Booksology I missed getting The Long Night by Christian White for review, but had time to kill at an airport recently so splurged on a copy as I enjoy his mind-boggling thrillers and his latest is another with a whiplash-like twist, reminiscent of his 2019 book (my favourite of his so far), The Wife and the Widow. Our hosts here are Em, a young wannabe screenwriter with a penchant for horror movies; and middle-aged Jodie, a successful artist. Em’s been on a blind date which is going so well she’s going back to Holly’s house when the pair are trapped and Em kidnapped and held for ransom. Jodie has returned to her city apartment after a successful art show to find a man inside, telling her his partner’s taken her daughter.
The Long Night by Christian White Published by Affirm Press on 28/10/2025 Source: Purchased Genres: Thriller / Suspense ISBN: 1923046799 Pages: 304 Goodreads
Em has lived a quiet life with her complicated mother and is now looking for love and a potential escape from her small hometown. When a masked man kidnaps her in the dark of night, though, she is drawn into a terrifying world.
Twenty years ago, a terrible thing happened in Jodie Gibbs’ life. She has been trying to forget that time ever since, pouring her trauma into her work and out of her mind. Until one night her daughter is kidnapped and Jodie is dragged back into the violence.
As Em and Jodie race into the darkness of the night, the agony of the past rushes up to meet them. It will take all their devotion and courage to escape this night alive.
We know Em has some baggage with her mother and Jodie seems to be hiding something from her past, including details about her daughter’s father which seems to be reverberating back into her life 20 years later. Jodie’s past means she’s also feisty so, though she’s willing to pay a ransom to save her daughter, she’s not beyond violence if needed.
I found myself slightly frustrated with the comedy of errors on offer here – neither Jodie nor Em’s capture goes smoothly, but at the same time we’re not privy to the motivation behind the kidnapping which seems to be personal… as a result we’re unsure how desperate the men are and if there’s another agenda in play.
White gives us two strong characters in Em and Jodie, the latter feeling more relatable for me, so I was most certainly invested in her story (and past). The strength of this novel however is the twist White throws in and we realise we’ve been kinda duped. But in a good and very clever way.
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