Inherit Midnight by Kate Kae Myers (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Inherit Midnight by Kate Kae Myers Karen Coats Myers, Kate Kae Inherit Midnight. Bloomsbury, 2015 [400p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-61963-219-6 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-61963-220-2 $12.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 7-10 Though her plan to escape from her oppressive boarding school is foiled, Avery’s adventure is just beginning. Grandmother VanDemere, who reared now seventeen-year-old Avery after her mother died and her alcoholic father disappeared from her life, has devised a competition to test her potential heirs’ knowledge and virtues in order to decide who will inherit her vast fortune. Faced with jealous cousins and treacherous uncles, Avery teams up with Riley, the handsome son of the family lawyer, to meet her grandmother’s challenges, which each relate to some aspect of family pride that her grandmother feels has been lost. When Avery discovers that her mother is alive and her grandmother might be the most treacherous of all, Avery’s goal in winning the competition becomes getting as far away from her family as possible. The competition creates a lively vehicle for international travel and plenty of action and suspense, and the romance that develops between Riley and Avery is as sweet as it is predictable, with Riley being cardboard-cutout perfect and about as deep. The ending unfortunately turns Avery into a scripted scold, confronting her father, her grandmother, and even Riley with wooden accusations of all the wrongs they have perpetrated against her in a way that sounds completely forced and unnatural given her character. Readers may forgive this disappointing dénouement for the breathless excitement that came before, however; hand this to fans of high-stakes reality challenge shows as well as those who count Raskin’s The Westing Game (BCCB 9/78) as a favorite. Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois