Midnight Sun: A Novel

by Elwood Reid

Jack, the gritty narrator of this dark, gripping novel by Elwood Reid, is a journeyman carpenter in his late twenties whose travels have led him to Alaska. When his pink slip arrives at the end of summer, he allows himself to be talked into an unusual job. Along with his best friend, Burke, Jack accepts ten thousand dollars from a dying Fairbanks man to travel into the northern wilderness and rescue his daughter from a cult.

It doesn’t take long before their trip begins to go awry, and things only get worse once they reach the cult’s camp, where they are received with a hostility that quickly turns violent. Jack soon realizes that Burke knows more than he lets on about their mission and he finds himself on his own, desperately seeking a way out of the camp. Taut, riveting, and complex, Midnight Sun is an arctic Deliverance , a literary thriller set deep in beautiful but dark and indifferent Alaskan woods.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, American

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 2000

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK folks I have been out of circulation for a bit and trying to get back into it. I will not go into all of the personal details but I have had some difficulties in even getting to enjoy my reading time. This book was really going places and I felt it was an interesting story of two young men on some sort of rescue mission into the back woods of Alaska. At the end of this book I really felt the author crapped out. The story really moves along well until that end point where this reader was just kind of left slack jawed. Well I am moving on and hoping to recover a bit more so I can do some more fun book reviews!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was definitely more of a man’s book as it was extremely gritty and dark and violent and in it's language. Still, I enjoyed it for the most part. Jack is a carpenter working up in Alaska and getting ready to head south for the winter when his buddy talks him into helping a man get his daughter back who has seemingly joined a cult in the wilderness quite a bit north for nice sum of money. Naturally, things do not go as planned and Jack also starts to realize there is more to the story with regard to both the cult and his buddy that got him there. He eventually finds himself trapped in the camp as it all starts to unfold and fall apart. The story was interesting and it was a good read, but only if you’re in the mood for something pretty dark and rough.

[Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Narrator Jack and his buddy Burke fish on weekends, and work as carpenters during the day putting up cheap housing developments in Fairbanks. When Burke meets an older man, Duke, whose daughter Penny has joined a cult deep in the wilderness and never came back, our protagonists are dispatched to go save her. They are woefully unprepared, both for the voyage and for what they encounter at journey’s end.

The author skillfully builds up the mystery surrounding the leader of the commune, Nunn, and the strange grip he seems to hold on the various occupants of the camp who have escaped from civilization for various reasons. But once Jack and Burke take off up the river to the camp to “rescue” Penny, the adventure really begins and Reid hits his stride.

A very unique and interesting read that I couldn’t put down!

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The economic boom of the oil rush brought Burke and Jack to Fairbanks Alaska. Ready to head home having grown sick of his construction job, Jack is conned into one last job by his friend Burke. The two of them will head into the Alaskan wilderness to bring back Penny at the wish of her dying father.

Coming on the heals of The Blithedale Romance, I can't help but compare Midnight Sun to Hawthorne's tale of communal living gone wrong. The cult commune that Jack and Burke find makes Blithedale look like utopia. I see a Blithedale connection in the way Jack narrates his tale of finding Penny an his time living with her until the ultimate downfall of the commune (a common theme in books like this). He sums up his time after Penny in a way reminiscent of Cloverdale's parting thoughts on Priscilla: "It didn't matter because she'd rescued me and somehow I was going to have to live with the mystery." (Midnight Sun page 270). Cloverdale's confession ends the tragic romance with "...myself ... was in love ... with ... Priscilla." (Blithedale Romance page 445).

Here though is where Jack and Miles differ as narrators: Jack never admits his feelings or emotions to himself or to his audience. He hints throughout at a connection beyond the $10,000 bounty for Penny but the closest he comes to admitting it is in that closing paragraph. Miles Cloverdale does finally come clean at the end of The Blithedale Romance.

For the most part I enjoyed Elwood Reid's style of writing and his descriptions of the Alaskan frontier. His characterization falls a little flat and there were times when Jack's narrative seems to get suck on the mundane details where I found myself either skimming or skipping a few pages. Nonetheless, I do recommend Midnight Sun.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was in the middle of reading another book, when I received a blurb online about this book, and the sample pulled me in. The author has an unusual, gutsy narrative style. Think "Deliverance" meets the Jim Jones cult. I devoured it until halfway through, when major holes started appearing. The 2 main characters were depicted as savvy outdoorsmen, so hard to believe they would make the blunders that they did. But I kept going because it was a good thriller for the most part. Then I figured out the folly of the trip itself, before the narrator did. How could he not have known was being tricked? Then came the ending, which had a long buildup and made me think it would be nothing short of apocalyptic. But it was. It was one of those endings which seems tacked on, as if the author was done with it and wanted to go to bed.

[AD LAND · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this book was five stars, well written and tight. This was the world the author knew. Things began going downhill when they got to the cult camp and the author started losing his way. I understand the need for ambiguity as Jack tried to figure out what, if anything, was going on. But it just didn't hold together for me. As the book stumbled wildly to its conclusion, I had this vision of the author frantically wondering what to do next: I'll send them down a path here, maybe hide here, have another character pop up here, etc.

One star for the ending.

[Hillary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually couldn't get through the end of this book. I am not one to quit a book, because I always believe there is potential for it to end really well. However, I was trying to get through this book since August and on page 180, when still nothing much had happened and it felt like it was still being set up, I gave it up. I just couldn't do it. I really did not enjoy the writing and I found the plot boring. Maybe one day I will try it again.

[Susan Levin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I could remember who recommended this book to me as this is a terrific discussion book. I have now given it to a friend so perhaps I will "home grow" my own discussion partner!

The writing is good, but I wanted more. The end felt a bit rushed.

[Wanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book with Alaska as the setting. I seem to have a theme going. "Midnight Sun" kept me fully engaged, especially towards the end. There are a few surprising turns that kept the book interesting.

Certainly, I will try to read more of Elwood Reid.

[Shrinivasaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

made me want to go to Alaska

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

nice easy holiday read (even if cult's & bears aren't exactly Xmas reading)

[Saundra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good mystery and adventure story set in Alaska. The characters were a bit strange to me at first but the pacing was very quick.

[Patti · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite book

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating journey into the strange.