Book Review: Mr. Midnight

For my book review I chose to read a fictional series titled Mr. Midnight by James Lee. Mr. Midnight is published by Angsana Books which is based out of Singapore. As mentioned, Mr. Midnight is a series of fictional books, and I decided to read #4 in the series. These books are unique because there are actually two short stories involved in one book. For my book, the two short stories are titled My Creepy Computer and There’s a Ghost in my Photo.

My Creepy Computer was about 3 main characters, all elementary or middle school aged boys, named Ashraf, Hafiz and TX. One day while they are playing X-Men their computer began to make weird noises and squawk at them. To their attention, the computer began to spell out ‘HELP’. This was only the start of the communication between the computer and the three boys. As the days carry on, the computer continues to type out messaged to Ashraf, and even wakes him up from his sleep one night. Ashraf is notoriously a poor math student, but the computer knows what all of his problems are, and even prints out his homework written in his handwriting with all of the correct answers. Although Ashraf likes the idea of his homework being done for him, as any younger child would, he feels the need to tell his friends and ultimately find a way to get rid of the computer because he does not like living through a computers mind. At one point the computer attacks Ashraf for telling people, “Suddenly two long arms reached through the screen and gripped my shoulder… Arms that didn’t have skin… Arms that glowed, and throbbed, like they had electricity inside them… But they were – REALLY STRONG!” (335). The computer eventually confesses the fact that they are an Alien, saying “I was drawn in by electrical forces that we call alpha currents. They are harmless to humans, but deadly to aliens. Once we are trapped in their magnetic rays we cannot escape.” (394). The kids were obviously shocked by what they are hearing and reading and figure there has to be a way to let the alien escape and go back home. The alien says, “I must return to my own solar system, I cannot survive on earth very long… I can only leave when my starship returns tonight… If I do not leave tonight, then I will surely die… You must take your computer to a very high place in the middle of the night. My starship will beam its omega rays down on Earth as it passes overhead. The omega rays are stronger than alpha currents. Once I am locked into the omega rays I can be lifted back to my starship.” (431). The kids ultimately find high ground at TX’s cousins house and the alien returns to his homeland in a dramatic fashion at the end of the story. However he did leave one thing behind, “The alien had done all my homework. He had given me enough answers to last me all the way through school, and through college, and right through university, too!” (557).

I was not quite sure what to expect when I had first chosen to review a book from a publisher in Singapore, but I am glad that I did. My Creepy Computer was a nail-biting story that constantly kept the reader on the edge of their seat. Every night that Ashraf went to bed waiting for the computer to speak to him, the reader was immersed in the suspense and fear that Ashraf was experiencing. When My Creepy Computer was first chosen, I figured it had to be drastically different than any book that I had read when I was growing up, and I assumed this solely due to the fact that it was published in Singapore. In reality, this story was not much different than a typical horror story that I may have read when I was in elementary school. The book consisted of a highly fictitious story of a computer with an alien in it that would communicate with children, and it also consisted of several frightening pars leaving the reader on the edge of their seat. The one consistent theme that I had noticed throughout the book is that whenever the computer was typing a message to the children, his messages were always in all capitalized letters with many exclamation points. The one theory that I had about this was that this was to show the computer’s dominance over the children, as all capitalized letters usually imply a sense of control and assertion. This followed the theme of the story because Ashraf could not get rid of the computer, no matter how hard he tried. In conclusion, I would highly recommend My Creepy Computer to any reader who is looking to expand their knowledge of books outside of the United States. And judging off of this book in the series, I would also highly recommend and book that is a part of Mr. Midnight.

Works Cited

Lee, James, and James Lee. My Creepy Computer: Theres a Ghost in My Photo! Angsana Books, 2002.