Private Midnight [Hardcover]

Kris Saknussemm (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2009

By the author of Zanesville, a seductive story of grit, gunplay, vampirism, and a bit of bondage.

Detective Birch Ritter is a man on the edge-of himself. His past is filled with secrets, shadows, guilt, and ghosts. Then a dubious police buddy he hasn't seen in a year introduces him to a mysterious woman who says her business is shadows. What she knows about what lies between the darkness and the light inside men is more than Ritter may want to find out, and much more than he can resist learning. It's said that to try to forget is to try to conceal, and concealing evidence is a crime. But maybe revelation is another kind of crime-against nature.

Kris Saknussemm, the widely acclaimed author of the sci-fi smash Zanesville, now delves into another genre, and another world-a world where even the sunlight is shadowy and where deviancy is the norm. Private Midnight is a journey into the seedy, sexy, underbelly of life-crime noir for a new generation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. James Ellroy meets David Lynch in this addictive mix of noir and supernatural horror from Saknussemm (Zanesville). Det. Birch Ritter investigates the suspected suicide of California real estate magnate Deems Whitney, who apparently doused his Mercedes with gasoline and died in the resultant explosion a day after changing his will to benefit his trophy wife and disinherit his grown children. Before the cop can interview Whitney's widow, Ritter receives a cryptic message from his ex-partner that steers him to the enigmatic Genevieve Wyvern. Wyvern, who disconcerts Ritter with how well she knows his past, plunges him into a surreal world of bondage, domination and mind games. Despite being humiliated by Wyvern, Ritter finds himself unable to stay away from her lair. An unexpected and bizarre twist well into the novel jolts the fairly standard plot off the rails, but the powerful narrative voice will compel most readers to follow. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Life is piling up for Det. Birch Ritter. He's a big man loaded down with ugly cases; guilty secrets; a violent, ethically dubious approach to police work; fresh divorce papers; and a personal demon he calls El Miedo. A crooked colleague sends Ritter to Genevieve, a woman who is equal parts psychiatrist, seer, and dominatrix. So begins Ritter's dark spiral downward, a series of strange changes that cannot be explained by the laws of the world as he knows it. Saknussemm (Zanesville) creates an original blend of noir procedural, horror, and dark eroticism but sometimes loses control of his own linguistic dexterity. The result is intriguing but also muddled and awkwardly paced. A great rush of late developments suggests that either a sequel is forthcoming or that the book's most captivating questions will remain partly unanswered. What is the extent of Genevieve's power? What is the truth about Ritter's past? What will become of him? Saknussemm is a writer to watch, but this book is recommended only for large libraries where complex genre-bending works have found readership.—Neil Hollands, Williamsburg Regional Lib., VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover; First Edition edition (March 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590201760
• ISBN-13: 978-1590201763
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,199,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We Are All Monsters, March 23, 2009

By 

Lyric Powers (NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Private Midnight (Hardcover)

Told in the voice of the crime noir classics, with intense erotica and unsettling psychological horror in abundance, Detective Birch Ritter's story is one I can guarantee you've never heard. Over the course of his unhappy and unfaithful life, he has seen much of the surface darkness of humanity--the crimes we commit against each other, the lies we sell--but with the introduction to what he at first assumes to be a high class hooker, he is exposed to an inner darkness that even he could never have imagined. A darkness that both seduces and repels, and in the end--reveals and transforms.

There is so much to see in this book, so much to hear and feel, and so much to learn. It is an assault on the senses, a stinging whip and a tickling feather, and a lesson in division that vividly illustrates the tenuous nature of borders. Good or evil, torment or salvation, pleasure or pain, fear or hope, submission or dominance...male or female--where do the distinctions lie?

Others may say Private Midnight is not for the squeamish, but I say it is exactly what the squeamish need--to shake 'em up and wake 'em up.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars David Lynch Movie Waiting to be Made, March 6, 2009

By 

J. Bube (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Private Midnight (Hardcover)

This is a startling and disturbing psychological thriller with heady doses of both the erotic and the surreal. Saknussemms' first person is totally believable and compelling. The atmosphere is intense and so fully realized that you feel you have stepped into this strange dream and can't get out. Even as the mysteries unfold, a deeper darkness sets in. Crime readers will enjoy this as a genre work, but the real mysteries are of the psyche. This is a book of revelation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gender Bending Tour de Force, March 17, 2009

By 

J. Smith (SF) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Private Midnight (Hardcover)

Under the cloak of a mystical crime story,Saknussemm offers up a disturbing and provocative shadow play about
illicit erotic desire and the battle of the sexes--more importantly--the nature of power inside any relationship.
Sure, there are mysteries, switchbacks and more than a few misdeeds in Private Midnight to keep
crime fiction and horror fans perversely happy. But, for me, the real
story hinges on a contest of wills and the irrepressible mental rigor, more complex
than simple competition, always at play between the sexes. Saknussemm winningly
frames his narrative within several larger questions of what distinguishes men
from women: Is it fashion armor and a few hormones--or something purely psychic and
qunitessential? I'd be very surprised if this book doesn't spark a lot of discussion around
the water cooler, in bedrooms and maybe even out back of the barn, for those
readers embarked on their own inner search for fulfillment [and connection]
will find much to admire in the novel. WARNING: Prone to prickle flesh?
Some scenes are guaranteed to raise hairs. Ultimately, however, some
meaty issues and Saknussemm's tony writing are on offer as age old dramas get
enacted in [dare I say] a fresh way, issues, perhaps, that none of us can ignore.