Meet the Midnighters. By day, they’re outsiders: teenagers with black coats and bad attitudes. By night, they might just be our last hope… Does this sound like the type of book you love to read and will it keep you reading past midnight? Then “The Secret Hour” is the book for you!

Things are not the same in Bixby, Oklahoma, well not for Jessica Day. Every day at the stroke of midnight, for exactly one hour, time freezes and nobody moves. What should Jessica do with this extra hour? But she is not alone during this ‘secret hour’. A small group of people are also able to live and move about in this time. They call themselves the ‘Midnighters’. But there are also more foul things that live in the secret hour: ‘Darklings’ and ‘Slithers’ haunt the shadows. Each ‘Midnighter’ has a special ‘gift’ that they can only use during the midnight. Together they go off and begin to discover what Jessica’s special ‘gift’ is. The main characters in the story are Jessica Day, Rex, Dess and Melissa.

I really enjoyed the book, ‘The Secret Hour’ because it is a story about a 15 year old girl who had just recently moved into a new home in a new state and discovered with the help of four of her friends that her life would never be the same again. I was engaged and glued to the book by the way that Scott Westerfeld described the characters and scenes throughout the book. The descriptive language made it very easy for me to imagine the scenes in my head. The story progressed almost perfectly with enough suspense and twists to always keep my full attention. The ending was very satisfying and it has made me want to read the rest of the trilogy.

I recommend this book to teens and young adults between the ages of 12 and 20 who are interested in fantasy Sci-Fi and enjoy reading action packed, thrilling and mysterious novels. This book truly is a great read. I rate the book ‘The Secret Hour’ 4 out of 5 stars.

 Jamie, Year 8

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‘The Secret Hour’ by Scott Westerfeld

Ancient powers, hidden secrets and a dark source of evil. Meet the midnighters! By day, they’re outsiders; teenagers with black coats and bad attitudes. By night, they might just be our last hope …..

Strange things occur at midnight in the town of Bixby, Oklahoma. Time freezes. Nobody moves, and dark creatures lurk. For one secret hour each night, the town belongs to the dark creatures that haunt and threaten the town in the shadows. Only a small group of people called the midnighters know about the secret hour- only these people are free to move about the midnight time.

The new girl, Jessica Day is an outsider like the other midnighters and main characters Rex, Dess and Melissa. Jessica acts perfectly normal in every way.

The problem is there are different powers each midnighter has but they haven’t discovered Jessica’s power. The other midnighters are curious, could Jessica have the same power as them?  Could she have  a different power that can save them all ?

Midnighters mixes mystery, sci-fi, action and drama. If you like these kinds of categories this book is for you!

I would rate this fantastic book 4/5 because this book is thrilling and once you take a peek at the next chapter you just have to keep going. This book kept me reading way past midnight.

James, Year 8

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The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld is great mystery triller book. I believe that it is a very compelling story that makes you read until your eyes just can’t take it. It literally kept me up to some very late times just reading and trying to find out what will happen next.

The story is about Jessica Day who has just moved to a new town called Bixby, and there are a couple of strange people who seem to know all about what is happening to her. At midnight for an hour everyone stays still frozen. But there are some that can stay awake during this time like Jessica. One night Jessica goes outside following a moving creature but she soon finds out that it isn’t just a dream and their monsters creeping around the place and all of the towns legions  start coming true. She also realises that her life is in danger.

This is one of the best mystery books that I have ever read. Every chapter gives you a new mystery and makes you just want to read more. I would rate this book 8 out of 10 and I would highly recommend it to teenagers from the ages 13 to adult. The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld is a great book and if you ever get the chance you should read it.

Edward, Year 8