What We Saw at Night

Feb 13, 2013 Elvan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Mitchard is a must read author of mine with Cage of Stars and The Deep End of the Ocean at the top of my personal favorites list. This is the first novel aimed at the Young Adult crowd I have read by this author. The plot is clever and original as she describes in first person the life of three teens with a medical condition which makes exposure to sunlight deadly so they spend their nights wandering the town while sleeping through the daylight hours. As a shift worker I can so relate! The kids...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Lauri rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Yes, to everyone

Recommended to Lauri by: Requested a copy from NetGalley

Shelves: classroom, pdf

Occasionally, you pick up a book and get so involved that the rest of your life just gets in the way; this is how I felt while reading, Jaquelyn Mitchard's, What We Saw At Night.

I had no expectations when I started reading, What We Saw At Night, but quickly found myself involved with the three key characters, Allie, Rob, and Juliet. I learned as I read, about Xeroderma Pigmetosum, and Parkour, and for me, learning about new topics is always a plus. Although the reader is never given a complete...more

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May 09, 2013 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Summary (contains some spoilers):
Allie, Rob, and Juliet have XP (allergy to sunlight), so they live their lives at night. Between doctor appointments, the three friends begin Parkour to make them feel alive. This discipline allows someone to fly through the night, jump from buildings, and become more in-tune with nature. One stunt they want to do involves a large apartment building. They begin at the Penthouse level which is supposed to be empty, but it's not. Does Allie witness a crime? After t...more Summary (contains some spoilers):
Allie, Rob, and Juliet have XP (allergy to sunlight), so they live their lives at night. Between doctor appointments, the three friends begin Parkour to make them feel alive. This discipline allows someone to fly through the night, jump from buildings, and become more in-tune with nature. One stunt they want to do involves a large apartment building. They begin at the Penthouse level which is supposed to be empty, but it's not. Does Allie witness a crime? After that night, Allie becomes obsessed with investigating what she believes is a series of murders happening in her small town. What is worse is that Juliet seems to have some involvement with the main suspect. What happened that night? What did Allie really see? How far is Juliet involved?

Review:
Honestly, there is a huge build-up to absolutely nothing in this book. I enjoyed the suspense and following the mystery, but as I was nearing the end of the book, I knew that it wasn't going to be resolved. I was right. This almost makes me dislike the book enough not to recommend it to my students. There are several little ways part of the storyline could have been wrapped up. Unfortunately, I'm left with more questions than answers. I can't stress how unsatisfactory that is. There is the possibility of having a series and cliffhanger ending while still making sure to close off some loose ends.

Other than that, I really like Allie. She is intelligent, a great example of a true friend, and very insightful when it comes to family. I also like how goal oriented she is. The fact that she is very clear about her future and the fact that she will do what she can to be successful is a good lesson for young adults. I do not like the casual sex between teenagers though. I could do without parents, teens, and doctors being alright with and almost encouraging of sex. Allie mentions that her mother is a nurse and they have had "the talk" several times before, so this is why her mother is alright with her engaging in sexual activity. Since that talk does not happen within the book, I feel that everything is too casual.

I will be reading the next book, but if I don't have some answers within the first 50 pages or so, I will probably put it down. I don't want to go through two books without any resolutions. (less)

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May 08, 2013 Peyton rated it 2 of 5 stars

The author’s purpose for writing the novel What we Saw at Night was to entertain through suspense and thrilling the reader. The novel is about three best friends, Allie, Rob, and Juliet, who all have Xeroderma Pigmentosum or as they called it, XP. XP is a fatal allergy to the sun only allowing them to go outside during the late night hours. In order to make themselves feel like they were ‘living” they would jump off tall buildings and towers. One night during their adventurous routine, they witn...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Pinkie Pie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley-edelweiss, contemporary-challenge

I wasn't really sure what I was getting into when I started this book. I vaguely knew that Mitchard was the author of a book that was made a movie, the same book that won an award. But that's it. I hadn't read any reviews of WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT, nor had I read any of her other work. So I had very little expectations going in and I'm glad for that.

There were many parts of this book that I enjoyed thoroughly. The strange skin condition, XP was fascinating. I had heard of it (or something like it...more I wasn't really sure what I was getting into when I started this book. I vaguely knew that Mitchard was the author of a book that was made a movie, the same book that won an award. But that's it. I hadn't read any reviews of WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT, nor had I read any of her other work. So I had very little expectations going in and I'm glad for that.

There were many parts of this book that I enjoyed thoroughly. The strange skin condition, XP was fascinating. I had heard of it (or something like it?) a while ago, and remember being interested in how one would go about their daily lives without going out in daylight. In the world of YA, where we have vampires that can inexplicably go out in daylight, it was quite the turnaround to see regular kids hiding from the sun. These three teens, Allie, Juliet, and Rob, were in essence terminally ill, but at the same time, they were so free. They could basically do whatever they wanted, or go where ever they wanted. There was no limit on the potential of their night. As a plus, I love when books can teach you something about the real world and not just internal human truths.

Another thing I enjoyed was the Parkour. Parkour is basically scaling buildings and throwing yourself off of roofs and things like that. If you are familiar with the game Mirror's Edge, you are familiar with Parkour. The book opens with a scene wherein Juliet flings herself from one roof to another across an alleyway. From there on, the three of them continuously train and slowly become better and better at the sport. They begin taking on new and more dangerous stunts, especially more dangerous as they are doing it in the dark with poor eyesight because of the XP. One of their stunts is the catalyst for the mystery of WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT: Allie is sure she is witness to the moments following a murder, and becomes fixated on solving it.

I had a big problem with Allie as a character. She was kind of bland to me, and fell into the cycle of making terrible decisions despite her supposed maturity. For instance, she knows that there is a killer in the apartment buildings she scaled one night, but still decides to get a job babysitting an infant in the same complex. That didn't make any sense. If I know some place is dangerous, or harbors dangerous people, I don't go to that place. So even if it's not a supernatural threat, the threat still exists and Allie constantly baits it.

I also didn't think Allie was a very good friend. She was constantly jealous of Juliet and always undermined her internally. Juliet was obviously more beautiful than Allie, so Allie always assumed there was something sinister behind Juliet's motives. I won't reveal whether there is or not, but regardless, that's a terrible way to treat someone you love. Imagine having someone you love so much, and have been close with all your life, not trust you. That's damaging to a friendship.

I didn't understand the relationship between Rob and Allie. First she accuses him of running off with Juliet during a spat between the three of them. Then suddenly they're making out in Rob's Jeep. It was this crazy 180 that I really didn't see coming. And while it was refreshing, seeing Allie, the MC, actually get the guy and not the super-perfect best friend, it was still a little out of nowhere. There was no indication prior that Rob had any feelings for Allie outside of their platonic friendship. One thing I do have to say, and this is important: this book is very sex-positive, and I absolutely commend the author on that one. Allie's mother was very aware and present in Allie's life, and helped Allie make smart decisions regarding her sex life and her body. So yay!

Another issue that I had with the book, though, was the pacing. Sometimes time seemed to move in slow motion. Then the next thing you know, and entire Summer has passed! It left me feeling very disjointed and disconnected to the story.

And finally, the ending was the worst. There is apparently going to be a sequel to this, so of course, we don't solve the mystery, and end at a really stupid, dumb, ugly, jagged cliffhanger.

There were some very emotionally resonant parts later in the book that did make me sniffle (okay bawl my eyes out) a little, but those did not make up for the negatives I had with WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT. The length could have been trimmed down, or maybe the parts where months were glossed over could have been edited to have less time pass. The pacing was strange and uncomfortable, and I could not connect with the characters. I do love Allie's strong family, and also the sex-positive themes found in the book. In all, it wasn't terrible, but it was lacking in action and I don't think I'll be reading the follow-up.
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Apr 16, 2013 Kennedy rated it 3 of 5 stars

First, let me say that I’m extremely surprised I chose to pick this book up. It’s not my typical read at all, there’s no zombies, vampires, or any other supernatural forces in it, just a couple of kids with a UV allergy. But, again surprisingly, I enjoyed it. For reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, this book held my attention from page one.
Novels like these, where the main character/characters have a fatal disease, usually have a little too much "oh woe is me" for my personal taste. This ha...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Nic rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-fiction

This was an engaging an interesting read, but something about the writing was a bit odd. I liked the main character and felt that she had a good, realistic voice as a teenage girl who feels different and alone. However, the book felt like a series of info dumps about XP (the fatal sun allergy the three main characters suffer from), Parkour, and forensic science; like the author wanted to write about each of those subjects, so crammed them all into the same book.

Although I enjoyed the story, I r...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Penny McGill rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

Picked this one up at work on Thursday - entirely by accident - as it was in the wrong shelf and it was time to return it to it's home but I read the back while carrying it and decided to keep it. The idea behind this novel is great. Three teens, friends since their sandbox years (although they visited their sandbox at night) all linked by their common genetic disorder, Xeroderma pigmentosum. They spend so much time together because their schedules are the opposite of all other teens in their sm...more

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Feb 05, 2013 Cheryl rated it 3 of 5 stars

Allie and her friends have xeroderma pigmentosum or XP for short. This means that they are allergic to sunlight. However, Allie and her friends are not vampires. So when everyone else is asleep, Allie and her friends are hanging out having fun. Allie’s friend, Juliet introduces Allie and Rob to parkour. It is the act of jumping roof top to roof top. It is really dangerous but Allie likes the freedom it gives her.

One night while out parkouring, Allie and her friends spot a man and a woman in an...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: love-story, murder-mystery, fiction, medical, friendship, young-adult, series, thriller

I like Mitchard's books, and even though this is a YA novel, I found it engrossing. I like Allie's voice (she's a precocious teen but still naive about so many things), and her relationship with her mom is an interesting one. Mitchard sets up the love/friendship triangle among Allie, Rob, and Juliet well, and their Parkour and night activities feel realistic given their disease and what their parents let them do. I like that Mitchard does not belabor XP and really uses it as a reason for the thr...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Kacunnin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jacquelyn Mitchard is best known for her 1999 best seller THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN, a gripping story about kidnapping and loss. Her latest novel, WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT, is part murder mystery, part love story, part coming-of-age tale, aimed at the YA market. Seventeen-year-old Allie Kim and her friends Juliet and Rob suffer from Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), a genetic disorder that keeps them prisoners of the night – any exposure to sunlight could kill them. So Allie, Juliet, and Rob spend their n...more Jacquelyn Mitchard is best known for her 1999 best seller THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN, a gripping story about kidnapping and loss. Her latest novel, WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT, is part murder mystery, part love story, part coming-of-age tale, aimed at the YA market. Seventeen-year-old Allie Kim and her friends Juliet and Rob suffer from Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), a genetic disorder that keeps them prisoners of the night – any exposure to sunlight could kill them. So Allie, Juliet, and Rob spend their nights together, exploring the world that exists when all the “Daytimers” (those free to go out during the day) are asleep. When Juliet suggests they start training for Parkour, a dangerous but exhilarating sport in which participants defy gravity and leap tall buildings at a single bound, Allie and Rob are all for it. But during one of their jumps, Allie sees what might very well be a murder. And after that, nothing is ever the same again.

Mitchard is a good writer, and Allie is a great character. She’s real and believable and very, very interesting. The challenges she has faced living with XP are both fascinating and poignant, and her relationships with best friend Juliet and true love Rob make for a very compelling story. There’s plenty of mystery in this novel – it’s suggested right from the start that Juliet knows more than she’s saying about the supposed murder, as well as the supposed murderer. And when something terrifying happens when Allie and Rob are jumping buildings alone, we begin to suspect that it isn’t exactly an accident.

So I liked WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT. I couldn’t put it down. Mitchard had me from the first page, and I couldn’t wait to find out what was really going on. Because a lot was really going on! But let me warn you – this is not a stand-alone novel. It’s the first of a series – probably a trilogy (aren’t they all?) – and as such there is no ending. Now, I’m not saying there are some loose ends hanging around, making way for the next book. No, these aren’t loose ends – there are no ends at all! In fact, WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT ends with a cliffhanger. It ends right in the middle of yet another mysterious threat to Allie. It ends almost in mid-sentence. And it was downright infuriating!

I’m not a fan of this obsession with trilogies that has gripped the publishing industry of late. And I’m especially not a fan of books that leave the reader with little or no resolution. A good novel – whether it’s the first of a series or a stand-alone book – needs some sense of resolution, even as it’s setting things in motion for the next book. This one doesn’t do that. It doesn’t even come close. I got to the last page, fully expecting another chapter (since there were still about twelve pages remaining in the book). But lo and behold, what Mitchard has given us are twelve pages of WHAT WE LOST IN THE DARK, the apparent sequel to WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT. I shouldn’t have been surprised. But I was. And I wanted to throw the book across the room! Really.

Do I recommend this? Sure. It’s a good novel – up until that ridiculous final chapter. But just be prepared to be frustrated when you get to the end. It’s a lousy way to end a novel, no matter how many sequels are being planned. Authors owe their readers more than that. And it’s the one thing I’ll always remember about WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT. Not good, Ms. Mitchard. And not fair.
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Jan 17, 2013 Faye (The Social Potato) rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: net-galley, mystery, could-ve-been-better, dragging, my-head-hurts, 2013, adventure, contemporary-fiction, young-adult, arc

An arc was provided via NetGalley. Thank you!

So, when I first read the blurb from Netgalley, I was really excited to read it. I've never heard of this particular disease before, so I thought it would be interesting to follow the lives of Allie, Rob and Juliet as they go on with their lives at night and how they cope with this and with each other. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this very much even though I desperately wanted to. I encountered a lot of problems, most of them subjective, that influe...more An arc was provided via NetGalley. Thank you!

So, when I first read the blurb from Netgalley, I was really excited to read it. I've never heard of this particular disease before, so I thought it would be interesting to follow the lives of Allie, Rob and Juliet as they go on with their lives at night and how they cope with this and with each other. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this very much even though I desperately wanted to. I encountered a lot of problems, most of them subjective, that influenced my reading experience of the book. The characterization, the flow, the overall attitudes of the three main characters just made my head hurt.

My first complaint is that the pacing was really inconsistent. There would be chapters upon chapters where it felt a moment was really dragging, and then next thing you know, weeks and months have passed. It felt all-around choppy and confusing. It could have been good, but this kind of pace was very fragmented, and it didn't allow me to truly have a good grasp of the big picture. It didn't help that those dragging chapters were things that were unnecessary and didn't really move the story. Like at the beginning, the reader is suddenly thrown in the middle of everything and we're introduced to chapters upon chapters of parkour tutorials and jumping off of buildings, all of them with details so inessential that you'll want to just skim it all and get it over with. On the other hand, those chapters that happened after timeskips could have been okay, but all ended too soon. If the internal monologue was good, it could have worked, but Allie's narrative just made it worse because she's as inconsistent and disjointed as the pacing.

I don't know, I just couldn't connect to her at all. She felt bland and immature, even though the book tried to portray her as someone who was beyond her age. I did understand her feelings of jealousy and mistrust towards Julie, though. Those are human feelings, after all, and everyone have felt them at least once in their lives. But other than that, the character failed to captivate me, and the other characters (Rob and Julie) were even more frustrating and annoying. Rob just felt so invisible. He's the love interest, but it felt like he was only placed there just for that purpose and nothing else, and he even failed at it. The romance between them didn't even blossom or anything, it just appeared out of nowhere o_O Then it dims, and it appears again, dims and appears again... sigh —_— Everything is just so disjointed. Don't even get me started on Julie. Her characterization could have been great and developed into something more complex but... it just didn't work and it felt too forced. Everything felt too forced. =( The side characters were also non-existent, and the story could have moved with or without them. Sometimes, I question their being mentioned at all.

The mystery aspect of this book could have been better, that's for sure. It felt awkward and off, and the supposed to be moments of tension didn't feel like it at all. I wish I could be nicer about this, but it's really how I felt, and the worst part is we don't even get to a conclusion!!! The story ends and the mystery still haven't been solved. I guess we'll have to read the sequel to find out... but I'm not sure I want to anymore, because all loose ends could have been resolved in one book, but no... sigh

Overall, it's a 2.5/5 for me.(less)

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Jan 16, 2013 Liviania rated it 3 of 5 stars

Allie Kim and her friend Rob take up Parkour in order to keep up with Juliet, the other kid their age in town with Xeroderma Pigmentosum. One night, they see something suspicious in an apartment. Then Allie sees it again, and the other two have only her word to go on.

WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT is gripping. The potential murders often fade into the background of Allie's relationships, but so much of her life is driven by Rob and Juliet that its understandable. Without them, she's close to alone in the...more Allie Kim and her friend Rob take up Parkour in order to keep up with Juliet, the other kid their age in town with Xeroderma Pigmentosum. One night, they see something suspicious in an apartment. Then Allie sees it again, and the other two have only her word to go on.

WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT is gripping. The potential murders often fade into the background of Allie's relationships, but so much of her life is driven by Rob and Juliet that its understandable. Without them, she's close to alone in the night. And if there is a murderer, then that's when you want your friends by your side.

I liked the characters and how their relationships developed. Allie and Rob tend to follow Juliet's lead, since she's more worldly and bolder. But there's something wrong beneath the surface, driving her wild actions, as Allie begins to discover. And while Allie might crush on Rob since he's the main guy in her life, he's definitely a crushable sort. He's reliable, trusts Allie to take care of herself, and has a car. (Big deal when you can't drive, a significant other with a car.)

But there were a couple of things that bothered me about WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT. Why is there so little night life? The three kids are often alone in the night. But their town is supposedly the center of XP research. There's a hospital people move from all over the world to go to. Allie refers to an older XP guy who died and there are other patients in the hospital when she goes for a check up. There are also references to medical trials, which need a decent number of patients for significance. I'd assume there are at least twenty-five to fifty people with XP in the town. Why are none of them ever out at night? They can't go out in day without great difficulty and staying in all night every night would probably drive them nuts. And if the town's main industry is this research, why aren't there shops open at night? I don't just accept that it's a small town. I live in a small town. The tattoo parlor is open late and the farmers wake up early.

The other thing is the ending. I expect many people will complain about the ending. That's because it sucks. Just when things are getting really good, the story suddenly spins its wheels for a chapter then ends. There's no resolution. Not to the mystery, not to the relationships, not to Allie's character growth, nothing. I don't even want to read the next book, WE LOST IN THE DARK, because WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT's ending is so lame. It's not a cliffhanger; there's not enough momentum for that.

WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT has an excellent beginning, an interesting protagonist, and the XP and Parkour add some nifty atmosphere to what could be a standard mystery. But as it goes on the plot gets ridiculous and hard to follow until it just ends. It's disappointing and I had very high hopes for this book. (less)

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Jan 12, 2013 Melissa rated it 1 of 5 stars

A book about Xeroderma Pigmentosum. Alright that is something different for a chance. And teenagers doing building jumping. Sounds exciting.
Uhm.
No...

What a strange, weird and ow so boring book! After an elaboration about XP and a jumping-of-buildings manual and the most unromantic kiss I ever read, I got uhm let me think... Ow yeah, an attempt to create some kind of suspense and mystery-murder story that might've worked if Mitchard had left all the other ~~crap~~ unnecessarily stuff out that made...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Pam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2013

Allie Kim and her two best friends Rob and Juliet don't live the live of normal teenagers. They all three have Xeroderma Pigmentosum. This is a fatal disease that makes them allergic to sunlight. They sleep during the day or stay in doors were it is safe. They have grown up together and look out for each other. When Juliet introduces them to Parkour they go along with her. Parkour is extreme stunt sport of scaling or leaping from buildings. Only be out after dark make this sport even harder for...more Allie Kim and her two best friends Rob and Juliet don't live the live of normal teenagers. They all three have Xeroderma Pigmentosum. This is a fatal disease that makes them allergic to sunlight. They sleep during the day or stay in doors were it is safe. They have grown up together and look out for each other. When Juliet introduces them to Parkour they go along with her. Parkour is extreme stunt sport of scaling or leaping from buildings. Only be out after dark make this sport even harder for them. They do it because it helps them feel like normal kids and after all they probably won't live a long life after all. One night during this sport they see something. Allie is sure she has witnessed a murder. Her two friends aren't sure whether to believe her or not. She takes matters into her own hands and tries to solve the mystery herself. What she finds may destroy her trust in some she loves most.

Allie is a great character. She is very original as she has XP and that is not something I had read about. You can see all sides of her personality as you read from being a daughter who tries not to worry her mother a whole lot, a very loving friend, someone who is in love and has been a while, does some extreme things but you get to understand why she does it, to someone who will not let a crime go even when people make her think she is crazy. Rob I liked but at times he confused me. He seemed like he was torn a few times about the three's friendship. I wanted to shake him and say think before you act. Juliet I have to say I don't like. To me she seemed selfish and wasn't to good a friend. I understood after I read the book what made her that way but I think she could have handled it different. At times it seemed like she wanted Allie and Rob not to be friends or Allie to be friends with others. It was like it all had to be about her. There is a lot more fascinating people you get to meet in this book.

From the beginning you get to understand what XP is. The author did a great job bringing you into the world of that disease she writes about. You really get to get into Allie's head and see all she goes through. You feel you are Allie reading this book. The plot is wonderful and you really can't figure out just what happened it leaves you guessing to the end. You also wonder who is her friend and who is hiding stuff from her. Lot's of action is in this book and no one is safe. I don't do spoilers so it is so hard not to say something that is one. All the interaction between the characters keeps you on your toes to see what happens next. Did Allie see a murder if so who did it? Is it part of her disease making her lose her mind? You have to read to find out but beware you are probably wrong i know I was. I didn't see the ending coming or what happened. If you want a different mystery in a unique world be sure to pick this up. I look forward to were the next book goes. (less)

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Jan 05, 2013 Bailee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: review-books, young-adult

The best part of this whole story is that it illustrates the greatness and the weakness of friendship. A common piece of teen life is the friendships created which often contains betrayal, blossoming relationships, and in the end many people face the severing those ties. I loved the relationship between Juliet and Allie, although it always seemed like Juliet had the upper hand in the friendship. Allie was fiercely loyal to this girl despite the shortcomings, the mistakes, and the lies.

Rob and Al...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-mt-bookpile

I had such high hopes for this book - Mitchard is a great writer. Possibly the problem stems from the inclusion of XP (xeroderma pigmentosum) as the driving force for the story, as that required much exposition (and often repetition of that exposition; I got it that these kids couldn't go out in the sun after the first two mentions, but there were more to come). And, sadly, this is the start of a series (in my ARC there was a selection from the sequel, but the ending of this could have stood on...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Sophia C rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book reminded me of those short stories I used to read in English class. It was just long enough to include everything, yet it was a quick read that left me feeling uplifted. I really loved the writing and the plot, as well as the characters. The book gives you a bit of background on each of the characters so you can tell what their motivations are or what kind of people they are. I loved it.

The first page was captivating. I love how the kids are not vampires, but they have XP, allergy to s...more

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Dec 07, 2012 Readeralex rated it 4 of 5 stars

Allie, Juliet and Rob are “Children of the Moon”. No, don’t worry, you won’t find any creepy bloodsuckers or hairy fairytale creatures in this novel. The three teenagers suffer from Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), a very rare genetic disorder, a potentially lethal sun light allergy. They live like ghosts , in the same city as their families or other persons of their age but somehow in a parallel universe, a night universe, because they have to prevent any exposure to sunlight.

Most people with XP die...more Allie, Juliet and Rob are “Children of the Moon”. No, don’t worry, you won’t find any creepy bloodsuckers or hairy fairytale creatures in this novel. The three teenagers suffer from Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), a very rare genetic disorder, a potentially lethal sun light allergy. They live like ghosts , in the same city as their families or other persons of their age but somehow in a parallel universe, a night universe, because they have to prevent any exposure to sunlight.

Most people with XP die before they are forty. This is a cruel fate, but Allie, Juliet and Rob stick together and try to make the most out of it. The three of them spend almost every night together, exploring the city when the rest of the world is asleep. One day, Juliet the daredevil in this group, comes up with the idea of training for Parkour, a quite challenging sport with running, climbing, crawling and jumping to traverse physical obstacles. Allie and Rob are all for it and soon they start reckless freerunning adventures, leaping from one tall building to another and exploring the rooftops all over the town. During one of their Parkour runs, Allie catches a glimpse into an illuminated window and sees something that seems to be a murder. Allie calls the police but they don’t find anything suspicious.

However, this is the turning point in Allies life. When she needed Parkour before to spice up her life, now the fun really starts because someone knows that Allie really saw something that she shouldn’t have seen. And this makes her life a spine chilling nightmare.

WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT is a really great novel with an interesting plot and fascinating characters. I definitely liked the way the kids faced their fate and enjoyed their lives. The Parkour parts are exciting and absolutely cool.

But this isn’t everything. Mitchard had me right from the first page. There were so many things going on in this novel that kept me from putting down the book, so many mysteries and loose ends that needed to be tied together at the end of the book. Allies fear and mistrust were almost tangible. So, did I enjoy the novel? Yeah, I did, but then the end left me speechless and yes, sort of furious. I knew, WHAT WE SAW AT NIGHT, isn’t a stand alone novel, it is part of a trilogy (aren’t this all books today?). So, I also knew that the end might not tie all loose ends together. Yes, I was prepared for a cliffhanger, but I did not expect that the author might leave me hanging at the cliff on one single finger with not a clue where all this will end.

Up to the final chapter I would have been happy to give a five star recommendation for this novel because it was really engrossing. But the ending with no sense of resolution at all was too frustrating – so sorry, but I can give ‘only’ four stars. Now I can only hope for a more satisfying end of book two. Please, Ms. Mitchard, be nice to your readers!
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Nov 30, 2012 Katy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: coming-of-age, general-fiction, mystery, not-my-favorite-thing-ever

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 2-2.5 Stars/5

Note: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

I really, really wanted to like this book. I loved the concept - three teens with an exotic disease roam the streets and inadvertently see something wrong in an apartment while doing Parkour. It has so much potential to be an incredibly fun read, with the teenagers investigating, but being hampered by their XP.

However, I had a lot of trouble getting into the book. I positively slogged through and could never really relate to the characters or...more 2-2.5 Stars/5

Note: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

I really, really wanted to like this book. I loved the concept - three teens with an exotic disease roam the streets and inadvertently see something wrong in an apartment while doing Parkour. It has so much potential to be an incredibly fun read, with the teenagers investigating, but being hampered by their XP.

However, I had a lot of trouble getting into the book. I positively slogged through and could never really relate to the characters or to their problems or inhabit their world. My favorite books pull me into the story and refuse to let me go, even if I have to go and get actual work done. I think about the book long after it's put away and can't wait to get back to it. With this book, I found excuses to not pick it up.

Allie and Juliet are reasonably well-drawn characters. Rob seemed to be little more than a cardboard cutout, placed there solely so Allie could angst over him. The mini love triangle that devolves into an odd romance between Allie and Rob just didn't work for me - one moment Rob's in love with Juliet and the next with Allie? It just seemed unnecessary to me. I have never been a teenage boy, so maybe I just don't get it, but Rob never made sense to me as a character and this was one large reason why. Furthermore, many of the motivations for characters' actions were complete mysteries to me - I could not relate to them at all, let along figure out their thinking process.

Anyway, the supporting characters were practically non-existent - they were there but showed little substance. Allie's little sister, her mother, her mother's friend, the pizza man, even the murderer himself never really came alive for me. They could have just as easily not been in the book at all. And while I can understand why and how a teenage character might be slightly self-centered and so other characters might suffer in an unreliable narrator-type situation, when the book ends and I don't have much sense or opinion about the main antagonist, I feel like that's a failure on the writer's part.

The pacing and the writing itself bothered me as well. The pacing of the mystery and the suspense seemed off, for some reason, for the entire book. Nothing that I can put my finger on, but the actions would have these periods where it slowed almost to a crawl; maybe the reason the read was hard for me to get through? On a side note: I'm not an expert in Parkour, but it seems unlikely that three teenagers could become so very good at the discipline in about three months - that stretched the bounds of my willing suspension of disbelief. Back to the point, the writing seems to twist back on and almost repeat itself - I had a couple of deja vu-like moments. The book itself had too many loose ends at the end; I would have loved some resolution, even with the cliff-hanger ending.

The stars I did give to it were for the concept and for Allie. Sometimes she and her actions didn't make a whit of sense to me, but I genuinely liked the character and her spunkiness. I'm giving it two stars, rather than rounding up to three because I was disappointed in the execution of this interesting and different premise.

Unfortunately, I do not think I can recommend this book, and I will likely not pick up what appears the intended sequel.(less)

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Nov 20, 2012 Mickey rated it 3 of 5 stars

What We Saw at Night byJacquelyn Mitchardwas something of a mystery to me when I started reading it. I was sitting in my deer stand (hunting, yes) with no luck and decided a good murder mystery might bring me some good fortune. It took me a while to get into the story and I was thoroughly confused when the gymnastic-blackbelt-building-hopping showed up, but it all worked in its own way. The pace was a little slow (even for someone who was just passing time between deer sightings) and I found tha...more

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Oct 27, 2012 Melodie rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 20, 2012 Reving rated it 3 of 5 stars

What We Saw at Night drew me in immediately. It is set in Northern Minnesota, an area I know and love well, and filled with intrigue, I was turning the pages (virtually) quickly. The book is the story of three teens with Xeroderma Pigmetosum, a rare genetic disorder that means they must live in darkness, because being in the sunlight is lethal. At first it might not seem too bad to have to stay out of the light, but as you learn their stories, through the POV of high school senior, Allie, you co...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Paola (A Novel Idea) rated it 3 of 5 stars

RATING: 2.5/5

The world is different at night. Allie and her two closest friends, Rob and Juliet, know this better than anyone. The three all share the same genetic condition: Xeroderma Pigmentosum, a fatal allergy to sunlight. The only world they can truly live in is the one that emerges when the sun goes down. They have been friends forever, banding together against the disease that has every possibility of claiming their lives before they can even begin to truly live. But being unable to toler...more RATING: 2.5/5

The world is different at night. Allie and her two closest friends, Rob and Juliet, know this better than anyone. The three all share the same genetic condition: Xeroderma Pigmentosum, a fatal allergy to sunlight. The only world they can truly live in is the one that emerges when the sun goes down. They have been friends forever, banding together against the disease that has every possibility of claiming their lives before they can even begin to truly live. But being unable to tolerate daylight doesn’t prevent the trio from trying to get as much out of life as they possibly can. They explore the streets and unearth buried secrets by the light of the moon, having the run of Iron Harbor from dusk until the last few hours before dawn. But it’s when they take up parkour, a stunt sport involving climbing and vaulting off tall buildings, that the thrill factor hits the ceiling. And it’s because of this need for a thrill that they find themselves witnessing something they shouldn’t have seen, what no Daytimer would ever have known about: murder.

The idea behind this book is, I think, brilliant. It covers rarely explored territory, promises a suspenseful plot. This is why I was drawn to it in the first place. And it isn’t that the plot lacks action or mystery, because it has those things — it just all suffers from poor execution. What We Saw At Night falls victim to a lot of tension that ultimately fizzes out far too soon.

The book does do a fantastic job of giving you an insider’s look at what life is like for a teenager with XP, I think that it captures that with incredible accuracy and a lot of relevance. Allie is a decent heroine who does her share of teenage quibbling but otherwise is very good about not annoying me. Did I find myself wishing she would stick up for herself more, and not just in her head but also out loud? Sure. Did I wonder why on earth she was friends with Juliet (a bitch) and Rob (practically a non-entity) aside from the fact that they all have XP? Absolutely. But she was okay, and she evolves from being reactive to proactive by the end, so I considered her redeemed to an extent.

There were some genuinely creepy moments in this story, moments that had me glancing nervously over my shoulder despite the knowledge that it was all purely fictional. The thing that makes the creepiness work is that the chilling bits could all be very real. The villain is someone who could exist very easily right down the street from you, someone you might even know. If you’ve ever watched a Dateline special, you’ll understand. It’s those small details that scare you, the telltale signs that something isn’t quite right. That someone is following you. That someone is watching your every move, leaving these subtle hints because they know you’re going to find them. They want you to find them. Allie, our protagonist, starts experiencing all these things right after being the only one to pursue the fact that she and her friends probably saw someone get killed. She’s determined to find out what happened, and the killer knows it. It’s terrifying to think that Allie, not quite seventeen, is facing down so much evil essentially on her own. This is a villain who is smart, resourceful, an adept liar, and masquerading as a decent person. He has a respectable job, a well-known family, kids of his own. He’s also a complete sociopath, and he will stop at nothing to make sure Allie never talks.

But the suspense, no matter how good it is, gets mired in choppy narrative and conversations that veer away from the topic way too often. Yes, I realize that normal conversations between normal teenagers (or normal people in general) don’t conform to rigid scripts, but this was really just too much for me. There are inside jokes that are explained after the fact but which leave you feeling more excluded than part of an intimate trio of friends. An intimate trio of friends who, by the way, never managed to convince me that they really were as close as they claimed to be. For one thing, Allie seems to be the outsider in the group from page one. And it’s not just me who thinks that, Allie does too. She feels inadequate compared to gorgeous, agile, practically perfect Juliet, and she feels neglected by Rob, who never seems to notice her the way he notices Juliet. (She is, of course, attracted to Rob, because this is YA and we NEED to have a love triangle.)

When the story begins, there are already these growing rifts between the three that anyone could spot a mile away. For one thing, Juliet is a straight up d-bag in every sense of the word. At least, this is how she came off to me. She’s manipulative, quite a bit condescending, and constantly tries to convince Allie that her thoughts and ideas are ridiculous. What kind of a “best friend” is that? And don’t get me started on Rob, who is barely a character at all because he only exists in conjunction with either Allie or Juliet and has no real personality of his own. The girls believe in him, and therefore he is a real boy. That’s about all there is to him.

What really ruins things though is that all of the really good moments, the suspenseful bits, the chilling revelations, get lost in the shuffle and become ineffective as a result. The tension and the element of fear should be carried through with faster pacing, otherwise it doesn’t feel urgent or even mildly dangerous. Like I said, the narrative is choppy and jumps around from spans of days to entire months going by, sometimes with nothing crazier happening than Allie taking AP Lit over the summer and reading tons of books. I mean, a story about a murder and a sociopath serial killer should make you so anxious that you can’t put the book down. You’re that worried about what might happen next, when the killer will strike or try to silence Allie forever. He does some crazy things, some really disturbing stuff comes to light, but it’s all so few and far between. You forget about it between one incident and the next. It’s not until closer to the end that the loose narrative starts to wind you up, when things start hitting Allie hard and fast. It’s a short book as it is, but most of it felt wasted to me. There are like three pages where she rehashes things she learned from a criminal justice textbook, just an info dump of massive proportions. It’s stuff like this that dulls the book’s otherwise sharper edges.

I was also bothered by the fact that I turned the final page only to discover that this is, in fact, going to be a series. I was thinking it would end in one installment, but nope. Do I think it could’ve been one book? Yes.

Take out all the extraneous crap and focus on the action, imminent danger, and very real, believable fear and you would have one hell of a good standalone book, I think. But this fell short for me in a big way. I’m pretty sad about it because I expected more.

** You can read more reviews by me on my blog, A Novel Idea!. You can also connect with me on Twitter at @_anovelidea or add me here on Goodreads :) **(less)

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Feb 05, 2013 Jen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed, 2013-reading-challenge

I don't normally do reviews, but this book frustrated me enough that I feel like I have to.

Before I go any farther I should mention that the copy I read was provided by the publisher to the store I work at.

The premise was very intriguing, which only increased my frustration as I read. The idea was solid, but the execution was lacking. It wasn't bad. It was mediocre, and in some ways that's worse than bad.

I had multiple problems with the story (pacing, choppiness, Rob's one dimensional portrayal...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Danielle rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

About the book:
Allie Kim and her two best friends, Rob and Juliet, suffer from a rare disease called XP, Xeroderma Pigmentosum. One night they’re Parkouring when they encounter what looks like a murder scene. After that night, strange events start to occur and Allie discovers Juliet knows more than she is letting on.

Characters:
The book was basically about Allie and Juliet. I thought Allie was a weak character. Juliet controlled her. Juliet was self-centered, selfish, and inconsiderate (even at...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Dianne rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone!

Shelves: arc-read, netgalley, drama, new-adult, own, romance, psychological-thriller, thriller-mystery, ya, adult-fiction

What would your life be like if you were a teen, with a rare disorder that makes the sun lethal to you, knowing that your lifespan will be shortened significantly?

Three teens share their night time adventures, spitting in the eye of death with their daring! Allie, Rob and Juliet know their lives will never be normal, so when most kids are home asleep, they out living their lives as best they can, while they can in a small town, Iron Harbor. They dream of places they can never go, doing things th...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Tracee Gleichner rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle, netgalley

I wanted to like this book, love it even. I really did. But it fell extremely short of my expectations. This story revolves around 3 friends and is told through the point of view of one of them, Alexis (Allie) Kim. These teens have a disease known as XP, an 'allergy' to sunlight so their days are spent inside or bundled from head to toe if they have to go out. They truly live at night. Juliet, the daredevil of the group, decides that she is going to keep things interesting and exciting, after al...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Melanie Cremins rated it 2 of 5 stars

http://dakimel.blogspot.com/2013/02/w...

So I quite like Mitchard. She's not a 'must-read' with me, but I'm generally happy enough to pick up her books and get her take on family dynamics, especially in the face of uniquely trying long-term issues. And Allie, with her XP, abandoning father, 'daytiming' family, and a potential murderer on the loose certainly qualifies for Mitchard's stock-in-trade. And she definitely does her thing here - Allie is a stranger in a strange land of darkness and that...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Jan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: teenbooks, thriller

I was intrigued by the plot and main character of this contemporary thriller. Allie and her best friends, Rob and Juliet, suffer from Xeroderma Pigmentosum, a fatal allergy to the sun. They live at night, knowing that their lifespan may be very short. Because of that, Juliet has introduced them to the sport of Parkour, which makes them feel completely alive while they are doing extreme and even death defying moves. On one Parkour adventure, Allie witnesses what she believes to be the murder of a...more

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