The Midnight Club [Mass Market Paperback]

James Patterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1999

A stunningly brilliant psychopathic killer who has skillfully eluded the police from London to Paris to New York. A beautiful woman journalist suddenly in grave danger. An unorthodox New York detective whose motive for stopping the killer couldn't be more personal or emotional.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Edgar-winner Patterson ( The Jericho Commandment )he is also chairman of J. Walter Thompson USAalmost captures the slick, conspiracy-theory giddiness of pre- Prizzi Richard Condon. While leading a raid against top drug-dealer Alexandre ("the Grave Dancer") St.-Germain, New York police Lieutenant John ("Stef") Stefanovitch is caught in a devastating ambush and crippled. French-born St.-Germain, enforcing and enjoying his harsh, "street law" terror, kills Stef's wife. Two years later St.-Germain is gunned down in a posh Manhattan brothel. Hidden videotapes catch St.-Germain asking, "Is it the Midnight Club?" Wheelchair-bound Stef, with true-crime bestselling writer Sarah McGinniss, starts to uncover an international crime cartel making billions a year, and a secret NYPD execution squad. Plenty of gore, many plot twistssome quite murkyand a little sex will keep readers turning pages up to the melodramatic, rather unlikely ending. 50,000 first printing; $50,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The charming, urbane, but megalomaniacal Alexandre St. Germain wanted nothing less than control of international organized crime. A sadistic psychotic as well, he shot and crippled New York policeman John Stefanovitch and then killed Stef's beloved wife. A few years later, during a purge of other New York crime lords, St. Germain is brutally murdered--or is he? Stef, confined to a wheelchair, joins with a rogue cop, whose brother was tortured and killed by St. Germain, and a beautiful journalist, with whom Stef falls in love, to unravel a complicated conspiracy. Written before Patterson's popular Alex Cross novels, The Midnight Club lacks the suspense of those tales, building up slowly to a rather tame resolution. Like the Cross books, however, it includes many unpleasant elements, including a kidnapped child. Michael Kramer, as always, does a splendid job of reading, but even he cannot make this story gripping. Not recommended.
-Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Vision (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446606383
• ISBN-13: 978-0446606387
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #482,704 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #60 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( P ) > Patterson, James

More About the Author

From my publisher:

James Patterson...


* James Patterson holds the New York Times bestsellers list record with 63 New York Times bestselling titles.

* JP has sold more than 220 million books worldwide. And considering pass-along and libraries, it's safe to say many more people than that have read a Patterson!

* In 2010, JP was named by kids everywhere the Children's Book Councils' Children's Choice Book Awards "Author of the Year" in 2010. More than 15,000 kid and teen readers voted for JP in a category he shared with Suzanne Collins, Carl Hiaasen, Jeff Kinney, and Rick Riordan. His Witch and Wizard series saw the biggest launch of a series for young readers ever, surpassing sales of first installments of Twilight, Diary of A Wimpy Kid, and Percy Jackson & The Olympians.

* JP has grossed over 3 billion dollars in worldwide sales. This is larger than the worldwide theatrical gross of Avatar, the highest grossing film of all time.

* JP has had 43 New York Times hardcover #1 bestselling novels, also a publishing industry record.

* Last year, JP has sold more books than John Grisham, Dan Brown, Tom Clancy, and Stephen King combined (source: Nielsen BookScan).

* JP properties are gaining wide interest amongst film and TV producers. JP's award-winning series for young readers, Maximum Ride, is currently with Avi Arad (Spiderman, Iron Man) and Universal Pictures. Lloyd Levin (Green Zone, Watchmen) is attached to produce a feature film adaptation of JP's newest young readers series, Witch and Wizard, and James Patterson Entertainment is set to produce the next Alex Cross film, I, Alex Cross which will feature Idris Elba (The Wire, The Losers) as Alex Cross. And, a television adaptation of JP's 2007 love story Sundays At Tiffanys aired in December 2010 starring Alyssa Milano and Eric Winter.

* JP's books are licensed in 43 countries worldwide, and are in print and actively sold in 100 countries.

* According to a 2010 Bowker Sisters in Crime Survey, JP is the favorite mystery writer amongst readers under 50...AND over 50! Survey respondents comprised American men, women and teens who bought at least one mystery fiction title in 2009 and/or 2010.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth the time it takes to read it, September 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Midnight Club (Mass Market Paperback)

I don't think James Patterson will ever write as good as he does when he writes about Alex Cross. However, this is the first NON Alex Cross book of Patterson's that I have been able to finish. The story in this book was a good one, but it got a little confusing with so many different members of the Club. I felt the author should have focused more on the one main villain in the Midnight Club rather than trying to draw in more of them and show their different personalities. This was a fairly decent read, but I felt that putting the lead character in a wheelchair was a forced flaw. Most of Patterson's lead characters are really not flawed at all, but this one was way too obvious. I felt that the love story was a bit predictable and it seemed forced to me. The contempt these two characters felt for each other at the beginning was a waste of time - it was obvious how that would turn out. All in all, not bad for not having Alex Cross.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Audio Version Keeps the Treadmill Running, February 15, 2006

By 

Dindy Robinson (Arlington, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Midnight Club (Audio Cassette)

I don't usually care for James Patterson's non-Alex Cross books, so I was a little wary of this, one of his earlier books. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the story, which kept me on the edge of the treadmill, so to speak. The main character, John Stefanovitch (Stef), is a good, strong, believable character who rebounds from a brutal attack that leaves him in a wheelchair to take down St. Germain (the Grave Dancer) who organized the ambush in which Stef was injured and who killed Stef's wife.

We catch up with Stef two years after the ambush. He has returned to his job on the NYPD and is still determined to bring the Grave Dancer down and to fight against organized crime. Stef is smart and tough and in no way a victim. Sarah, a true-crime writer who is writing a book about the Midnight Club, a group of organized crime leaders, is also a good, strong character and is more than a match for Stef. The relationship that develops between them is realistic and unforced.

However, it is the young police officer, Isaiah Parker, who steals the show. He is a terrific character- young, idealistic, and determined that good should prevail over evil through whatever means necessary. This book raises the interesting issue of how does good fight against evil when all legal methods fail. The way the book answers the question is gratifying.

Full credit must be given to the narrator of the audio version, Robert Forster. He uses his voice to give life to the various characters, with the different people easily recognizable by the voices used.

If I have a problem with the book, it is the question of why it did not occur to any of these people that Sarah and her son would be an obvious target for the crime lords and take steps to protect them. But that's a minor quibble and in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the book.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Slow Book, June 2, 2000

By 

Brian K. Walley (Clayton, Delaware) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Midnight Club (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my second non Alex Cross book that I've read and I'm slowly beginning to feel as if I shouldn't waste anymore time on a book that doesn't feature this character. With that said, I found this book VERY slow moving. The plot moved along very slowly but I kept reading it hoping that it would improve. I must say that I absolutely LOVED the ending which at least made me want to give it 3 stars but I'm sure that lots of people will be so bored that they won't stick around that long!