Midnight, at the War

by Devi S. Laskar

Inspired by journalists Christiane Amanpour and Sylvia Poggioli, Midnight, at the War is a novel about a reporter chasing the biggest story of her career as she contends with a tense newsroom, a dangerous global conflict, and all the problems she’s running away from at home, by the acclaimed novelist that Megha Majumdar calls “a gem of a writer.”

Foreign correspondent Rita Das has left New York for the war-torn Middle East, a reassignment she asks for after she learns she is pregnant and is uncertain whether the father is her husband or her lover. As she strives to shed light on the fallouts of the war, Rita finds herself embroiled in her own conflicts with her interpreter and her news editor, her sources and her colleagues. She is unable to accept the loss of her mother and deal with her guilt for not being at her side when she died.

Fiercely independent and ambitious (and in her journalism, deeply humane), Rita is also in denial about her need for intimate human relationships. As she goes into the field to report on the war, she grapples with the physical and emotional tolls of her pregnant body and a turbulent region where the numbing repetition of war slides suddenly into horror. When her news editor delivers urgent orders for her to return to New York, Rita is faced with a choice about how she wants to live her life as a journalist and a soon-to-be mother.

Set in the years immediately after 9/11, and drawn from Devi Laskar’s own experience as a government reporter in the 1990s and early aughts, Midnight, at the War is an exploration of love and grief, of moral ambiguity and forgiveness, of modern war and the wars we wage within ourselves.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Middle East, Literary Fiction, War, Grief, India

240 pages, Hardcover

First published April 14, 2026

About the author

Devi S. Laskar is the author of The Atlas of Reds and Blues (Counterpoint Press, 2019), winner of 7th annual Crook’s Corner Book Prize (2020) for best debut novel set in the South, winner of the 2020 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature; selected by The Georgia Center for the Book as a 2019 book “All Georgians Should Read,” finalist for the 2020 Northern California Book Award, long-listed for the DSC Prize in South Asian Literature and the Golden Poppy Award. The novel was named by The Washington Post as one of the 50 best books of 2019, and has garnered praise in Booklist, Chicago Review of Books, The Guardian and elsewhere.
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Laskar's second novel, CIRCA, will be published on May 3, 2022, by Mariner Books (@marinerbooks).
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Laskar holds an MFA from Columbia University and an MA in South & West Asian Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds BAs in English and Journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She is an alumna of both TheOpEdProject and VONA, among others. In 2017, Finishing Line Press published two poetry chapbooks. A native of Chapel Hill, N.C., she now lives in California with her family.

Reviews

[Ellen Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a nostalgic and fascinating glimpse into the life of someone who works as a government reporter during major world events. It takes place in the time of 9/11 and after and I love the way Rita struggles not just with the current events but her own personal hardships. There are heavy themes of guilt, loss, grief, pregnancy, and marriage. I admired her character as she navigates so many difficulties in her life, many relatable to the reader. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Colleen Chi-Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Midnight, at the War
**** 4 STARS
Narrated by Sneha Mathan
Written by Devi Laskar

I really enjoyed this novel by novelist and poet, Devi Laskar, for her originality of depicting those brave news correspondents who are constantly on the road, out of their country, and frequently in harm's way. Females, women of color, are at the center of this novel and Laskar was inspired by Christiane Amanpour, the British-Iranian journalist and television host, and others similar.

This novel takes place over a 2 year period in the life of the lead female character, Rita Das, an American journalist. Rita is married and her husband also travels as a magazine writer, so you can imagine how frantic another element in their lives can be since they're passing ships in the night with little time for connection. Rita's mother has cancer and we imagine traveling in a war zone with the pain of not being there to see and help a beloved parent suffering at the end of her life. And we follow Rita in unnamed places with unnamed wars, until her boss, Hughes, calls her back to the US. Fast-paced and time for a breath?

Rita's flight home coincides with the horrific 9/11 plane attacks in the US and it throws her and her family's lives into even more chaos. However, the author cleverly uses some gentle humor to keep our connection to the amazing FMC. For instance, Rita is a child of biracial parents. Her father is a white Midwesterner and her mother is a woman of color from Bengali. Rita gets her name from... a sibling's suggestion... while watching West Side Story. LOL. I don't consider this next "drop" humorous, but some of you may.... Rita asked for the overseas assignment in part because she's pregnant! And the father could be one of two men. Yes, compelling!

I hope you enjoy this powerful and well-named novel as much as I did.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Harper Audio Adult, the publisher for the advance copy of the audiobook. It is a pleasure to know this book exists for entertainment and education.

[Queralt✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Midnight at the War follows Rita, a journalist in the Middle East, who has to return home because her mother is dying. Her trip is delayed by 9/11, and the story follows her through both personal and political struggles.

I found this book beautifully written and informative, but the narrator felt very distant and apathetic. I ended up feeling disenchanted and disengaged from the story. I thought maybe the international politics would keep my interest a bit more, but… not really. The book focuses mostly on Rita’s relationships and drama, told in a well-written but distant voice that just didn’t grab me.

ARC received for free. This hasn’t impacted my review.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story about a news correspondent during the time of 9/11. She is in the Middle East trying to get a career-making story, but also running away from problems with her family and her marriage. Very realistic.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review of advance copy received from Netgalley

3.5 stars

The writing is beautiful and evocative. The story is told very passively from first person. While there is no denying that the main character Rita is smart and strong, but she is rough around the edges emotionally. Hearing the story from her perspective, her need to distance herself from her own emotions, as a reader, made it hard for me to care.

Don’t get me wrong, this historical fiction and I do care about the real events. Maybe because of recent events it was unpleasant to return to this time frame.

Very character driven, but very superficial distance given to the actual storyline. This had potential to be hard hitting, but I fear that this will not stick with me long term. I feel like Devi S. Laskar had a lot to say but tried to say too much at once, and it did not come off as strongly on page as it could have.

[Jodi Piccolo Van Sprang]

DNFd at 23%. I couldn't find anything of interest in this narrative.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to the author and Mariner Books for my ARE which I won in a giveaway. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Trigger warning: Infidelity, kidnapping, murder, terrorism, absent parent

Once you get past page 40, the novel becomes more interesting and moves along more quickly. With unanticipated twists and turns and many challenges both in the US and overseas, Rita Das, a foreign news correspondent, travels to and experiences the tumultuous events occurring both in the US and the Middle East from 2001-2003. With memorable, engaging characters experiencing life changing events, this novel will hold your attention.

With many characters, flashbacks and shifting timelines the story is sometimes difficult to follow. This timely, relevant novel with excellent, well-written descriptions of various international locations takes the reader along, feeling as if they are part of and experiencing the narrative.

[Emma Weikum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t explain it but the plot points were interesting but the story was kind of dull

[Kenzie | kenzienoelle.reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love reading articles and books by investigative journalists. I find journalists, their lives, their ethos, so fascinating.

So, the pitch of this novel being, “…a novel about a reporter chasing the biggest story of her career as she contends with a tense newsroom, a dangerous global conflict, and all the problems she's running away from at home…” had me instantly intrigued!

I think this is probably a great book. It just wasn’t a book for me.

I really struggled to connect to the writing style and the format of the story as a whole. There was nothing propelling me to keep reading. No intrigue of plot or character. Very long chapter that jumped around and almost read like a collection of short stories. From chapter one, we find out the main character, Rita, is unapologetically cheating on her husband and she instantly became an unlikable character.

This could be product of misplaced expectation. I expected the story to be more of the behind the scenes of Rita, the journalist chasing new stories, and there was so much more family/relational drama than I expected and for such a short book, it was a bit of a slog to get through :/

Thank you Mariner Books for the gifted book!!

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 – Many thanks to NetGalley for the Advanced Copy!

That she became a journalist wasn't a surprise. Active discussions with her parents of the news was the first spark. A visit to her mother's native India set the flame into a blaze. It also planted invasive seeds in her family unit. Both elements shape Rita into the woman that batters the barriers placed in front of women during the early years of the millennium. She eagerly seeks foreign posts and envelops herself in the local culture.

Is she on a hunt? Or a retreat? From what? The fallout after her visit to her mother's homeland that set her father into a spiral they'd never really heal from? A domestic life? All the voices that tell her no? The humanitarian issues that the news cycle ignores? Life in a different culture? Herself and her coping mechanisms? Caught in a number of conflicts personally, professionally, and globally, Rita eventually reaches an unavoidable turning point.

The publisher's summary of “Midnight, at the War” is somewhat misleading. It frames Rita's struggle with grief, work related friction, and a romantic dilemma starting for the first time when she's returning to a war zone. A consequence of her pending motherhood. It's more accurate to say she's dealing with these things accumulating over the years. It's the pregnancy and return that's forcing her to confront her past to figure out what path she wants to take next.

Rita's memories occasionally skip from one place in time to micro-segments of others. Like thoughts hop to connecting ideas, taking a few detours. It's linear in the sense that each chapter offers pieces for the next. But the style might not appeal to everyone. Thematically it fit.

Laskar cleverly omits a specific location name. It isn't important where Rita is. The protagonist frames it perfectly. Unfortunately, you could substitute several names the same way that she can replace words seamlessly in questions about a 'fire' to matters of murder, theft, war, accidents, any number of things of strife. It can also just be a smart nod to reporter-source confidentiality.

I never caught, as the description says, that Rita doubted her need for other people. She is ambitious, has her priorities, and a mind that doesn't rest. Prior to the catalyst of the story she only seems to 'shut off' when she's opposing someone holding her back. The times she does put distance between herself and others seemed to be acceptance that her job makes many factors of her life temporary.

If anything Rita cares too much. There is very deep love between her brother and her. Her mother understood her in ways no other did. She had some very notable friendships with colleagues and collaborators. She goes through hoops to help practical strangers. Her relationships with locals feel genuine, not just her practicing tools of the trade. It is her dedication to those neglected by the globe at large that fuels her objectives.

It is the introduction of grief that starts to skew her personality. It makes her aware of how the subconscious lack of permanency has influenced her. It is not only the loss of her mother. It's how the cities change. How the lives of her loved ones, of citizens, and coworkers in conflict zones can be altered in a split second. It's the empty spots you create to keep trauma at bay. There is also an element of grief when things you've fought for, committed yourself to altering, remain unchanged.

Something that really struck me is how perspectives have changed from the time frame this is set. I don't claim that we've erased misogyny from any profession or society. Or that organizations and politicians have reassessed their priorities. But we are seeing so many more women in journalism. We're talking about male dominated spaces and practices. Thanks in large part to the internet, we've made it impossible to look away from the numerous humanitarian and ecological crises Rita's trying to elbow attention to. It's made it easier for professionals and individuals to dig for the truth. We can attribute much of this to pioneers like Rita.

This book isn't just a personal reflection and experience with grief. It's a story about an industry, family, the resilience of people, and the cycles we can get stuck in. It's a love letter to endurance. A reminder to be present.

“Midnight, at the War” couldn't possibly seem more relevant as I write this review. Just before I started, I heard of more journalists in one of the most dangerous current areas were killed. Of more bombs and aid blockages. We haven't broken the patterns our protagonist faces. It makes this all the more emotional read. But it is a story that is going to stick to me hard. Both the dread of reality as well as the light and determination within these pages.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Midnight, At the War” is a novel that quietly resists the expectations its title suggests. What sounds like a tense, immersive account of frontline reporting instead unfolds as something far more interior and fragmented. It is a portrait of a life in motion, rather than a story anchored in war. Initially, that mismatch frustrated me, but as the story developed, Laskar’s intention became clear. She is not interested in conflict as spectacle, but the personal cost of living adjacent to it.

The narrator, Rita Das, is an international journalist whose career promises access to history-in-the-making, yet the novel deliberately shifts focus away from the battlefield. War exists, but as a distant hum rather than a central force. Instead, the accumulating pressures of her personal life capture Rita’s attention. Workplace misogyny, an unplanned pregnancy, the slow devastation of her mother’s cancer, a grieving father, and the emotional wreckage of infidelity on multiple fronts take center stage. Add to those tensions the instability of constant travel, the casual racism all minorities face, and the disorientation of living out of a suitcase, and the novel becomes less about reporting the world and more about surviving it.

Laskar’s choice is both her book’s strength and its limitation. On one hand, Rita emerges as a convincing and often compelling figure. Her voice carries the exhaustion, cynicism, and resilience one might expect from someone navigating both a demanding profession and a deeply unsettled personal life. Moreover, the novel’s episodic structure effectively mirrors the lived experience of journalists. The dropping into and out of stories as they arise, often without closure, feels quite authentic. Life, in this sense, is not a clean narrative but a series of unfinished moments, and Laskar captures that well.

On the other hand, the novel’s diffuse focus comes at a cost. The setting never fully coheres. Locations blur together, and the absence of a vividly realized physical environment makes it difficult for the reader to feel grounded. This is especially noticeable in the treatment of war itself, which never becomes tangible or immediate. For a novel that invokes war so prominently in its title, its emotional and sensory distance from actual conflict is striking. With that said, the appearance of “the war” in Laskar’s title seems obscure. Does it suggest a moment of darkness or reckoning in Rita’s life as opposed to a literal reference to war? It is noteworthy that it is never called just “war” in the text, but always “the war.” This suggests more of an internal struggle involving Rita’s identity, responsibilities, and losses than the actual conflict occurring around her. The result is a sense of narrative imbalance: the personal overwhelms the political, but without fully replacing it with something equally structured.

One area where the novel does resonate strongly is in its depiction of post-9/11 travel. The heightened scrutiny, logistical frustrations, and underlying tension of moving across borders during that period are rendered with specificity and credibility, adding texture to an otherwise loosely defined backdrop.

Ultimately this is less a novel about war journalism than it is about the fragmentation of a life lived in transit—emotionally, geographically, and professionally. Readers expecting a tightly plotted, war-centered narrative may find it lacking, but those open to a character-driven exploration of dislocation and personal upheaval will find it satisfying. It’s an uneven but sincere work, anchored by a believable protagonist even when the world around her remains frustratingly indistinct.

[Tini · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unflinching, beautifully rendered story of conflict and connection.

Foreign correspondent Rita Das leaves New York for an assignment in a war-torn region - one she actively seeks out as she grapples with a complicated and deeply personal conflict. As she immerses herself in reporting on the unfolding crisis, she finds herself navigating not only the dangers of war, but also mounting tensions with colleagues, ethical dilemmas in the field, and unresolved grief over her mother's illness and death.

In Midnight, at the War, Devi S. Laskar delivers a quietly powerful novel that examines not only the realities of modern conflict, but also the deeply personal battles that unfold alongside it. As the daughter of a print journalist, this book felt like a revelation, and made me feel closer to my dad, who passed away a few years ago - in fact, I started this book on the anniversary of his death.

Rita is a fiercely independent, often stubborn protagonist, but also an undeniably compelling one. She is admirable in her work - brave, relentless, and deeply committed to telling the stories that matter - but also profoundly human in her personal struggles. Watching her move through both professional and emotional conflict, often at odds with herself, gives the novel a quiet but persistent tension that carries through every page.

Told entirely from Rita's point of view, the novel is beautifully written and deeply evocative. It explores grief, guilt, and the ways we both connect with and fail one another, even in moments of shared humanity. There's a particular emphasis on the emotional toll of bearing witness - to violence, to loss, to the lives of others - and how that experience reshapes the person doing the witnessing.

One of the novel's most striking choices is its intentional lack of specificity. The war at its center is never explicitly named, and its location is deliberately left unrevealed. Rather than distancing the reader, this choice makes the story feel more universal, allowing it to stand in for countless conflicts and reinforcing its focus on the human cost of war rather than its geopolitical details.

The audiobook, narrated by Sneha Mathan, is a perfect match for the material. Her performance captures Rita's fierceness, vulnerability, and emotional complexity with remarkable nuance, making the listening experience feel immersive and deeply personal, particularly as Rita navigates both the external dangers of war and her internal conflicts.

Despite the title-giving conflict, Midnight, at the War is not a loud or dramatic novel, but it is a deeply affecting one. Thoughtful, precise, and emotionally resonant, it's a story about war, but also about grief, identity, and the difficult, often imperfect ways we try to make sense of our lives. Fierce, intimate, and deeply human.

Many thanks to HarperAudio Adult | Mariner Books for providing me with an ALC of the audiobook via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

"Midnight, at the War" is slated to be released on April 14, 2026.

[Abby D · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I believe that this book is informative in regards to the global consequences of 9/11, it felt like there was too much but also not enough going on. I also really struggled to connect with Rita and that only made my reading experience that more confusing.

“Midnight, at the War” follows Rita, a journalist reporting from an undisclosed location, presumably somewhere in Northeastern Africa or Middle East. While she is there, she finds out that she has to get back to the U.S. to see her dying mother, when 9/11 happens, delaying her from getting home. Rita’s relationships with her family, her husband, and her lover then spiral as she grieves for her mother and her friends. When she finds out she’s pregnant, she goes back to her reporting job, trying to run away from her problems. The book follows her journey of dealing with grief and the sociopolitical climate after 9/11.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mariner Books for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest view.
I think in some ways the blurb is a bit misleading about the premise of the book. The first half is all just the set up for what the book says it’s actually about and it made for a very boring first half because it just felt like a bunch of infodumping all at once. The second half was the complete opposite where everything just gets thrown at the wall and nothing is really fully dealt with. Between 9/11, the loss of her mother, the husband/lover problem, and the pregnancy, it felt like everything happened all at once when it was actually all spaced out by a couple years, all because Rita never actually deals with anything. And while the blurb says that Rita has to choose how she wants to live her life, we never actually see that decision come to fruition; the book is just over. So not only do we as the reader never get a complete conclusion, we also never see her deal with any of her problems and instead she goes back to how she was before everything, except now she has a kid. The conclusion also just felt like Laskar was trying to somehow tie everything up with one single chapter when she opened up like three different conflicts that are not that easy to simply say “the end” to.

This book just felt so confusing to read and I liked what it had to say about the violence against south asian/middle eastern people after 9/11, but beyond that, it just felt like it was doing way too much and because of that, it didn’t really deliver on any of it.

[Meg Napier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Midnight, at the War is dedicated to Christiane Amanpour and Sylvia Poggioli, both of whom I admire. I don't know many specific details about Ms. Poggioli, but I've followed Ms. Amanpour's career for years and been somewhat curious about her personal life, especially since she and I were pregnant at the same time: I with my third, and she with her first and only (I believe). In all honesty, however, when I reached the end of Midnight, at the War, I still wasn't sure why the author had written it, or more specifically, what she had hoped to give to readers through a fictitious format. I was left shrugging my shoulders. Points effectively made throughout the narrative: professional women are still treated as second-class employees. Personal relationships are frequently damaged in pursuit of professional goals. American foreign policy is irrational, but so are international relations as a whole. People everywhere make odd, sometimes incomprehensible decisions based on personal relationships. Being pregnant while trying to maintain a "normal" life is challenging. People do stupid things they later regret. I've now listed several themes repeated throughout the book, but I fail to understand how/why they might be understood to comprise a good novel. Rita is a thoughtful, intelligent, and ambitious protagonist, whose background growing up in middle America as a mixed-race child made for fleeting reflection, but she failed to resonate deeply with me as a character. Perhaps the author would have been better served by writing a direct memoir. Readers (or at least this one!) expect different things from fiction and non-fiction. I will not be sharing this review beyond Goodreads because I cannot wholeheartedly recommend it. I am grateful to NetGalley for an early copy of this audiobook.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you @marinerbooks @harpercollins #epictastemakers for the free copy 💖.

🗓️Out this week!

This book feels especially relevant right now because it shows how war is both something very public and, at the same time, deeply personal. What Rita, the main character and a foreign correspondent, goes through is still happening in the world today.

Her experience reporting in a war zone really reflects what journalists are dealing with now. The danger, the pressure, and the emotional toll are all very real and ongoing. Her personal life truth is messy, but finds a way through the chaos because you just don’t stop your life in the midst of war, you have to somehow keep going.

Though Rita was not always the most likable character to me, she feels real. You can understand her because of everything she is going through. She is flawed, dealing with past trauma, grieving her mother, and trying to keep it together at work while both the world around her, and personal life feel uncertain. While the story touches on how complex and messy war is, the real focus here stays on Rita and what she is going through internally.

Overall, the story felt emotional and realistic to me. At times, it did jump around quite a bit, which made it a little harder for me to stay fully engaged, but the book still gets a message across: war is not just something happening far away. It also deeply affects the people who are there to report on it, and their personal affairs don’t just stop and wait until it’s more convenient—they shift and adapt and transform among the chaos.

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Read if you like:
🕛Historical fiction
🕛Post 9/11 era
🕛Government reporting
🕛Tales of self discovery
🕛Domestic drama/messy relationships
🕛Character driven stories

⚠️CW: Terminal illness, death of a parent, grief, war, violence, misogyny, racism, gun violence, trauma, pregnancy, infidelity.

[A Dreaming Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley, Mariner Books (eARC) and HarperAudio Adult (ALC) for providing me with advanced copies.

This was a very interesting book and the author's experience as a journalist and reporter really shows. I personally think that the author tried to cover as many themes as possible. While I understand the relation between what Rita is feeling with regards to her work and personal life, I feel like it would have been better to focus on one or the other. Choosing between either the reporting part and her interactions with locals from the war-torn nation and a humanized depiction of them or more focused on her family life. I do prefer the former though. I really liked her interactions with Rafiq and Zahra. Since the exact location was not mentioned many times, I found it difficult to visualize the exact place. But it was a very strong move by the author where the reader can imagine many different places in that situation and it still makes sense. I also really liked the way she goes back to India multiple times in search of her roots. I found that and a lot of the Indian descriptions relatable. The writing style bordered between fiction and a journalism piece; Some events felt like reported facts without significant emotion as opposed to typical fictional writing. That being said, I think it does discuss a lot of important messages, sometimes cursory and other times deep. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a book about journalism in war-torn countries.

The audiobook was done really well. I appreciate that an Indian origin narrator was chosen for this book. The journalistic reporting feel was also incorporated into the audiobook along with all the emotions Rita was feeling due to the turmoil in her personal life.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

𝑴𝑰𝑫𝑵𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻, 𝑨𝑻 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑾𝑨𝑹 𝒃𝒚 𝑫𝒆𝒗𝒊 𝑺 𝑳𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒂𝒓 feels like a prescient read, graciously #gifted to me by @marinerbooks & @harpercollins #HarperAudioAdult through @netgalley and coming April 14th.

Narrated by Sneha Mathan, this story pays homage to the bravery of journalists, and specifically the sacrifices made by the women in the field. This story made the women I see and from whom I read feel deeply human.

I was taken away with the fierceness of Rita Das, a foreign correspondent fighting for her stories from the 1990's and beyond. Rita balances pressures from all sides while trying to stay afloat with her personal life and what it is she really wants. Her aloof stance with relational intimacy is confronted when she learns of her pregnancy, confusing it all.

This novel made me challenge my notions of strong women. It made me wonder who supports and cares for them. Are they allowed to be human with needs and soft edges? What must they give up to achieve these dreams? What do we gain when they succeed?

I didn't love Rita at first. She was a woman pulled in many directions, many of her own choosing. As I got to know her and see how her family and history made her who she was, I understood more. A lesson indeed.

The audio was a fantastic addition to the physical book, with accents of various people delivered with style. It made this worldwide story feel extra authentically immersive. A great option for audiophiles!

I ended up really enjoying this novel. It was a powerful portrayal of love, grief, trauma, ambition, and home.
4.25 Stars

[Paul Wagenbreth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Equal parts domestic drama and foreign adventure, Devi Laskar’s “Midnight, at the War” features as its protagonist a female journalist whose biracial ancestry includes a Wisconsinite father and a Bengali mother whose identification with her homeland is still strong enough after an extended time in the States that she has the family visiting India, where they witness an event so horrific that it leaves a psychic wound on Rita long after the family has returned stateside.
Not the end of Rita’s involvement with India, though, the childhood trauma, with how as an adult she is assigned there as a reporter, and from where she is reposted at the time of 9/11 to Egypt, which will bring its own trauma for her, including a couple of her journalist friends being snatched from an airplane, an apparent kidnapping of a woman and her two nieces in the middle of the day and her fear that an old college friend has been killed in the Towers.
Trauma enough, those alone, though intensified on the domestic front by her father pressing her to return stateside for her dying mother, and a complicated love life, including both a lover and a husband.
All of which makes for a lot to take in, especially with the foreign unfamiliarity. Still, an absorbing read, Laskar’s novel, especially for anyone like me who has logged time on newspapers.

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful story about a journalist in the middle east in 2001 who has thrown herself into her work, while actively avoiding her own personal struggles. When the attacks of 9/11 happen, both her work and her own life are thrown into chaos, and she has to manage both, and make decisions she doesn't want to. As someone who vividly remembers where she was the morning of 9/11, this was a fascinating story the showed just how much I (we all) still have to learn about that time in history. The author does a fantastic job of bringing the history and personal together through Rita's story. Not that the content is particularly enjoyable, I do wish the story didn't feel quite so timely, as the state of our current world affairs makes reading this less far more uncomfortable than it should, and like a continuing warning. Fans of historical fiction with strong personal elements/connections should definitely pick this one up.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Mariner books for the eARC of Devi S Laskar's novel, Midnight, at the War.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

ALC Review

This book is hard to put a star rating on because the content seems like an important story and is based on real people, but isn't as exciting as I had hoped.

The narrator fit the tone of the character and conveyed the emotion/tone to tell this story.

The story takes place in the early 2000's and follows Rita as she establishes herself as a journalist. Through this story we see how she deals with fear after 9/11, relive her childhood experiences in India and how she sacrifices her relationships to chase a story.

This story isn't or everyone. The story felt more like someone's memoir and there wasn't much plot and parts of it felt dry. Nothing exciting happens as we see Rita just flies around chasing a story. I thought 9/11 may have played a bigger part in the overall story, but the story includes snippets of her life after 9/11. The friends lost, the racism she faces.

Overall I did enjoy the story and thought it was interesting.

Thank you HarperAudio Adult and NetGalley for the ALC.

[Andi_loves_2_read · Rating 4 out of 5]

Midnight, at the War takes us on a journey through the heart and mind of our narrator, Rita, as she faces personal losses and dangerous career aspirations. Rita is a journalist, more specifically a war correspondent who spends much of her time reporting from an unnamed country in the Middle East. Her determination to seek out and report on the truth developed after witnessing a horrific event while visiting her mother’s birth nation of India.
I enjoyed the journalism aspects of this book and also getting to know Rita as a daughter, sister, friend, and romantic partner. I was both entertained and informed by reading this book. I recommend Midnight, at the War to literary fiction readers who enjoy a touch of thriller and a deep look into the human condition.
Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Justyna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the premise of Midnight, at the War and Rita’s drive to chase meaningful stories. Her passion is compelling, but I often felt the narrative stayed on the surface. The book hints that she’s running from something, yet we never truly learn what—or how it shapes her. Her relationships, both personal and romantic, feel distant, making it hard to connect with her beyond her work.
The back‑and‑forth between her journalism and personal life felt unfocused, and while Rita seeks out untold stories, the reporting threads rarely lead to a clear impact or emotional payoff. She pursues a lead, something happens, and then we move on.
There’s a strong spark at the center of this novel, but I found myself wishing it dug deeper into Rita’s inner world and the consequences of the stories she chases.

Thank you Mariner Books and NetGalley for the arc.

[Stephanie Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75
Rita is a journalist in a war torn Middle East country. She is pregnant and her boss wants her to return to New York but she is chasing the story of her life and
doesn’t want to return.

I enjoyed his but it wasn’t necessarily what I was expecting based on the summary. I was expecting it to
Focus on the news stories and her life as a reporter but a large portion of it was discussing her personal life against the backdrop of 9/11 and the aftermath. I honestly enjoyed the personal life narrative more than the journalism. Another issue I had was that it was
told in non linear timeline that jumps
Around and that isn’t my favorite. But that’s my personal preference and I think a lot of people will find this book enjoyable. The narrator did a fantastic job on the audio.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me this audiobook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Heather Fineisen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A woman as journalist, daughter, sister, friend, colleague and wife is the center of this story inspired by strong female journalists. Specifically, in war torn countries reporting at risk to themselves and those who assist them from translators to drivers to shop keepers. Multi layered, Rita is drawn to the war and reporting the stories that depict the human side of suffering. An enthralling read that grapples with the personal existence of someone with such a dangerous calling. 9/11 influences the story line. The ending seemed a bit abrupt and unlikely but overall a character driven great read. My first by this author which just leaves me more to discover.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

[Lisa Roppel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this book was very engaging to me, as someone who very much watched the news around 9/11 and beyond. The author provided many insights into the world of a war correspondent and how life must have been. The narrator's voice fit the narrative but there was something missing with the delivery. I felt a disconnect between her voice and the story but I am not sure that I can put my finger on it.

Thank you Net Galley, Devi S. Laskar and Harper Audio for the opportunity to preview this audiobook. The opinions shared are my own.
Happy Pub day!

[Jill Dobbe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laskar writes a fictional tale about Rita, an Indian-American female journalist, who travels overseas to war-torn countries, writing about the culture and the people.

I enjoy reading nonfiction books about female reporters who travel to war-torn countries. Despite being fiction, I was engrossed in the story; however, this engrossment also meant that a great deal was left out, and I wanted more about her adventures overseas. The book was interspersed with family issues, the loss of her mother, and reporter friends who died. Laskar even hinted at the loss of a well-known American journalist who lost his life.

Midnight is an engrossing read.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for this ARC.

[Mila · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating story with well-developed characters. I liked that they were flawed characters which made them seem real, but very few were likable. I feel like I learned a lot from this book as I was 17 during 9/11 and I enjoyed the different view of that time period. I’d recommend this book, and I’d read more from this author. I received it from a Goodreads giveaway.

[Sydney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book had a lot of promise, but it didn't work for me. The narrator stays so emotionally distant from the reader that it's hard to care about her or what she's going through. She also doesn't seem to have any relationship that she enjoys.

[Nicole Overmoyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to Mariner Books, NetGalley, and the author for the chance to read an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest, original review.

Unfortunately this book was not for me, though I did finish it. I know it will find a home in the hearts of other readers.

[Ronnica Fatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a powerful story packed in a deceptively short book. I appreciate the single POV surrounded by a cast of very human characters. This book brings humanity to war-torn areas and to the reporters who are trying to tell us what’s really going on. Thank you Mariner books for a review copy.