Midnight Multiplayer

by Paul Christou

One game. $20,000 on the line. No extra lives.

Charlie once dominated the leaderboard. Now he’s on the verge of losing everything that matters most. He’s thousands of dollars in debt, working for a tyrannical boss, and watching his relationship fall apart.

BattleTheatre, a new game Charlie and his friends have been waiting years to play, is finally launching with a tournament for a chance to win twenty thousand dollars—more than enough money to turn everything around.

All he has to do is log in at midnight with the friends he used to play with every night.

But real life doesn’t have a pause button. His boss hands him an impossible weekend assignment, a bookie is demanding to be paid, and his girlfriend is counting on him to be at her singing gig the same night as the tournament.

As midnight approaches and the pressure outside the game builds, Charlie must decide if chasing the win is worth risking his job, his relationship, and his future.

Midnight Multiplayer is a funny, heartfelt novel about friendship and second chances. It feels like logging back in with the friends you grew up gaming with — except this time, it’s not just the game on the line.

Perfect for fans of Ready Player One and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.

343 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 14, 2025

About the author

Paul's journey began on a wood-paneled console hooked up to a 12-inch black-and-white TV. Since then, he’s played thousands of video games in preparation to write the video game novel of his dreams: Midnight Multiplayer.

Originally from Chicago, he now lives in Florida with his wife, but he still remains obsessed with Italian beef, tavern-style pizza cut into squares, and the Chicago Bears.

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a cute idea. Definitely helps if you are or have been a gamer. Especially in the section where they are actually playing the Midnight gaming challenge, as this is a long section of detailed gaming. There are character arcs, and character development. I have a feeling the personal challenges and issues, especially of the male characters, reflect what a lot of young guys are going through at this stage of life. Having to outgrow a bit of self centeredness and decide to grow up or not. The book should speak to a certain demographic.

[Icarus · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hope this was written by AI, but the self insert, general misunderstanding of everything personal or introspective, repetitive game reference from wildly different eras and genre that offer no context to the sentence they're used in, the single dimension understanding of any female characters, and the utter lack of authenticity in familial interactions make me think that I'm wrong. Would give zero stars if I could.

[Louise Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a gamer, you will get an extra level of enjoyment from this book as there are so many terrific references to trigger memories and understanding, I really enjoyed the story itself, too, and found myself really engaged with the main character and his often unusual decisions.

[David Pearson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Insufficient.

Too much name-dropping and not enough in-game action. The characters were more like caricatures of people rather than actual persons.