The Midnight House

By: Alex Berenson

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

The number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Deceivers delivers a gripping John Wells thriller that takes listeners into the darkest shadows of a silent war....

One morning, a former CIA agent is shot to death in the street. That night, an army vet is gunned down in his doorway. The next day, John Wells gets a phone call. Come to Langley. Now.

The victims were part of an interrogation team that operated out of a secret base in Poland called the Midnight House, where they worked over the toughest jihadis, extracting information by any means necessary. Now Wells must find out who is killing them. Islamic terrorists are the likeliest suspects, and Wells is uniquely qualified to go undercover and find them. But the trail of blood leads him to a place he couldn’t have imagined: home.

©2010 Alex Berenson (P)2010 Penguin

Critic Reviews

"Berenson combines his thorough knowledge of the Middle East with an acquired sense of corporate intrigue in this bullet-paced, psychologically engaging tale of torture and espionage.” (The New York Times

“A superbly crafted spy thriller that doubles as a gripping mystery.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“Arguably Berenson’s best thriller yet.”(Library Journal) 

Another hit by Alex Berenson

I have been reading Alex since his first book came out and he never fails to deliver a combination of intense action with believable characters. I look forward to the continuation of the series.

Finely crafted

I've enjoyed all four of Alex Berenson's John Wells books. Like the ones before it, Midnight House is a tightly plotted and well-written adult thriller. The pacing is a bit slow, but the story nevertheless holds your attention. The ending is an enticing setup for the next book in the series. As always, George Guidall's nuanced, intelligent narration adds enormous value to the experience. Guidall remains, in my opinion, the best narrator in the business, and he is in top form here.

More mystery than action

I enjoyed the book, and I think this is one of the better John Wells books. It seemed like there wasn't a lot of action though, and that's why I gave it four stars and not five.

One thing that drives me crazy is the concurrent stories that hopefully mesh together to tell the complete story. The concurrent story here was what was happening at the torture facility back a year before. It just wasn't all that relevant until the end of the story and then I was like, yeah that makes sense but why did the author take that approach? The concurrent story could have been cut down considerably.

There is just something about the book that bugs me, but I cannot figure out what exactly it is. Maybe it's all the hard luck stories. Everyone from Wells to the killer to one of the people at the Midnight House is a hard luck story. Maybe it's just that I want the book to be better, but it isn't. It's good, but somehow it misses being great.

Good but Not Great

To me The Midnight House had all the right pieces for a great thriller but it just never grabbed my attention like it was intended. I found the book to be an easy listen, and an enjoyable one, but not memorable. I have never read Alex Berenson before but I would again after reading The Midnight House as I think he has a great thriller in him. A worthy read just not a perfect one.

A weaker storyline - I didn't love this one.

I bought the first 6 books from this series when they were on sale. And I really enjoyed the first three. I find the character of John Wells to be intriguing and interesting. But the storyline for this book was slow and boring. I couldn't stay with it. I found myself rewinding to hear what had happened because I had tuned out. I do that sometimes when the story isn't keeping my attention. I hope that number 5 is more similar to the previous 3.

Solid 4+ star action thriller!

When Audible put all Alex Berenson's John Wells series espionage thrillers on sale for $4.95 it gave me the opportunity to buy at a low price the 2 of the 9 books I did not have. All of the John Wells series are 4 star or better. Midnight House is no exception. Wells, an ex-Army Ranger and ex-CIA agent, is also a (marginal) Muslim. He is one of the more interesting of the espionage thriller protagonists.

George Guidall narrates as usual and he does a great job.

Boring Story, Well Narrated

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This book is boring. It's supposed to be a thriller about global terrorism, but it's slow, slow, slow. I'm not sure whether this is a morality play about the evils of the U.S. government's anti-terrorism efforts or merely an artless tale. Either way, it's stultifying.

What was most disappointing about Alex Berenson’s story?

Slow and boring. It starts with two long, anecdotal tales of security people, when the only thing they contribute to the story is that they're two murder victims in what turns out to be six people that used to work together. What takes an hour to unfold in the audiobook should take 5 minutes. In fact, most of the background and characters in this story seems to be irrelevant.

Any additional comments?

Don't buy this audiobook. A good narrator can't salvage a weak story.

Slow and not much excitement

Not a page turner. Well read but story shallow and little action in a 14 hour book.

I wanted to like it, but didn't

This book had all the key elements that could have made for a good listen--secret interrogations, tough protagonist, terrorists, a great narrator, etc. Unfortunately the story line fell a bit flat and there were too many people coming in and out of the investigation. I struggled through it and wish I hadn't.

clever

a bit bloody and grim, but entertaining

Not as good as the previous books in this series.

The Midnight House is the fourth book in this series.

John Wells, a CIA agent is continuing with his life without Exeley, away from the bustle of Langley when he is called back.

Members of a top secret 'special' rendition/ interrogation team are being killed many months after they have completed their service.

The story weaves back and forth between the present day, and investigation, and the capture and interrogation of prisoners at the secret site called The Midnight House.

Although this book raises ethical issues surrounding the interrogation teams, I felt that it lacked depth.

Narration, as always with Georgw Guidall, was excellent.