Review: Midnight Movie (Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #14) by J.L. Bryan

Title: Midnight Movie

Series: Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #14

Previous books in this series: Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper (#1) | Cold Shadows (#2) | The Crawling Darkness (#3) | Terminal (#4) | House of Whispers #5 | Maze of Souls #6 | Lullaby (#7) | The Keeper (#8) | The Tower (#9) | The Monster Museum (#10) | Fire Devil (#11) | The Necromancer's Library (#12) | The Trailwalker (#13)

Author: J.L. Bryan

Genre: Adult, paranormal, horror

Publication date: February 26th 2021

Published by: J.L. Bryan

Source: Ebook for review from author

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Synopsis: Long ago, dreams glowed on the screen under the night sky at the old drive-in theater. Once an attraction drawing families and teenagers from miles around, the theater has sat dark and silent for years, its former bright, carnival-like atmosphere a distant memory.

A young family brings the forgotten theater to life with a new, modern vision for its future, but strange troubles plague them. Something from the past haunts the theater and won't leave them, or their occasional customers, alone. The family is living in the old theater manager's apartment located inside the drive-in's screen tower, so they enjoy no peace even when they go home after work late at night.

With disturbing supernatural activity threatening their small business and their family, they turn to paranormal investigator Ellie Jordan for help—but the mythic world of the movies has its own dark magic, and Ellie may not be prepared to face what awaits her when the sun goes down, the lights go out, and the show begins.

My rating: ★★★★★

I am always so happy when a new Ellie Jordan book comes out—it’s one of my favorite series! In this case, Ellie and Stacey are heading to a haunted drive-in theater! I loved the setting! Especially for nowadays when drive-ins are big again, for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, my town had one but they sold it a long time ago and was turned into a storage place. I pass it every single day on my way home, and it just makes me sad to see that it’s not a functioning drive-in anymore 😩 But I’m glad I got to experience it vicariously through this book. Lol. Albeit it was a bit more spooky than your typical drive-in. Lol. Which I loved! The owners just bought the place and they’re fixing it up to reopen it and it honestly sounds great!

This case is a bit closer to home for the girls, so that means they get to drive back at the end of the night. That meant we got to spend some time with Michael and Melissa, which I really enjoyed. After what happened to Melissa with Anton Clay, I was wondering how she was doing. I mean, a pyromaniac ghost possessed her! She definitely seems different—distant—which is to be expected. Ellie feels really bad, but the girls bond over an old movie and I thought that was really sweet. That whole scene was great!

We also got to see quite a bit of Jacob, especially in the last third of the book, which yes please! I love him so I am always down whenever they’re in need of a psychic. And even if they don’t, I just love him. Lol. I love all of these characters, and their banter with one another is one of my favorite things.

“Well, she’s no Casper,” I said.
“Casper? She’s not even a Beetlejuice.” Stacey helped me up. “She’s more of a Freddy Kruger.”

Sassy Stacey, I missed her! Lol. Ellie herself is quite sassy too and I love it! But one of my favorite things about our heroine is that if the client is in some serious danger, they take the case regardless of whether they are able to pay or not. That sense of responsibility she has to protect people from the things that go bump in the night no matter what is very admirable. I love how selfless Ellie is 🖤

One of the things I love about these books that for some reason is never boring to me, is the research. It’s probably because the cases are always so interesting, so all the discoveries they make are intriguing. And one thing that was unique to this book was that we almost got stories within the story. They’re at a drive-in, so they watched quite a bit of movies while they were there investigating and waiting for the ghosts to make their presence known. And some of these movies were so incredibly cheesy that I hated them! Lol. And by that I obviously mean I loved them! Lol. I love watching bad horror movies, and some of these were no good, and I loved every second of it! 😂 And it was made even better by the banter of the characters as they sat and watched these movies. And one movie even had a crazy plot twist I did not see coming! It was just a lot of fun!

As for the case itself, it was very intriguing, especially because it involved some pretty big (fictional) Hollywood stars from way back in the day. It involved several ghosts and they were all intertwined in some interesting ways. I really enjoyed the climax as the mystery unraveled and we figured out what happened to all these different spirits. And a book about ghosts and trapping ghosts is not without action, and you know I love a good action sequence, and the ones in this book were great! I always enjoy them and the clever ways Ellie gets herself out of tough situations.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, which should be no surprise at this point in the series. Lol. It was a lot of fun and I always enjoy revisiting these characters. The setting in this one was great and I really enjoyed unraveling the mystery of the haunted drive-in. I am really looking forward to the next Ellie Jordan book!

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊