I read Midnighters The Secret Hour (and the other two) the week of my sophomore finals and wow what a mixed blessing that was. The overly addicting book was a problem but the amazing writing style of Scott Westerfield forced my brain to use more advanced words making it easier to study when I got around to that. =].
Right at the first page the book jumps into a tense situation that almost everyone can relate to... the first day of school. "The halls of Bixby High School were always hideously bright the first day of school. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, their white honeycombed plastic shields newly cleaned of dead insect shapes."
The first person you meet is Rex Greene, a dark and mysterious kid who's a little out of touch but still a great guy, as he is walking down the hallway on this "hideous" first day of school he spots a new girl... Jessica Day. Quickly into the book Jessica discovers that added to the just plain weirdness of Bixby, there actually is something different, every night at exactly midnight the world stops for her freezing whatever was going on precisely at that second. However nice this extra hour may seem at first she soon realizes the nightmare side to this dream. In a close call Jessica meets up with three other midnighters who are also trying to grasp this strange time. This book is filled with mystery, love, struggles, and of course many epic battles of tridecalogisms. I would recommend this book to everyone and anyone in their teens or just someone who needs an amazing book to read. The incredible writing style of Scott Westerfield in addition to the original thought-provoking plot line is bound to equal one great series.