Miami Midnight

Pete Fernandez Mystery #5

by Alex Segura

THE THRILLING FINAL CHAPTER IN ALEX SEGURA’S ACCLAIMED PETE FERNANDEZ SERIES! A year has passed since Pete Fernandez’s latest, closest brush with death. After months of recovery, the newly sober Pete has managed to rebuild his life, contentedly running a small Miami bookstore and steering clear of the dangers of private eye work. So when an aging Cuban mobster asks Pete to find out who killed his drug-addicted, jazz pianist son and to locate his missing daughter-in-law, Pete balks. Until another victim suggests that the murder of the gangster’s son may be connected to the people that nearly ended Pete’s life, while revealing an unexpected, dangerous truth about the death of the Miami PI's own mother. Pulled back into the darkness and chaos he'd desperately tried to avoid, Pete finds his life derailed once more as he's forced to investigate a murder that should have never gone cold while dodging assassins' bullets and his own demons. Can Pete make peace with his complicated, haunted past to save himself and those he loves? Or will his luck finally run out? From one of the very best crime writers working today, Alex Segura crafts an epic novel of mystery, humanity, and suspense while bringing to a stunning conclusion the acclaimed series that reinvented the private eye novel for a new generation.

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Adult Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Mystery

332 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 13, 2019

About the author

Alex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, which The New York Times called “wittily original” and named an Editor’s Choice. NPR described the novel as “masterful” and The L.A. Times called it “a magnetic read.”

Secret Identity received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, was listed as one of the Best Mysteries of the Year by NPR, Kirkus, Booklist, LitReactor, Gizmodo, BOLO Books, and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, was nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Hardcover, the Lefty and Barry Awards for Best Novel, the Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel, and won the LA Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category.

His upcoming work includes the YA superhero adventure Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow, the follow-up to Secret Identity, Alter Ego, and the sci-fi/espionage thriller, Dark Space (with Rob Hart). Alex is also the author of Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall, the Anthony Award-nominated Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery series, and a number of comic books – including The Mysterious Micro-Face (in partnership with NPR), The Black Ghost, The Archies, The Dusk, The Awakened, Mara Llave – Keeper of Time, Blood Oath, stories featuring Marvel heroes the Avengers, Sunspot, White Tiger, Spider-Man and DC’s Superman, Sinestro, and The Question, to name a few.

His short story, “90 Miles” was included in The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories for 2021 and won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story. Another short story,“Red Zone,” won the 2020 Anthony Award for Best Short Story.

Alex is also the co-creator of the Lethal Lit podcast, named one of the best fiction podcasts of 2018 by The New York Times.

A Miami native, he lives in New York with his wife and children.

Reviews

[Cindy Burnett (Thoughts from a Page) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

MIAMI MIDNIGHT is the final installment in Alex Segura’s fabulous Pete Fernandez series. The book is a wild ride from start to finish, and I loved every second of it. As the book opens, a year has passed since Pete’s last adventure, and he is now running a used bookstore and trying to lay low. A longtime Cuban gangster draws Pete unwillingly into a mystery related to the murder of the gangster’s son and the disappearance of his daughter-in-law placing Pete back in the line of fire. Meanwhile, Pete is dealing with personal issues, including the engagement of his ex to another man and the unraveling of close friend. The story is action-packed, the mystery is clever, and the series wraps up very nicely.

I love this series and am sad to see it end. However, I am excited to see what is next for Alex Segura. If you want a highly entertaining series with a flawed but likeable protagonist, this is the series for you.

For more reviews, check out my Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/thoughtsfro... and my newsletter: https://www.cfapage.net/subscribe.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark, dangerous, and compelling, MIAMI MIDNIGHT by Alex Segura is modern day noir crime fiction at its best.

[Suz Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The space smelled of coffee and dust, a musky, familiar odor that added to Pete’s calm. He was home. Nothing else mattered outside of these doors. Nothing would matter if he didn’t maintain his sobriety. If he didn’t take each step he could to prevent himself from taking a drink.”*

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Pete Fernandez almost died. Now, he’s running a used bookstore, working the Alcoholics Anonymous program, and trying to make the most of his second chance at life. After being forced into taking a case to locate the wife of a mobster’s dead musician son, Pete finds himself on a collision course with his past and on a hired assassin’s hit list.

Pete’s struggle with remaining sober despite his whole world crashing down made this a five star book for me. He’s relatable character. His friends stick by him, because despite his human failings, he’s a good guy. Unfortunately, while he was recovering from his near fatal injury, the woman he loves moved on and is engaged. His life is in constant peril. Secrets from his past are revealed. The world gives him reason after reason to return to the bottle and drink himself into oblivion.

As I read, I highlight passages that move me emotionally or as a writer. When I finish the book, I revisit the highlights to see if there’s a quote I’d like to use in my review. I highlighted the heck out of this book. Choosing the right quote was hard because Segura filled the story to the brim with goodness. Pete’s struggles with alcoholism brought me to tears.

I like reading books in a series out of order to get an idea of the author’s ability to bring the reader up to speed regarding key events without drowning her in backstory. To be able to do that well and to instill a need for her to read the preceding books is a skill. One that is definitely in Segura’s tool box.

The large cast of characters includes several strong women, including Kathy, Pete’s on-again-off-again flame and a woman from his past. Segura hit all my buttons with this story with the struggles with addiction, great female characters, and even kittens. His fantastic descriptions bring the settings to life. I’m super stoked to read the other books in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Polis Books for the opportunity to experience this book in advance of its release.

*Please note that my review is based on uncorrected text.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first time reading this author and this series. Turns out that it is also the last book in the series. Beginning the book, I felt a little lost but caught up quickly that Pete was shot in the last one and is now running a book store. He is also wanting to stay out of the business that almost cost him his life while still being sober. Everything is a work in progress because people know where he is and then want his help.
He wants to say no to an old Cuban gangster who is looking for the person who killed his son and for his missing daughter-in-law. When he finds out that the same person may be behind his own near-death experience, he is slowly being dragged in. then there is a retired police officer who gives him different information into how his mother died which was not what he had been told. Now he has two cases to work on. I actually found this to be a good and entertaining book with action and very good characters, I had just wished that I had come along to this character sooner. A very good story, worth the read. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 4 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did read this novel due to several positive reviews I read here and there on the internet. They all failed to mention that this book was the fifth entry of a series that can be best enjoyed if your enjoyed the previous books. It is actually a closing chapter of a bigger story.

It is set in the Cuban-American society en underworld where the semi-retired private investigator Peter Fernandez is dragged back into the seedy underworld he left in favor of having a bookstore (he scored points there with me). He and his former partner and FBI friend get dragged back into an affair that should have ended some time before but cannot get away from.

While I did enjoy this novel which on occasion felt incomplete due to situations which happened previously in other books and if read would have been a much richer experience reading this book. This book was able written and the story movies at quite a pace but felt incomplete if you had not read the previous installments. That is perhaps the only criticism aimed for me at this book that is felt less stand alone than one would expect. But still a decent thriller nonetheless.

[Barbara Tsipouras · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not as enthusiastic about this novel as other reviewers are. It takes a long time to get into it and after way too many deaths along the way the suspense at the end doesn't feel real.

[Bookreporter.com Mystery & Thriller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can pretty much sum up MIAMI MIDNIGHT by saying that if you were to look up the term “hard-boiled” in the dictionary, you would find the title as the definition. This has been touted as the fifth and final book in the Pete Fernandez series, and Alex Segura, who does nothing by halves, closes out his account of his oft-injured (sometimes self-inflicted, sometimes by friendly fire) and much-maligned private detective with a bang.

My gold standard for novels these days is awarded only to those that consistently surprise in the sense that they leave me unable to predict what will happen next. Segura and MIAMI MIDNIGHT do this from beginning to end. The major surprise is that Pete is back at all following the events of BLACKOUT. But back he is, sober, living quietly and, in his words, out of the game, largely eschewing his PI business in favor of running a used bookstore. He also is dealing with his feelings for Kathy Bentley, his professional partner in his investigation agency with whom he has had a tumultuous and star-crossed personal relationship. The latter seems to be coming to an end, due to Kathy’s engagement to someone else.

Still, things in Pete’s life are on a relatively even keel until two events occur. The first is that Pete is contacted by Osvaldo Valdez, who worked with Pete’s father in the Miami Police Department’s homicide division. Valdez indicates that he has information about Pete’s mother. Pete had always been told by his father that his mother died while giving birth to him, but Valdez indicates that nothing could be further from the truth. However, Valdez is murdered before he can give Pete any information, a set of circumstances that results in Pete digging into his own past to uncover why his father apparently lied to him.

The second event is that Pete reluctantly accepts Don Alvaro Mujica as a client. Mujica is a powerful and influential figure in Miami and is rumored to be at or near the top of the hierarchy in the city’s underworld. Mujica’s son, a troubled but up-and-coming jazz musician, has been murdered recently. Not only does he want the crime solved, he also asks Pete to find his son’s wife. The two had only been married for a short time, and Mujica is determined to locate the woman because he believes that she has in her possession an extremely valuable painting that belongs to him.

Pete begins investigating both the personal and professional cases, and quickly discovers that everyone, friend and foe alike, is lying to him for the best and worst of reasons. He also is reminded, once again, that Miami is one big small town, where the past and present don’t just intersect but also merge. It isn’t long before everyone around Pete --- literally --- is picked off, one by one, in ways both violent and explosive. It seems at times that the book will reach its conclusion without all of the mysteries being solved. Actually, that occurs, though not in the way one might think. You’ll have to read it to find out exactly what happens, but you won’t be sorry.

MIAMI MIDNIGHT is so dark and gritty that the only proper way to read it is with a spotlight and a breathing filter. It’s worth it. If you’re searching for a book with which to spend the closing days of summer, you need to look no further.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

[Grace Koshida · Rating 4 out of 5]

After being almost killed by Vincent Salermo a year ago, Pete Fernandez has returned home to Miami. He is slowly rebuilding his life by running the small bookstore sold to him by his buddy Dave Mendoza. Staying sober is a challenge and Pete's best friend Kathy has moved on, engaged to real estate guy Marco. But then aging Cuban mobster Alvaro Mujica asks Pete to find out who killed his drug-addicted, jazz pianist son Javier and to locate his new missing daughter-in-law Beatriz de Armas. Pete balks at the job offer until another dead body suggests that Javier's death might tie into the people that almost killed Pete. A retired police officer comes to Pete and drops a bombshell about his mother Graciela whom he believed died during childbirth. Instead, Pete learns that Graciela was a drunk who was kicked out of their home by his cop father Pedro. Why did his father lie about Graciela?

The two storylines come together in a dramatic end to this thrilling series.

I received an eARC from Netgalley and Polis Books with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily provided this review.

[Steph Post · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thrilling conclusion to one of the best contemporary P.I. series.

[BLD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lost some important characters in this one. Will be interesting to see where the story goes in the next book.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miami Midnight is the fifth and final book in the Pete Fernandez P.I. series. It’s a wild ride that can be enjoyed by readers new to the series though it will have a particularly strong emotional impact on those familiar with the characters. To avoid spoilers, I’ll just say this is a fitting end for the award nominated series! Recommended for mystery fans.

Thank you Polis Books and NetGalley for the ARC! The opinions in this review are honest and my own. #MiamiMidnight #mystery #noir

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads Kindle Copy Win

He was a private investigator now he runs a used bookstore but his past will eventually catch up with him once again. Things have a way of surfacing in this thriller of a series as he faces old enemies.

It is a continuation of a series of books that will keep you on a roller coaster ride. Once again it will not disappoint the reader.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is exhausting, which I realize is the point -- we go through a ridiculous among of suffering with Pete, to such a degree that it becomes nearly miraculous that he continuous to function (people without his extra challenges would struggle to keep going under his circumstances). The last two books of the series, in particular, are jam-packed with horrible, casual deaths of people who matter to Pete, and Segura does an excellent job of showing us Pete's struggles, and making his near-collapses convincing. This final volume for the first time (to my memory, at least), features characters who aren't straight and/or cis, and it also is far more focused on women than many of the previous installments.

I'd love to read more about Pete and this world, but Segura's writing and characterization has only gotten better as the series has progressed, and I'm looking forward to whatever he gives us next.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Private Investigators and superheroes share a number of traits. They help people find justice outside the law, readers experience their lives on a case by case or arc by arc basis, and their adventures often continue well past the deaths of the creators who dreamed them up. The best superheroes and private detectives though are human. Legendary comic creators like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby proved that when they built the Marvel Universe and prose writer Alex Segura has been demonstrating that for the past several years with a book series starring Miami based, incredibly flawed, but charismatic P.I. Pete Fernandez.

What made the Pete Fernandez series especially interesting was the fact that, unlike most gumshoes, when we met him he wasn't a P.I. yet. Readers got to go on a journey with him as he discovered his true calling and battled personal demons like rage and alcohol addiction. We've been there for his victories both Pyrrhic and triumphant and his soul crushing defeats. Along the way, we've also gotten to know quite a bit about him because the last several Pete novels have taken deep dives into his family and personal history. So it was especially exciting and perhaps a little bittersweet to learn that Segura's latest Pete novel, “Miami Midnight” (Available this August) will be the last one .

I was lucky enough to get a chance to read an ARC of “Miami Midnight” and I'm happy to report that if this is indeed the end for Pete Fernandez and company it's a fitting and grand conclusion to their adventures. Because “Miami Midnight” is a novel that's powerful and exciting, but it's also a story that brings everything full circle. By the end of the novel you see seamless connections to the other Pete books that make you realize that this novel series was both episodic and one grand tale about a family's tragic history. That kind of reader payout is not something you usually get in this type of series fiction, and it made “Miami Midnight” especially rewarding.

So what's the book about, you ask? I'm going to let you discover that on your own. Here's what I will say. The book picks up after the huge conclusion to the previous Pete novel, “Blackout.” So when we me catch up with Segura's protagonist he's very much a changed man. Seeing how those changes impact Pete's life is part of the fun of “Miami Midnight.” Don't worry about a lack of drama though. Pete is still a flawed guy and very much capable of making poor choices.

We also get a chance to catch up with Pete's group of associates like his partner Kathy, ex FBI Agent Harris, and his best friend Dave. They too are dealing with some interesting and difficult things in the aftermath of “Blackout.” Things only get more interesting and exciting as Pete is drawn into two seemingly separate cases.

One of those cases is very personal. And we get some pretty powerful and poignant flashback segments that illustrate just how personal it is. The present day action is just intense because it's filled with revelations that impact major players from Pete's past and sends him on a dangerous trip to a locale that, if you have read the previous books, know it's inevitable he'd have to eventually visit.

When you add that all together it makes for the best and most rewarding Pete novel to date. “Miami Midnight” is Segura's gift to all the readers who've screamed at and rooted for Pete while he's been on this epic journey of self discovery.

[Scott Cumming · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miami Midnight" or as I like to think of it, Pete Fernandez: Endgame is everything I wanted it to be. Much like Pete has grown in confidence across the series, so has Segura as a writer and he's not afraid to let it show as he pulls plot strands from across the series and puts them together to build a fantastic finale.

The novel starts by showing that unlike many fictional PIs that Pete is not invincible and lists his litany of ailments following a near-death encounter. Pete is approached by an ex-cop with details of his Mother's death. A Mother whom Pete believed to have died in childbirth with him. It sends Pete reeling and is compounded with Pete being forced to work for a Miami underworld boss to find his son's killer. Just like that Pete is dragged out of retirement and hurtles towards the conclusion like a bullet.

This is a fast, riveting read with a mystery that plays out great for much of the book until it becomes obvious who the culprit is. There aren't enough players involved for the answer not to stare you in the face. That would be my sole criticism, but the fifth book in a series like this isn't about the mystery, you're coming back for the character and Pete is one hell of a character. It's almost like seeing a child grown up to think of the roguish, reluctant and soused reporter-cum-PI from Silent City and comparing him to the proactive, confident man he has become in this book.

I may miss Pete, but I am all in on what Segura does next. Thanks to Polis Books for the review copy via NetGalley.

[Frank Brethren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had been wanting to check out this series for some time, finally got around to the first book, Silent City, and read all four pretty quick. This one, which is being promoted as the final (?) in the series, does not disappoint. The characters are exceptionally well drawn, the writing is a cut above for the genre, and the Miami setting is like a painting it's so vivid. What's so great about the Fernandez character is that he's not a cartoon hero. He's. not bulletproof, an expert in hand-to-hand combat, but the kind of guy who takes his licks (and then some) but keeps on ticking. I'd recommend this series to anyone who loves a good hardboiled mystery with a human touch.

[MarylineD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alex Segura is a great writer!
I loved Blackout and can say I loved Miami Midnight too.

Well written, captivating, you're into it from the start! You want to keep turning the pages to see what happens next... Good pace, never boring. You don't want to put it down.

Can't wait to read more by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Polis Books for the ARC of this book! This is my honest review. All opinions are my own.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love love love the Pete Fernandez series. Each book is a thrill a minute, keeping me glued from beginning to end. One of my all time favorite characters. This is my favorite, because we finally found out about Pete"s mother and tied up so many of his personal loose ends. Alex Segura is a master storyteller.

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining crime novel. Had not read the author's previous books in this series. Thing is, he spent so much time re-hashing the histories of all the major characters that I don't feel the need to backtrack. However, if he writes a Pete Fernandez #6...

[David Sayre · Rating 5 out of 5]

The latest Pete Fernandez mystery is a fitting tribute to the series. In Pete's usual fashion he doesn't go looking for trouble. But any fan of the series knows that trouble will inevitably arrive at his doorstep. But this Pete is a matured version of Fernandez. A smarter, more experienced PI that has grown tremendously over the course of five novels.
For long time fans of the series, there are some shocks in store. No spoilers here, but I can assure you my jaw dropped when one particular character got involved.
As with all the Pete books, what's at the heart of this title is Alex Segura's ability to infuse the characters and atmosphere with life. Things just jump off the page in Segura's books, be it the wit of his characters or the tension of the journey. He knows how to put his flawed but likable, and ever evolving, character into one dire circumstance after another and keep the reader guessing as they frantically turn another page.
Reportedly this is the last (or at least the last for a while) of the Pete Fernandez Mysteries. While I will miss opening the pages to a new Pete book, Miami Midnight is a fitting cap placed on an exciting series that has been a pleasure to read.

[John McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still recovering from wounds that almost killed him, and with new-found sobriety, Pete Fernandez has begun a new life and career: running a used bookstore in a quiet Miami neighborhood. He claims he’s retired as a P.I., and has moved on with his life. But then an old, retired Cuban crime boss backs Pete into a corner with a request he can’t refuse. Unless Pete agrees to find out who killed the mobster’s drug-addicted, jazz musician son and recover a stolen painting . . . incriminating photographs that could send Pete into prison will be released.

Fernandez refuses at first, until another victim comes forth with new information that suggests a potential link between the mobster’s son’s death and the gangsters who came close to taking the battered Personal Investigator’s life. Suddenly, he finds himself pulled back into the chaos, crime and danger that Fernandez has tried so desperately to avoid. This time he may not live to tell the tale.

Alex Segura is an award-winning talent and a rising star in the crime writing world. Read this epic novel for yourself and find out why.

[MaryKaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not read the other books in this series. Pete Fernandez is a troubled Private Investigator. He is also a recovering alcoholic. He takes on a assignment with the Miami underworld, which leads him to gangs, drug dealers, lost loves, and friends. This ultimately also leads him to finding the truth about his mother abandoning him when he was little. I gave this book a three stars only because I thought there were too many characters, and so much going on that I had to backtrack sometimes, to remember who was who. Also if you know Spanish, you would enjoy this book. I do not, so I found it unnecessary to try and read the sentences.

I received this book free from Goodreads for a honest opinion.

[Ileana Renfroe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miami Midnight is exhilarating and fast paced leaving you wanting more.

In the last final chapter of the series we find it has been a year since Pete Fernandez's brush with death. He is now sober and is happy running a small bookstore in Miami. However, that tranquility does not last long.

Soon he is approached by a Cuban mobster asking for his help in locating a killer. He realizes there may be a connection to the people that nearly ended his life. And so begins a dangerous derailment into darkness.

Truly a wonderful, well written novel with well crafted characters.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love Pete and this series but this book felt frazzled with too many threads tying off at once. My least favorite of the series.
Bringing Emily back, killing off Harras (again); just overdone.
Ironically, I’d love to read Pete and Kathy taking cases that were whodunnits without ties to Pete’s past.
So much grit and determination in the flawed Pete that would lend to further exploration outside the tight confines of his past.

[Judy Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was excited to read this last of the Pete Fernandez series, having read the previous four and gotten to know the characters. It was so good and I'll miss looking forward to seeing what kind of trouble Pete gets into..and out of. This is not my usual reading genre, but so well written, they just draw you in anyway and you can't put them down.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The finale to the Pete Fernadez series. I like that it provides some closure for Pete and a sense that he's found his place in the world. But for some reason, it didn't grab me as much as the others did.

[Tj · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fitting conclusion to a very solid PI series. A bit of wheel-spinning with the plot taking a little longer to develop for Pete when the big reveal was right in front of his face. But I liked the elements from earlier in the series coming into play here

[Travis OGorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad it's over

One of the best series I have ever read. Thanks Mr Segura!! Great ending to the series. Pete is a great character

[Robert Justice]

Crime Writers of Color podcast--Listen to my interview with Alex Segura!

"Pete Fernandez, Star Wars and What's Next?"
https://www.crimewritersofcolor.com/c...

[Bea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going to miss this series. Having lived in S FL it makes me go back. This was nice and twisty which I like. Lots of good characters