five midnights by Ann Dávila Cardinal REVIEW

Five friends cursed. Five deadly fates. Five nights of retribución.

If Lupe Dávila and Javier Utierre can survive each other’s company, together they can solve a series of grisly murders sweeping though Puerto Rico. But the clues lead them out of the real world and into the realm of myths and legends. And if they want to catch the killer, they'll have to step into the shadows to see what's lurking there—murderer, or monster?

​I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this book but I was expecting something good. I had hoped for gritty mystery but instead got a mediocre one that was more paranormal/horror and rather predictable. The story overall had good characters, and I kept waiting for a shocking twist but alas this went exactly where I thought it was going and it let me down. I will certainly pick up other books from this author, however, as the writing itself was really good and enjoyable with great characters and awesome setting - the fact it's set in Puerto Rico is mentioned a lot with references to food etc but it didn't feel too in your face - it was just not quite as dark as I'd have liked it. I also found the use of Spanish to be somewhat... interrupting. I fully appreciate why the characters would use Spanish words in a spanish speaking country etc, and in most instances it was easy to work out due to context or the word being similar in english but there were too times where things (once or twice, whole sentences) would be said and not translated and I'd spend more time than I'd care to be when reading, translating. This is really a minor issue and it's likely just me being picky but it did mean dragging myself out of the book to find out what I was reading - and yes, I NEED to know lol.

Overall, I can see this being something many people really enjoy but the unexpected paranormal element was not my cup of tea and I'd have liked more shock and twists so it gets 3 stars from me.