The Midnight Call is the debut novel from Jodé Millman, first in the Queen City Crimes/Jessie Martin series. Although it won a couple of awards in 2020 when it was published, I personally found it to be a little lacking.

Jessica "Jessie" Martin, a lawyer in the Hudson Valley, receives a midnight call from her friend and mentor, Terrence Butterfield, after he murders a teenager in his basement. Rushing to his side, she becomes entangled in his case in unexpected ways, having almost deadly repurcussions. Has Terrence always been a cold-blooded killer? Did he have some kind of mental break? It will take some legal finesse to get Terrence aquitted of this heinous crime.

Jessie is a relatively likeable character -- engaged, pregnant, smart, and loyal. However, she continuously makes bad choices, pushing her life to implode right in front of her. Kyle, her fiancee, seems to be a good guy, trying to do right by Jessie and their baby, but it backfires on him. Hal, the prosecuting attorney, is too obsessed with Jessie to see things clearly, and he also makes questionable choices. Jeremy Kaplan, Terrence's attorney, is a wiley guy, trying to get back on top in the legal world, doing everything he can to get his client off, even trying to sabotage someone else's livelihood. And Terrence himself...one minute he's a coherent, logical, well-spoken man, the next he's rambling and having physical outbursts. What's happened to him? Is he for real, or faking to get out of prison?

The writing for me left a lot to be desired. There were sentence fragments everywhere, which drove me crazy. I would have to re-read the sentence before it so that the two sentences flowed together like they should have. From the beginning, we knew who did it, but where is the "why"? I expected some kind of twist that never came, and the ending left something to be desired. The going was slow throughout, and I feel like it could have been shortened by at least 50 pages.

All in all, a decent debut novel from this author. There are two more in the series, and although I haven't read them, if you enjoy this one, then you'll probably enjoy the rest of them. Although I wasn't a huge fan of this book, there are definitely readers who will like it. There's family, legal thriller, suspense, relationships...and a trigger warning for pregnancy issues. ( )

The book was intriguing. The bond between friends, good and bad, and the consequences of actions. The hiding of emotions and the aftermath of physical responses creating a suspense of things that happen when stressed. The characters support each other and give the impression of believing in each other no matter what happens. Good reading and keeps you guessing. ( )

Thank you to LibraryThing and the author for an advance copy of this novel. I had read the sequel, Hooker Avenue, earlier this year, so I already knew how the story would turn out, and how many of the relationships would shift.
Jessie Martin, the protagonist, is a young corporate lawyer, 7 months pregnant, living more or less happily with her fiance, Kyle Emory.
Everything changes when she receives a late-night phone call from Terrence Butterfield, her mentor, former teacher, and family friend. Terrence has committed a brutal murder but the details of how and why he perpetrated such a vicious act are hazy. Coincidentally, the victim is someone Jessie knows: the younger brother of her college boyfriend.
To help her old friend, Jessie engages the services of down-on-his-luck, former legal hotshot, Jeremy Kaplan, a criminal attorney she interned with while she was in law school.
Prosecuting Jeremy's case is ADA Hal Samuels. He and Jessie had a fling while they were in law school, but then he broke her heart and married someone else. Nevertheless, he can't get Jessie out of his head, and this case brings back memories of their time together. His marriage is on the rocks, and his ambitious, passive-aggressive boss keeps trying to seduce him. Ironically, he's the only one on Jessie's side as the defense exploits her response to Terrence's midnight call.
The story is told in close third person, rotating among Jessie, Jeremy, and Hal. The author is a lawyer, and the legal details are very well depicted. It's not really a legal thriller or a whodunnit; I'd call it a legal drama as it centers more on the relationships among the characters: love, loyalty, and betrayal. ( )

Title The Midnight Call: A Queen City Crime Mystery
Author: Jodé Millman
Publisher: Level Best Books
Series: A Queen City Crime Novel Book 2
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:
"The Midnight Call" by Jodé Millman

My Assessment:

If you are looking for a suspenseful read with a lot of plotting, you have come to the right place. Be prepared for many twists and turns, surprises, and shocks that will also have one shaking their heads and saying, wow, as this crime mystery 'The Midnight Call' will keep one turning the pages to see what is coming next.

Now to the characters...and there will be many, and this author presents them to the reader in how this horrible tragedy starts from a phone call to Jessie Martin [who was a lawyer] from Terrence Butterfield [a teacher]. 'The Midnight Call is a story that 'focuses on the legal aspect of the arrest and the workings of the prosecution and defense of the case.'

What will happen as the reader sees how Terrence Butterfield is a mastermind of manipulation? Will this make a difference in this case?

We go from there to a variety of attorneys...some good and some well; this is where you will have to pick up this read to see how it all plays out in this Poughkeepsie, NY, location.

This story will be one that the reader will not want to put down until the end, and that ending was quite a new revelation to the story. ( )

Jessie Martin receives a phone call in the middle of the night from an old friend of her and her father. Terrence Butterfield claims that he killed someone. Jessie and her fiancé, Kyle go to Butterfields home. The police are already there so she does not have a chance to talk to him at that time. She is a corporate lawyer and not experience in criminal law, so she calls the lawyer she trusts, Jeremy Kaplan to represent Terrence.

The victim is 18-year-old Ryan is the brother of a former fiancé, Robbie. Jessie is devastated by the news that not only is Ryan dead but that a friend and mentor could have done it. Jessie is 7 months pregnant, living a happy life with Kyle. They both have decent careers and a lovely home and hope to get married in the near future.

Jessies happy life is about to come crashing down around her as she finds the Kyle has a deep-seated jealousy and tells her that Terrence is not who she thinks he is. She visits Terrence in jail and is dismayed by his demeanor and actions. She hopes that Jeremy can do a good job representing Terrence, but she is not too sure.

There are many other characters in this novel, Hal Assistant DA, his boss Lauren, Hal's wife, Jeremy Kaplan and his wife, Jeremy's assistant Mo, Jessies parents. All of these people play a vital role in telling the story.
Because Jessie had been at Terrence's home, it is speculated that she had called the police to the home when she had not. It appears that Terrence and Jeremy are trying to implicate Jessie, so Terrence can get off of the charges. Jessie ends up having some medical issues due to her pregnancy, she breaks up with Kyle and is having some romantic thoughts about Hal, who she had had a relationship within their college days.

This story is a twisty turny kind of read, a legal thriller if you will. I enjoyed the story; I think that I will want to read anything further from this author. The Midnight Call by Jode Millman is the second in the Queen City Crimes series so I will be sure to read the next one in the series. The first is Hooker Avenue. I like a good thriller so this one was a perfect fit for me.

I will give this book 5 stars, I loved the characters and the plot, and it was a fast read for me. So, if you enjoy a good legal/murder thriller, go get this one! ( )