Past Midnight: Refreshingly devoid of YA paranormal clichés

Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen

Charlotte’s parents are ghost-hunters who travel the country investigating (and debunking) the paranormal. In the past, Charlotte’s peers have treated her like a freak when they learned about her parents’ profession, so when Charlotte starts a new school at the beginning of senior year, she keeps it a secret. Avery, a popular cheerleader, lives across the street from Charlotte’s new home, and the two girls become fast friends. Finally, Charlotte thinks she’s going to have a normal life —that is, until ghostly presences start manifesting around her, and until it becomes clear that there’s a secret at Charlotte’s school that no one will talk about, not even Avery.

Mara Purnhagen’s Past Midnight is a book I read in one sitting (and yes, I stayed up well past midnight to do it). The plot twists aren’t particularly shocking, but Purnhagen does a great job of raising the tension to nail-biting levels nonetheless. Charlotte is a likable protagonist, and the relationships (familial, friendly, romantic) are realistic and complex. The prose is transparent; it doesn’t draw attention to itself. It’s the kind of prose that stays out of the way of the story.

If you’re tired of overwritten prose and the standard array of YA paranormal clichés, give Past Midnight a try. It’s refreshingly devoid of those things. It’s simply a good (and spooky) story. Ghost story fans will enjoy this one. The added element of ghost-hunter parents is fun, original, and promises a steady supply of plot hooks as the Past Midnight series continues. The novel is short but reasonably priced, and I recommend it to YA readers who are sick of the same-old same-old.