Welcome friend! If you are looking to get lost in the wonders of a magical hotel, Midnight at the Houdini is a captivating tale that will sweep you right in. An easy read, it pays homage toThe Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern amongst other fantasy worlds and the classic, Alice in Wonderland.
Midnight at the Houdini
Delilah S. Dawson
Goodreads | Published 2023
A girl discovers a surreal hotel where no one ever leaves. When the clock strikes midnight she’ll be trapped there forever unless she’s able to break free from magic that in turn breaks all her rules. Perfect for fans of Caraval and The Starless Sea!
The night is perfect and glorious and sparkling, too beautiful to be real. Like magic.
Anna may have grown up in glitzy Las Vegas, but she’s determined that no one will ever call her shallow. While her older sister Emily is the star of the family, Anna is the diligent stage manager, making sure that both their lives go perfectly to plan. But when Emily reveals a startling betrayal, Anna flees in the middle of a raging storm and takes shelter in a boutique establishment she’s never seen before: The Houdini.
Inside, Anna discovers a magic hotel . . . and a magical boy. Earnest, curious Max has lived his entire life inside the Houdini. Over the course of one surreal evening, he becomes Anna’s guide to the curious building. For the first time in her life, Anna is center stage, in a place that anticipates her every desire, with a boy who only has eyes for her.
But that’s because the Houdini has no other guests. No one ever enters the Houdini . . . and no one ever leaves. When the clock strikes midnight, Anna will be trapped in the Houdini forever. If Anna’s ever going to find out who she is on her own in the real world, she’ll first have to make an impossible escape. But will she be able to do it if it means leaving Max behind?
Content notes include bullying, suicidal thoughts, toxic relationship.
Midnight at the Houdini – Review
Midnight at the Houdini is a fun adventure about magic and finding a place in the world. Anna first experiences magic at the age of ten. She has dressed up for a party and ends up being socially shunned. In her moments of loneliness, a magician shows her a magic trick that she does not want to believe but he gives her a gift that soothes a recent fight she had with her sister. Anna belongs to a world of elegance and elite. Her father owns hotels in Las Vegas and the lifestyle she leads is one of glamour.
The Good
Anna grows up to be a straight A student. In her dysfunctional family, she is the one who takes care of all the details. She plans her sister’s wedding and manages her parents’ ill timed fights. On the night of the wedding, she learns that her father has gifted her sister with a new home in another city. This changes everything for Anna. She doesn’t know what the future would look like for her anymore. She feels betrayed by her father and sister but loyalty to them stops her from saying anything to them right away. On the way back to home, she is caught up in a storm with her father and his business partners and ends up spending the night at one of her father’s hotels, the Houdini. Her father and the business partners all seem to loathe that place and it is unclear why.
Anna’s adherence to plans she makes and the control she wants to exercise on the future are tested at the Houdini. It takes her some time to understand the world but even when she thinks she does, she meets people who are dangerous. She makes a new friend in Max and for the first time, experiences attraction. She loves the way he gives her all his attention and the way he seems to know Houdini. I enjoyed this part of the plot – of two people meeting in a magical place and falling in love. Max is a fun character and he and Anna have great chemistry. Individually though, I wasn’t able to connect with them at an emotional level. Max tells Anna that she needs to leave before the clock strikes midnight otherwise she would be stuck at the hotel forever. The story unfolds on how the two unravel this mystery and find a way to get Anna out.
How Max came to be at the Houdini is a story in itself. His mother, Phoebe, is the current caretaker of the Houdini. She yields the magic of a star to influence the Houdini. She has orchestrated Anna and her father’s arrival at the hotel. I had not expected Midnight at the Houdini to have a revenge plot. It added a lot to the story and kept it moving and interesting. Time passes differently in the Houdini and though the book primarily takes place over twelve hours, this detail is often lost in the magical setting.
The Houdini is a mystical place. With a room that has a full grown tree, a ballroom with an automaton that draws art, a room just for outfits that perfectly fit the wearer, the Houdini is full of surprises. It has many secret passages and hideouts. It has ghosts that call it home but do not interact with the humans who live there. An abundance of food and drinks that can be asked for and a library that fulfils any and all requests should the reader know which book to ask for. I enjoyed its quirks and personality. The endless hallways and the intricacies of the architecture and furniture created a vibrant and exotic world that I loved exploring, knowingly and sometimes accidentally with Anna.
Critique
At times, I found the writing choices in Midnight at the Houdini questionable. Some of the attempts at word play sounded great but did not make much sense. There were references made to Harry Potter to help the reader use their experiences of the magical world of Hogwarts to understand the Houdini better. However, Anna also remarked “the books are great but the author turned out to be a piece of work”. I find this unnecessary as it has nothing to do with the storyline itself.
With magical realism stories, I always have to remind myself that I will not get all the answers. Keeping that in mind, this was a fun young adult book whose world I liked. Find Midnight at the Houdini on Goodreads and your local library.
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