What readers think of The Midnight Watch, plus links to write your own review.

For readers interested in naval history, the story of the Titanic holds a special place, and many volumes have been published. With this book, however, David Dyer has shed light on a facet of this tragedy that has been somewhat overlooked. His adept combination of factual data, literary references, extensive research, and riveting prose has resulted in a volume that is truly compelling throughout. I won't hesitate to select this book as 'my selection' for our next book club meeting! Mr. Dyer has indeed given us ...."the rest of the story" (as newsman Paul Harvey used to say).

As the Titanic sinks in in less than 2 hours on April 14,1912, the crew on a nearby ship, the Californian, tragically miss the short window of time to come to the rescue. The narrator, a journalist who specializes in stories about deadly accidents, explores the mistakes, missed communications, and failures of character that made this possible. The mystery unfolds a little at a time and is never really solved, but the book insightfully explores the closed-minded denial, the shifting of blame, and self-protective rationalizations which surround any tragedy resulting from human error. There are many fascinating conversations and brief-but-shining appearances of woman characters, but to me the book lacked a certain focus, which diminished its impact. I had trouble from the beginning differentiating the various characters comprising the crew of the Californian; I reread the beginning several times, but still struggled. These organizational difficulties took a bit away from the otherwise great idea and beautiful writing.

I have always been fascinated by stories/movies about the Titanic, so I was excited about reading this book by David Dyer. Many times, when I go into a book with such high expectations, I am left disappointed by the time I finish reading, but this was not the case for The Midnight Watch. The author manages to write a compelling novel while basing the book on historical fact, a feat many authors are unable to accomplish. If I could, I would give this book 4.5 stars rather than just four.

Thank you to Book Browse and to St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book!

This book is a fictionalized version of real events, and fills in characters and thoughts of persons aboard the ship Californian, which was stopped in ice a few miles from the Titanic and did not respond to distress signals. The characters are very human: the crew members of the Californian try to shift blame on each other for their inaction; the journalist uses whatever means he can to get the story. All in all, it is a story of the frailties and poor judgments that are regretted in hindsight but somehow inevitable.

I was eager to read this as my oldest son was quite the Titanic aficionado when he was young and I spent 2 years listening to all things Titanic. I enjoyed this novel about the California's lack of response the night of the tragedy. I knew nothing about this aspect of the tragedy and did not realize there was a ship other than the Carpathia nearby. It was well-written and compelling, but I am not always a huge fan of multiple viewpoint stories ( I feel like this device is over utilized lately). Also, it was very frustrating to read about the Captain of the California who was probably portrayed realistically. His lack of responsibility and remorse the book left me vaguely dissatisfied, while actually describing the situation realistically.

I love reading historical fiction! While I understand that it is fiction, I learned so much about a historically significant event, one which is still interesting, despite having happened over a century ago I found the book very detailed and well written. I would have preferred more detail about the event and less focus on the reporter's personal story. What resonated most with me was the coverup, still so true in corporate life in 2016, and how the story emerged because of courageous whistleblowers. I'd recommend this book highly!

This book is a different look at the Titanic disaster. The book focuses on a reporter's investigation of the Californian a British ship in the area of the Titanic's sinking that did not answer the Titanic's distress signals. Although the book is fiction it is based on historical facts. The author imagines what happened that night and what motivated the captain and the crew of the Californian to ignore the signals. The story of the ships was interesting. I didn't enjoy the reporters personal story. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the Titanic.

I'm not really a fan of historical fiction as a genre in general. I do make exceptions, like I did for The Midnight Watch. Certain historical subjects appeal to me more than others and the entire Titanic debacle is fascinating to me.

I loved that David Dyer told the story from multiple view points. It made it less likely that you would get bored with a specific character.

I wasn't thrilled with some of the aspects that go along with most historical fiction novels, but that comes down to a personal preference.

I would recommend The Midnight Watch to anyone fascinated by the Titanic's story or even just lovers of historical fiction because it is very well written.