Review: The Midnight Palace

I fell in love with this author when I first read Shadow of the Wind a few years ago. This book originally published in 1994 in Spanish has recently been translated into English and released in May 2011. That being said... you can tell that it is one of his earlier works, but it doesn't take away from the story or the writing.

Zafon has an amazing way of writing that is both beautiful and haunting. How can that be? Well, let me explain. The storytelling is beautiful, the prose is beautiful, the story itself is absolutely haunting.

You are immeditely thrown into the story with a chase through the rain, mist, underground tunnels and dark streets of Calcutta in the early 1930's. Twins separated to keep them safe from a mysterious stranger who is determined to destroy them. Add to it a group of teens who have a secret society that the main goal is to always help each other no matter what, mysterious houses, a burning train that appears out of the mist with the sounds of screaming passengers, family secrets and a nasty, creepy villian and you have a fast paced horror/paranormal/thriller that is bound to keep you reading until the end.

The characters aren't as developed in this story as they are in Zafon's adult books. I wanted to learn more about each of the teens, but the story that was told about the villian made up for that. A villian who is haunted and full of revenge because of the past is what kept me reading.

It shows that this book is part of a series, but there is no indication that this isn't a stand alone book. It's definitely not your light and oh so sweet book....but if you want to escape into a good book during a rain-storm, power outage kind of night... then this is the book.

***I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley for free in exchange for my honest review. It in no way affected my opinion or review of this book. 

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