grew very attached, especially Violette.
I really enjoyed it. The writing was beautiful and deeply reflective. It explored themes of loneliness, darkness, loss, yearning, depression, and dementia in a way that was both cruel and beautiful. I was never bored while reading, though I can understand why some readers might be, it’s not a plot-driven book. Still, the writing was so compelling that I kept wanting more.
I really enjoyed it. The writing was beautiful and deeply reflective. It explored themes of loneliness, darkness, loss, yearning, depression, and dementia in a way that was both cruel and beautiful. I was never bored while reading, though I can understand why some readers might be, it’s not a plot-driven book. Still, the writing was so compelling that I kept wanting more.
September 3, 2025
This is part crime thriller, part vampire novel. This story featured multiple POVs which was a little hard to figure out who was who at the beginning but cleared up as the story progressed. Overall I thought it was solid but a bit predictable.
April 6, 2025
'They're right beside us, Suyeon said, her voice detached. 'So be careful. The only way we can protect ourselves is by making sure no one is left alone?' Because in every corner untouched by sight, and deprived of light, they were out there, breathing in the scent of lonely blood.
The Midnight Shift is Gene Png's translation of 밤에 찾아오는 구원자 by 천선란 (Cheon Seon-ran)
This is the second of the Korean author's novels to appear in English after A Thousand Blues is translated by Chi-Young Kim from the original 천개의 파랑.
If that novel was sentimental sci-fi reminscent of Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun (or rather the other way round since 천개의 파랑 came first), this one takes us into vampire territory.
This is however really, at its heart, a novel about loneliness.
It opens with a detective, Suyeon, called to the fourth in a series of suicides at the Cheolma Rehabilitation Hospital, essentially a care facility for elderly patients, most suffering from dementia. The series of deaths seems to her rather suspiscious (as is the fact that the elderly patients managed to jump from the top of the hospital, and indeed .... the odd lack of blood), but her partner points out there is no upside in investigating:
Look, we could go on and on about whether or not we've got a case on our hands. So let's ask ourselves the most important question here - who is interested in bringing the case to light? Because here's the thing, if the only one interested in finding the truth is the detective, then it's all pointless? Suyeon stayed quiet. Chantae continued. No one showed up for these victims, kid. No one.
However one of the patients in the hospital, who she calls Granny (Halmonie) is, while not a blood relative, someone important to her so she carries on her investigation. And she finds she is not the only one investigating as she encounters Violette (a Korean orphan adopted by a French couple, now living back in Korea) who rather casually tells her that she suspects a vampire is involved, and that Violette is a vampire hunter.
The novel is told from the alternating perspectives of Suyeon, Violette (including her back story from her teenage years in France) and that of Nanju, a nurse in the hospital with a rather chequered past and who herself seems to be tied up in the events.
The vampire world here is - as Violette explains - not entirely consistent with the legend of movies/novels - garlic, crossed and silver bullets are useless; there is a written code of conduct between vampires and the human organisation Violette represents, so she can only kill vampires if they breach it (e.g. she must be able to prove they murdered a victim, not simply took their blood), and most pertinently, the idea that once bitten by a vampire one becomes one is a myth, one made up by authors to capture the romance of spending eternity together.
As here relationships between vampires and humans can exist, but even when affectionate are rather like those between a human and a short-lived pet.
And the blood that vampires seek most is that of the most lonely of all - such as the abandoned patients in the hospital:
'People who are driven to the edge of loneliness and solitude don’t cry. They’ve forgotten how, or know their tears would only go to waste. They pass their days staring into nothing with soulless eyes. Crying when you’re sad, that is, being able to cry, is a testament that your will to live still exists. People who’ve lost their will to live don’t cry. Because crying won’t grant them release. If no tears are shed, then no moisture escapes the body. Extra moisture dilutes a person’s blood, just like aged wine. And since they are creatures with an inconceivably keen sense of smell, they can discern the scent of lonely blood.'
“외로움과 고독 끝에 몰린 사람들은 울지 않거든. 잊었다고 해야 할지 소용없는 걸 안다고 해야 할지. 영혼 없는 눈동자로 허공만 바라보며 하루를 까먹지. 슬플 때 눈물이 난다는 거, 그래서 울 수 있다는 거, 그 나름대로 살아 있다는 의미야. 의욕을 잃은 사람들은 울지 않거든. 운다고 속이 시원해지는 것도 아니니까. 그렇게 울지 않으면 몸속 수분이 밖으로 빠져나가지를 못해. 그 수분 때문에 피가 아주 묽어지는 거지. 잘 숙성된 적포도주처럼. 그들은 우리와 비교할 수 없을 정도로 후각이 발달해서 그 고독한 피의 향을 맡을 수 있어.”
Relationships play a key role in the novel - and there are strong hints of queer love as well (particularly the relationship as a teenager between Violette, isolated by her confused identity, and a vampire Lily), although this is not particularly explicit, and indeed it is a strangely sexless novel.
And the relationships are often complex in their dependencies - Nanju is addicted to the relationship with the figure that is behind the deaths, even though she knows herself: Once she had learned that he was just a fucking bat who killed for sport, she should've made a run for it. But she couldn't. He'd freed her from her father's respirator. Of course, what she'd believed was love, and what she'd given up everything for, turned out to be a mere hallucination, a symptom of breathing in the poison he exhaled.
A more satisfying novel than the vampire-murder-mystery set up might suggest. Indeed that's perhaps the weakest part (quite how Violette kills vampires is for example rather unclear, as is the relationship between them and humans, who exactly Violette works for etc etc).
3.5 stars rounded to 3.
Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for an ARC.
The Midnight Shift is Gene Png's translation of 밤에 찾아오는 구원자 by 천선란 (Cheon Seon-ran)
This is the second of the Korean author's novels to appear in English after A Thousand Blues is translated by Chi-Young Kim from the original 천개의 파랑.
If that novel was sentimental sci-fi reminscent of Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun (or rather the other way round since 천개의 파랑 came first), this one takes us into vampire territory.
This is however really, at its heart, a novel about loneliness.
It opens with a detective, Suyeon, called to the fourth in a series of suicides at the Cheolma Rehabilitation Hospital, essentially a care facility for elderly patients, most suffering from dementia. The series of deaths seems to her rather suspiscious (as is the fact that the elderly patients managed to jump from the top of the hospital, and indeed .... the odd lack of blood), but her partner points out there is no upside in investigating:
Look, we could go on and on about whether or not we've got a case on our hands. So let's ask ourselves the most important question here - who is interested in bringing the case to light? Because here's the thing, if the only one interested in finding the truth is the detective, then it's all pointless? Suyeon stayed quiet. Chantae continued. No one showed up for these victims, kid. No one.
However one of the patients in the hospital, who she calls Granny (Halmonie) is, while not a blood relative, someone important to her so she carries on her investigation. And she finds she is not the only one investigating as she encounters Violette (a Korean orphan adopted by a French couple, now living back in Korea) who rather casually tells her that she suspects a vampire is involved, and that Violette is a vampire hunter.
The novel is told from the alternating perspectives of Suyeon, Violette (including her back story from her teenage years in France) and that of Nanju, a nurse in the hospital with a rather chequered past and who herself seems to be tied up in the events.
The vampire world here is - as Violette explains - not entirely consistent with the legend of movies/novels - garlic, crossed and silver bullets are useless; there is a written code of conduct between vampires and the human organisation Violette represents, so she can only kill vampires if they breach it (e.g. she must be able to prove they murdered a victim, not simply took their blood), and most pertinently, the idea that once bitten by a vampire one becomes one is a myth, one made up by authors to capture the romance of spending eternity together.
As here relationships between vampires and humans can exist, but even when affectionate are rather like those between a human and a short-lived pet.
And the blood that vampires seek most is that of the most lonely of all - such as the abandoned patients in the hospital:
'People who are driven to the edge of loneliness and solitude don’t cry. They’ve forgotten how, or know their tears would only go to waste. They pass their days staring into nothing with soulless eyes. Crying when you’re sad, that is, being able to cry, is a testament that your will to live still exists. People who’ve lost their will to live don’t cry. Because crying won’t grant them release. If no tears are shed, then no moisture escapes the body. Extra moisture dilutes a person’s blood, just like aged wine. And since they are creatures with an inconceivably keen sense of smell, they can discern the scent of lonely blood.'
“외로움과 고독 끝에 몰린 사람들은 울지 않거든. 잊었다고 해야 할지 소용없는 걸 안다고 해야 할지. 영혼 없는 눈동자로 허공만 바라보며 하루를 까먹지. 슬플 때 눈물이 난다는 거, 그래서 울 수 있다는 거, 그 나름대로 살아 있다는 의미야. 의욕을 잃은 사람들은 울지 않거든. 운다고 속이 시원해지는 것도 아니니까. 그렇게 울지 않으면 몸속 수분이 밖으로 빠져나가지를 못해. 그 수분 때문에 피가 아주 묽어지는 거지. 잘 숙성된 적포도주처럼. 그들은 우리와 비교할 수 없을 정도로 후각이 발달해서 그 고독한 피의 향을 맡을 수 있어.”
Relationships play a key role in the novel - and there are strong hints of queer love as well (particularly the relationship as a teenager between Violette, isolated by her confused identity, and a vampire Lily), although this is not particularly explicit, and indeed it is a strangely sexless novel.
And the relationships are often complex in their dependencies - Nanju is addicted to the relationship with the figure that is behind the deaths, even though she knows herself: Once she had learned that he was just a fucking bat who killed for sport, she should've made a run for it. But she couldn't. He'd freed her from her father's respirator. Of course, what she'd believed was love, and what she'd given up everything for, turned out to be a mere hallucination, a symptom of breathing in the poison he exhaled.
A more satisfying novel than the vampire-murder-mystery set up might suggest. Indeed that's perhaps the weakest part (quite how Violette kills vampires is for example rather unclear, as is the relationship between them and humans, who exactly Violette works for etc etc).
3.5 stars rounded to 3.
Thanks to the publisher via Netgalley for an ARC.
Read
August 21, 2025This Vampire story was ok. 2.75 🌟 audiobook
August 14, 2025
3.75 ⭐️
July 31, 2025
I first discovered Cheon Seon Ran through A Thousand Blues, which I found on NetGalley. That novella was a brilliant piece of sci-fi, thought-provoking and Black Mirror–esque, and it left me eager to see what else the author could do. So when I found out there was a new English-translated work, The Midnight Shift, and it was a vampire murder mystery, I was instantly on board.
TLDR, this book is another winner for me.
The writing was incredibly engaging and vivid. I often struggle to visualize scenes while reading, but not this time. The prose just worked for me. I had clear, cinematic images in my mind throughout. In fact, I kept picturing it in the same visual tone as the Swedish film Let the Right One In, which is an excellent vampire movie everyone should watch. Like that movie, The Midnight Shift isn’t just about vampires. It’s more about grief, isolation, and the impact of deep loneliness on human behavior, and how that can distort actions in quiet, devastating ways.
This isn’t a fast-paced, twisty mystery, something I initially expected going in. Instead, it’s more about experiencing the lives of the three main POV characters. And honestly, I loved my time with all three of them. Their perspectives felt intimate, layered, and grounded, and the emotional threads throughout the story gave it real depth.
At the risk of repeating myself, I can’t wait to see what Cheon Seon Ran has in store for us next. This author is now firmly on my must-read list.
TLDR, this book is another winner for me.
The writing was incredibly engaging and vivid. I often struggle to visualize scenes while reading, but not this time. The prose just worked for me. I had clear, cinematic images in my mind throughout. In fact, I kept picturing it in the same visual tone as the Swedish film Let the Right One In, which is an excellent vampire movie everyone should watch. Like that movie, The Midnight Shift isn’t just about vampires. It’s more about grief, isolation, and the impact of deep loneliness on human behavior, and how that can distort actions in quiet, devastating ways.
This isn’t a fast-paced, twisty mystery, something I initially expected going in. Instead, it’s more about experiencing the lives of the three main POV characters. And honestly, I loved my time with all three of them. Their perspectives felt intimate, layered, and grounded, and the emotional threads throughout the story gave it real depth.
At the risk of repeating myself, I can’t wait to see what Cheon Seon Ran has in store for us next. This author is now firmly on my must-read list.
May 24, 2026
I don’t really have anything grand to say on this one, though it is my most unique read yet.
(In terms of vampires/hunters)
Deals with death, grief, loneliness, queerness and well.. all of that sounds nice right along with immortality. Unfortunately It was a bit flat, yet touching. Some parts stood out and others confused me greatly. Everyone had their own agenda, mainly I didn’t understand what really. Not a bad read, just wasn’t impressed with the execution honestly.
It would’ve won my heart if the story was developed a tad bit more, it was a “that’s it?” Tale for me..
“But that is why life always comes to an end, because our hearts can only withstand so many farewells. Enduring that pain for eternity would mean we’re living in Hell.”
-suyeon
(In terms of vampires/hunters)
Deals with death, grief, loneliness, queerness and well.. all of that sounds nice right along with immortality. Unfortunately It was a bit flat, yet touching. Some parts stood out and others confused me greatly. Everyone had their own agenda, mainly I didn’t understand what really. Not a bad read, just wasn’t impressed with the execution honestly.
It would’ve won my heart if the story was developed a tad bit more, it was a “that’s it?” Tale for me..
“But that is why life always comes to an end, because our hearts can only withstand so many farewells. Enduring that pain for eternity would mean we’re living in Hell.”
-suyeon
November 1, 2025
The Midnight Shift is a Korean supernatural murder mystery. Elderly people living in a care home are supposedly committing suicide at an alarming rate and a police detective named Suyeon is on the case. She encounters a woman named Violette who claims that a vampire are involved. Suyeon's investigation is interspersed with flashbacks to Violette's first encounters with vampires in France years before. Although I'm not generally a fan of murder mysteries, there are a lot of promising elements here. The third point of view is that of Nanju, a nurse at the care home and perhaps the most intriguing character. The fact that the victims are effectively abandoned by society is moving and cleverly done. There is some appealing sapphic tension and a few fun pieces of vampire world-building.
On balance, though, I think The Midnight Shift would have worked better for me as a kdrama, so that actors could give events more tension and emotional impact than the text managed to. Indeed, I found myself casting it as I read: Kim Taeyri as Violette, Jung Eun-chae as Suyeon, and Park Gyuyoung as Nanju. Somehow I found the progression of events rather underwhelming, despite the constituent parts having a lot of potential. I think the pacing and perhaps the tone of the translation were factors in this. To my surprise, The Midnight Shift amounted to less than the sum of parts. I preferred Cheon Seon-ran's sci-fi novel A Thousand Blues.
On balance, though, I think The Midnight Shift would have worked better for me as a kdrama, so that actors could give events more tension and emotional impact than the text managed to. Indeed, I found myself casting it as I read: Kim Taeyri as Violette, Jung Eun-chae as Suyeon, and Park Gyuyoung as Nanju. Somehow I found the progression of events rather underwhelming, despite the constituent parts having a lot of potential. I think the pacing and perhaps the tone of the translation were factors in this. To my surprise, The Midnight Shift amounted to less than the sum of parts. I preferred Cheon Seon-ran's sci-fi novel A Thousand Blues.
September 12, 2025
When I saw that this book was a Korean translated sapphic novel that had a detective and a vampire hunter working together, but was mostly a meditation on urban loneliness, then I just had to have it!!
The writing was very moody and cinematic. The author had some lovely turns of phrase that were translated very well. I was also really intrigued by our two mysterious protagonists: Su-yeon, the lonely detective who seems to be the only person who cares about a mysterious string of elderly suicides, and Violette, a vampire hunter with a complicated past. The plot is predictable, but solving the mystery isn't the point of the novel; the character work is. This is a world where vampires aren't allowed to kill humans outright, and so they are drawn to lonely, suicidal people, victims that are easily manipulated and won't be missed.
That said, I feel like the author was too ambitious and tried to cram too many themes into this book, but wasn't able to explore them all properly. It could have benefited from being longer. I liked Su-yeon's POV best, but it felt like we only hit the surface with her characterization. I wanted to see more flashback scenes between her and her deceased detective partner/friend -- the woman whose death left a hole in her heart. There is significantly more insight into Violette's past, and most readers on Goodreads seem to favor her storyline: a tragic love story between a vampire and a lonely teenage girl who goes from victim to vampire hunter. There is also a third POV character who was a foil to Violette (another human drawn to vampires), but I felt like her arc unraveled too fast and I would've appreciated less telling, more showing with her storyline.
It was a decent read and I can see this easily being adapted into a TV series. The writer is gifted, but I just wanted more from the story. 3.5 stars rounded down.
The writing was very moody and cinematic. The author had some lovely turns of phrase that were translated very well. I was also really intrigued by our two mysterious protagonists: Su-yeon, the lonely detective who seems to be the only person who cares about a mysterious string of elderly suicides, and Violette, a vampire hunter with a complicated past. The plot is predictable, but solving the mystery isn't the point of the novel; the character work is. This is a world where vampires aren't allowed to kill humans outright, and so they are drawn to lonely, suicidal people, victims that are easily manipulated and won't be missed.
That said, I feel like the author was too ambitious and tried to cram too many themes into this book, but wasn't able to explore them all properly. It could have benefited from being longer. I liked Su-yeon's POV best, but it felt like we only hit the surface with her characterization. I wanted to see more flashback scenes between her and her deceased detective partner/friend -- the woman whose death left a hole in her heart. There is significantly more insight into Violette's past, and most readers on Goodreads seem to favor her storyline: a tragic love story between a vampire and a lonely teenage girl who goes from victim to vampire hunter. There is also a third POV character who was a foil to Violette (another human drawn to vampires), but I felt like her arc unraveled too fast and I would've appreciated less telling, more showing with her storyline.
It was a decent read and I can see this easily being adapted into a TV series. The writer is gifted, but I just wanted more from the story. 3.5 stars rounded down.
March 11, 2025
This is a hard one to rate for me. I enjoyed the story itself, and I liked the structure of having three different POVs. What didn’t hit for me was the writing, and since this is a translation, I can’t say if my issue was with the original text or if it just didn’t translate well. A lot of the prose and dialogue read as clunky and awkward, and the imagery was uninspired. I can’t speak to how it comes across in the original Korean, but what I guess was supposed to evoke loneliness and bleakness unfortunately just came across as lifeless.
March 18, 2026
not enough vampires and the ending pissed me off
December 27, 2025
This was very cool, and also deeply tragic and depressing. It’s like Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil meets Guardian by Priest, but make it lit fic.
THE PREMISE: mysterious “suicides” at a dementia and elderly care facility bring together the interwoven stories of four, strong, lonely women.
TROPES & VIBES:
- Murder mystery with vampires
- Now and then timelines
- Depressing look at elderly care facilities and the impact of loneliness
- A sapphic love story, but not a romance novel
THE PREMISE: mysterious “suicides” at a dementia and elderly care facility bring together the interwoven stories of four, strong, lonely women.
TROPES & VIBES:
- Murder mystery with vampires
- Now and then timelines
- Depressing look at elderly care facilities and the impact of loneliness
- A sapphic love story, but not a romance novel
December 24, 2025
A series of suicides are occurring in the memory and rehab ward of a South Korean hospital. The detective on scene has a personal connection to the case: her "grandmother" lives on that ward. No one believes her that something strange is happening, until a woman shows up claiming to be a vampire hunter.
Part noir mystery, part doomed teen/vampire love story, the book follows two timelines. Now, in a race against time to stop the suicides before the detective loses the last person she has left, and in the 1980's, the origin story of a vampire hunter.
It's lovely the way the author works philosophy into the book, particularly about loneliness. It's not something I'm used to in my police procedurals. I know I'm going to want to recommend this book, but honestly I'm not sure who the ideal reader is.
Part noir mystery, part doomed teen/vampire love story, the book follows two timelines. Now, in a race against time to stop the suicides before the detective loses the last person she has left, and in the 1980's, the origin story of a vampire hunter.
It's lovely the way the author works philosophy into the book, particularly about loneliness. It's not something I'm used to in my police procedurals. I know I'm going to want to recommend this book, but honestly I'm not sure who the ideal reader is.
September 7, 2025
Interesting concept, but a flat execution and threadbare plot. The mystery itself was over almost immediately, with precious little fanfare or thrill, and the author seemed to prefer skipping over all of the action scenes with spare descriptions or outright fades to black before getting back to more philosophizing on the nature of loneliness. Relationships and backstory weren't really fleshed out. Felt more like the outline of a good book.
July 31, 2026
First, a thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.
Each boring vampire book I read takes at least a day off my life. How do you make sapphic vampires boring? 😭
Each boring vampire book I read takes at least a day off my life. How do you make sapphic vampires boring? 😭
December 17, 2025
Temu's 'let the right one in', with publishers clearly hoping the general vibe of sapphic vampires will outshine the rampant mediocrity.
The book is full of sentences which ultimately say nothing, are overdramatic, jank or flat out don't make sense. In fact, the more you think about them, the more your head hurts until the only thought in your mind is: ‘why would the author write that??’
Examples include:
-'Maybe everything that has happened will haunt me forever' (jank + the context is the POV character being stood up by a girl she made friends with, had nothing but fun experiences with until then and admits after a further two more pages of bemoaning that she barely even knows)
-'Something missing in the present meant there was an empty space where something should be' (redundancy)
-'Being good with a spatula didn't make you any good with knitting needles' (…you don’t say?)
-'You can only be a coward if you have someone to be cowardly with' (context: a dad giving advice to his daughter- just one of many ‘saying nothing’ lines which thinks it’s profound but feels increasingly idiotic the more you think about it)
-'Life had never once been on her side. Instead, it hid behind people and forced them to spit out excuses' (??????)
The plot is thin and painfully underdeveloped, relying on vagueness and a throwaway line about ‘organisations’ which could- book quote- 'raze the Americas’ to explain how vampires and vampire hunters can exist in modern times without wider society catching on. Also don't expect to know anything about which kind of physiology these vampires work on, or how their societies function, apart from: 'they have their own territory and hunt alone because they don't like crossing each other' and: ‘they can go out in the sun but they need a hat' (I'm not joking- pg 235). For someone like me who gets really intrigued by the different spins authors put on their vampires- this was pathetic. Even worse, most of this sparse lore comes 75% of the way through the book.
Characters are banal and pretentious, all speaking with the same, interchangeable narrative voice. If the character’s names didn’t head each segment, I’d genuinely not know who was speaking. They’ll all come across like dull young adults, then out of nowhere the smallest thing will have their inner monologues flick into melodramatic ‘there is no God’ ‘why isn’t salvation coming’ ‘life has always hated me’ modes, then they’re back to normal. There is no chemistry or personality at play.
Between the hideous attempts at metaphors and woe is me segments, you have plot rubbish like: ‘lonely people’s blood tastes better so that’s why they get preyed on’ and villains literally going out of their way to squash nearby bugs just to signal their evilness to the reader… when they’re not confessing everything immediately upon the first suggestion of being called out, without evidence/tricks/tactics.
Finally, it could also be an issue with translation, but the casual ableism and vitriol toward vulnerable groups of people in this contemporary book (which, I assume, is aimed at young adults) is absolutely uncomfortable. Yes, it is mostly from a villain’s point of view, but its all written very casually (sprinkled here and there) and other non-villainous nurses are also described as sharing/engaging in the same backward views and behaviours towards patients so it feels incredibly normalised (rather than serving a narrative purpose like the squashing bugs, this is treated like the way everyone in the hospital feels about the patients). You’ve got statements like: ‘crying is symptomatic of dementia' (just asinine- also, what a miserable and reductive way to depict the condition!). A stroke patient in distress is described as: ‘started to throw a tantrum’, other patients are described as: ‘difficult’ and patients are described to be drugged into a daze where the most they can do is 'stare at the ceiling' for the purpose of making nurses shifts easier. Yep, that absolutely did and does happen- but maybe don’t gloss over it so casually then never come back to it again? There was no care or larger point made by the book bringing these things up, other than to empathize the vulnerability of the vampires’ victims by showing that even the people assisting them consider them to be a burden. I’m not even sure if that was the point though- because again, it’s written so casually it feels like the author just thinks this is an accurate portrayal of how these patients are and how the nurses who care for them feel.
Yet another novel that makes me question where the literary bar is.
The book is full of sentences which ultimately say nothing, are overdramatic, jank or flat out don't make sense. In fact, the more you think about them, the more your head hurts until the only thought in your mind is: ‘why would the author write that??’
Examples include:
-'Maybe everything that has happened will haunt me forever' (jank + the context is the POV character being stood up by a girl she made friends with, had nothing but fun experiences with until then and admits after a further two more pages of bemoaning that she barely even knows)
-'Something missing in the present meant there was an empty space where something should be' (redundancy)
-'Being good with a spatula didn't make you any good with knitting needles' (…you don’t say?)
-'You can only be a coward if you have someone to be cowardly with' (context: a dad giving advice to his daughter- just one of many ‘saying nothing’ lines which thinks it’s profound but feels increasingly idiotic the more you think about it)
-'Life had never once been on her side. Instead, it hid behind people and forced them to spit out excuses' (??????)
The plot is thin and painfully underdeveloped, relying on vagueness and a throwaway line about ‘organisations’ which could- book quote- 'raze the Americas’ to explain how vampires and vampire hunters can exist in modern times without wider society catching on. Also don't expect to know anything about which kind of physiology these vampires work on, or how their societies function, apart from: 'they have their own territory and hunt alone because they don't like crossing each other' and: ‘they can go out in the sun but they need a hat' (I'm not joking- pg 235). For someone like me who gets really intrigued by the different spins authors put on their vampires- this was pathetic. Even worse, most of this sparse lore comes 75% of the way through the book.
Characters are banal and pretentious, all speaking with the same, interchangeable narrative voice. If the character’s names didn’t head each segment, I’d genuinely not know who was speaking. They’ll all come across like dull young adults, then out of nowhere the smallest thing will have their inner monologues flick into melodramatic ‘there is no God’ ‘why isn’t salvation coming’ ‘life has always hated me’ modes, then they’re back to normal. There is no chemistry or personality at play.
Between the hideous attempts at metaphors and woe is me segments, you have plot rubbish like: ‘lonely people’s blood tastes better so that’s why they get preyed on’ and villains literally going out of their way to squash nearby bugs just to signal their evilness to the reader… when they’re not confessing everything immediately upon the first suggestion of being called out, without evidence/tricks/tactics.
Finally, it could also be an issue with translation, but the casual ableism and vitriol toward vulnerable groups of people in this contemporary book (which, I assume, is aimed at young adults) is absolutely uncomfortable. Yes, it is mostly from a villain’s point of view, but its all written very casually (sprinkled here and there) and other non-villainous nurses are also described as sharing/engaging in the same backward views and behaviours towards patients so it feels incredibly normalised (rather than serving a narrative purpose like the squashing bugs, this is treated like the way everyone in the hospital feels about the patients). You’ve got statements like: ‘crying is symptomatic of dementia' (just asinine- also, what a miserable and reductive way to depict the condition!). A stroke patient in distress is described as: ‘started to throw a tantrum’, other patients are described as: ‘difficult’ and patients are described to be drugged into a daze where the most they can do is 'stare at the ceiling' for the purpose of making nurses shifts easier. Yep, that absolutely did and does happen- but maybe don’t gloss over it so casually then never come back to it again? There was no care or larger point made by the book bringing these things up, other than to empathize the vulnerability of the vampires’ victims by showing that even the people assisting them consider them to be a burden. I’m not even sure if that was the point though- because again, it’s written so casually it feels like the author just thinks this is an accurate portrayal of how these patients are and how the nurses who care for them feel.
Yet another novel that makes me question where the literary bar is.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2025
A great start to Women in Translation Month - "The Midnight Shift" is a short, atmospheric Korean novel that feels like watching an old noir film. It’s moody, quiet, and makes you a lil bit afraid of walking in the dark.
The story follows Su-Yeon, a detective investigating a string of suspicious deaths in a care home - all elderly people, all officially ruled as suicides, all “mysteriously drained of blood”. She crosses paths with Violette, a woman who introduces herself as a vampire hunter.
As the story unfolds, we learn more about Violette’s past through flashbacks - her mission is deeply personal, as she’s searching for her ex-lover, Lily. Su-Yeon remains more of a mystery, which was my biggest disappointment as she never quite felt fleshed out.
This isn’t a plot-heavy or character-driven book, and it won’t be for everyone. The writing is beautiful but so quiet that I had to be in exactly the right mood to stay with it. At times, I found myself drifting or feeling a bit bored.
There’s a real sense of grief, sadness, and loneliness running through the story. The fact that "the lonely" elderly care home patients were targeted precisely because “no one would miss them” felt.. heavy.
Overall, I’d say this would be a wonderful choice for spooky season, and I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy slow, atmospheric horror with a touch of sadness.
3.75/5 ⭐
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
The story follows Su-Yeon, a detective investigating a string of suspicious deaths in a care home - all elderly people, all officially ruled as suicides, all “mysteriously drained of blood”. She crosses paths with Violette, a woman who introduces herself as a vampire hunter.
As the story unfolds, we learn more about Violette’s past through flashbacks - her mission is deeply personal, as she’s searching for her ex-lover, Lily. Su-Yeon remains more of a mystery, which was my biggest disappointment as she never quite felt fleshed out.
This isn’t a plot-heavy or character-driven book, and it won’t be for everyone. The writing is beautiful but so quiet that I had to be in exactly the right mood to stay with it. At times, I found myself drifting or feeling a bit bored.
There’s a real sense of grief, sadness, and loneliness running through the story. The fact that "the lonely" elderly care home patients were targeted precisely because “no one would miss them” felt.. heavy.
Overall, I’d say this would be a wonderful choice for spooky season, and I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy slow, atmospheric horror with a touch of sadness.
3.75/5 ⭐
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
June 17, 2025
Se c’è una cosa che questo libro mi ha trasmesso dall’inizio alla fine è sicuramente una tristezza infinita.
Per Su Yeon, per nonna Eun Shim, per il passato di Wanda e persino per quella stronza di Nanju.
Così come per Madam Tarot, è innegabile che la scrittura coreana sia molto diversa da quella occidentale. Non solo i romanzi sono più brevi, ma la narrazione è molto coincisa e senza fronzoli: va dritta al punto e non perdona, anche se nell’insieme riesce a rendere 150 pagine come se fossero 400. Eppure, nonostante la brevità, le atmosfere e le ambientazioni sono rese divinamente.
Il setting dell’ospedale, le problematiche dei debiti, l’assenza di legami, una storia d’amore e di amicizia travagliata hanno fatto da sfondo a un’indagine senza esclusione di colpi.
Inoltre ho adorato il modo in cui è stata descritta la figura del vampiro.
Per quanto sia simile a quella a cui siamo abituati, ovvero all’occidentale, riesce comunque ad avere un twist in grado di renderla comunque apprezzabile e originale, introducendola in modo ottimale nel contesto coreano.
Tuttavia, avrei preferito una partecipazione maggiore riguardo l’antagonista, per non parlare del passato di Wanda.
L’indagine in sé è gestita bene, ma si sente che manca uno sviluppo maggiore per i retroscena al punto che sul finale ti rimane un senso di incompletezza che si abbina bene alla tristezza generale.
Insomma, Le guardiane della notte è un thriller con un tocco di sovrannaturale che lo rende apprezzabile nonostante le lacune. Si fa leggere, ma lo sconsiglierei a chi sta vivendo un periodo difficile per le ovvie ragioni.
Per Su Yeon, per nonna Eun Shim, per il passato di Wanda e persino per quella stronza di Nanju.
Così come per Madam Tarot, è innegabile che la scrittura coreana sia molto diversa da quella occidentale. Non solo i romanzi sono più brevi, ma la narrazione è molto coincisa e senza fronzoli: va dritta al punto e non perdona, anche se nell’insieme riesce a rendere 150 pagine come se fossero 400. Eppure, nonostante la brevità, le atmosfere e le ambientazioni sono rese divinamente.
Il setting dell’ospedale, le problematiche dei debiti, l’assenza di legami, una storia d’amore e di amicizia travagliata hanno fatto da sfondo a un’indagine senza esclusione di colpi.
Inoltre ho adorato il modo in cui è stata descritta la figura del vampiro.
Per quanto sia simile a quella a cui siamo abituati, ovvero all’occidentale, riesce comunque ad avere un twist in grado di renderla comunque apprezzabile e originale, introducendola in modo ottimale nel contesto coreano.
Tuttavia, avrei preferito una partecipazione maggiore riguardo l’antagonista, per non parlare del passato di Wanda.
L’indagine in sé è gestita bene, ma si sente che manca uno sviluppo maggiore per i retroscena al punto che sul finale ti rimane un senso di incompletezza che si abbina bene alla tristezza generale.
Insomma, Le guardiane della notte è un thriller con un tocco di sovrannaturale che lo rende apprezzabile nonostante le lacune. Si fa leggere, ma lo sconsiglierei a chi sta vivendo un periodo difficile per le ovvie ragioni.
Read
January 6, 2026acab except sometimes detective stories are fun. Especially when they include lesbians and vampires
August 13, 2025
The Midnight Shift is a vampire Sapphic novel like no other. It combines different genres to serve a character-focused story that explores loneliness, belonging, and identity from different angles. Unlike many recent vampire romance or philosophical books and films (eg Only Lovers Left Alive), The Midnight Shift never tries to humanise or romanticise vampires (there is even a scene specifically about this, starring the seemingly 'good' vampire). In line with quite a lot of recent vampire media, the vampires here are monsters first and foremost, and as much as I love watching Armand and Lestat, I am here for it. Stylish, atmospheric, and beautifully written, The Midnight Shift delivers so many interesting things.
The narrative focuses around a series of unexplained suicides at a godforsaken hospital/care home full of long-term patients with few or no relatives to care for them. Structured as a crime novel, the book explores three different female perspectives: a detective assigned to the case whose elderly friend is a patient, a night shift nurse saddled with her late father's medical debts, and a mysterious ethnically Korean woman who was adopted by a French couple, and whose POV chapters are set decades earlier.
I loved this book so much about this book. The plot is genuinely engaging, and I was equally drawn by the criminal investigation of the detective, the coming of age identity crisis tale set in a deliberately vaguely drawn France, and the social commentary inherent in the nurse's Parasite-like story.
Spoilers:
Alongside Greek Lessons, The Midnight Shift is probably the most European Korean novel I have read recently. Violette's tale manages to avoid many clichés of adoptee stories and write her relationship with her parents in a nuanced and complex way. Her relationship with her Korean identity offered a refreshing perspective on the subject. Su-Yeon, the detective, is an interesting character in her own right and a conduit to explore the issues of elderly loneliness in contemporary Korea, demonstrated through her relationship with the elderly neighbour in her care. Both of their stories also explore Sapphic relationships, still a bit of a taboo in mainstream Korean fiction. Nanju, the nurse, offers a welcome perspective on what happens when a love affair with a vampire has gone south, and a woman is trapped in a relationship with an astronomic power imbalance. She is also a tool for the author to critique the healthcare industry in Korea, exploring ways in which compromised healthcare professionals can abuse their positions and still find jobs in remote institutions with high staff turnover.
The plot, whilst engaging, came together a bit too neatly in the end. At about the 60% mark, there was a red herring that would have been a more interesting and original twist than what actually happens as it would have subverted the readers' expectations. The queer relationships could have been explored more openly and in more detail.
Nevertheless, this is one of my favourite recent reads. Highly recommended.
The narrative focuses around a series of unexplained suicides at a godforsaken hospital/care home full of long-term patients with few or no relatives to care for them. Structured as a crime novel, the book explores three different female perspectives: a detective assigned to the case whose elderly friend is a patient, a night shift nurse saddled with her late father's medical debts, and a mysterious ethnically Korean woman who was adopted by a French couple, and whose POV chapters are set decades earlier.
I loved this book so much about this book. The plot is genuinely engaging, and I was equally drawn by the criminal investigation of the detective, the coming of age identity crisis tale set in a deliberately vaguely drawn France, and the social commentary inherent in the nurse's Parasite-like story.
Spoilers:
Alongside Greek Lessons, The Midnight Shift is probably the most European Korean novel I have read recently. Violette's tale manages to avoid many clichés of adoptee stories and write her relationship with her parents in a nuanced and complex way. Her relationship with her Korean identity offered a refreshing perspective on the subject. Su-Yeon, the detective, is an interesting character in her own right and a conduit to explore the issues of elderly loneliness in contemporary Korea, demonstrated through her relationship with the elderly neighbour in her care. Both of their stories also explore Sapphic relationships, still a bit of a taboo in mainstream Korean fiction. Nanju, the nurse, offers a welcome perspective on what happens when a love affair with a vampire has gone south, and a woman is trapped in a relationship with an astronomic power imbalance. She is also a tool for the author to critique the healthcare industry in Korea, exploring ways in which compromised healthcare professionals can abuse their positions and still find jobs in remote institutions with high staff turnover.
The plot, whilst engaging, came together a bit too neatly in the end. At about the 60% mark, there was a red herring that would have been a more interesting and original twist than what actually happens as it would have subverted the readers' expectations. The queer relationships could have been explored more openly and in more detail.
Nevertheless, this is one of my favourite recent reads. Highly recommended.
June 28, 2025
Murder mysteries are never books I’m usually drawn to but when you add a vampire into the mix that changes everything and I’m very glad I gave this a read because it was a lot of fun!
Although the vampire plot drew me in, it was the unlikely relationship between Suyeon and Violette that kept me around. I also loved the backstory we got around Violette and her relationship with a Vampire when she was younger. It wasn’t overtly sapphic but there were lots of undertones or at least that’s what I read into it. It was conflicting and hopeful yet dark at times. The relationships between characters definitely sold the book to me. Let me be clear it isn’t romance but it’s not not romance at the same time.
Translated literature usually has a very clear cut moral message but this book stays a lot more subtle and focused on the plot which I enjoyed a lot actually. However I think for me the big takeaways were the themes around aging, life and death and morality. I love books that explore death and this did it in a really interesting way with ‘suicides’ and vampire killings.
I will say that a lot of the characters lacked something extra. There was no big emotions, certainly a lack of care or empathy, everyone was somewhat simple. I was so close to rating this book 4 stars but I think it was just slightly lacking in some areas for me to give it a whole 4 but it was very close!
All in all, a really enjoyable book and I will probably reread at some point.
3.75/5⭐️
Release date: August 2025
[ Thankyou so much @bloomsburypublishing for sending me a proof of this book ]
Although the vampire plot drew me in, it was the unlikely relationship between Suyeon and Violette that kept me around. I also loved the backstory we got around Violette and her relationship with a Vampire when she was younger. It wasn’t overtly sapphic but there were lots of undertones or at least that’s what I read into it. It was conflicting and hopeful yet dark at times. The relationships between characters definitely sold the book to me. Let me be clear it isn’t romance but it’s not not romance at the same time.
Translated literature usually has a very clear cut moral message but this book stays a lot more subtle and focused on the plot which I enjoyed a lot actually. However I think for me the big takeaways were the themes around aging, life and death and morality. I love books that explore death and this did it in a really interesting way with ‘suicides’ and vampire killings.
I will say that a lot of the characters lacked something extra. There was no big emotions, certainly a lack of care or empathy, everyone was somewhat simple. I was so close to rating this book 4 stars but I think it was just slightly lacking in some areas for me to give it a whole 4 but it was very close!
All in all, a really enjoyable book and I will probably reread at some point.
3.75/5⭐️
Release date: August 2025
[ Thankyou so much @bloomsburypublishing for sending me a proof of this book ]
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