The book's ritual originated as an idea that came to Ilonka in one of her many dreams the novel tells of and is performed by The Midnight Club members. When it comes to rituals, the overarching story involving the Paragon, The Five Sisters and Shasta/Julia Jayne are specific to the show. The ambiguity of life's finality is maintained in both iterations, however, in the form of Anya's sculpture mysteriously regaining its missing leg. This takes place while Ilonka slept and was done for similar reasons as the show. Here, Pike replaces the show's revelation of Sandra speaking through the intercom as 'Tristan' with Kevin removing Anya's belongings from her room. In both tellings, an explanation is given that essentially negates the afterlife for readers. Like the show's version, the group promises that the first to die would send the others a message from beyond with the related events, starting with Anya's death, playing out about the same. The story's intended message of the acceptance of death is upheld in both formats, but the book is slightly more outright in addressing it, especially through Ilonka. They cope with this by coming together as 'The Midnight Club' to tell each other stories in the study of Rotterham Hospice. There are some 'spooky' elements such as the occasional cold spot throughout the manor's halls and some mystical elements to the sub-stories Ilonka and her friends tell, but there isn't anything present to qualify the book's genre as 'Horror.' Instead, we're treated to an interesting, yet solemn, short story about a group of young adults who come to grips with their inevitable mortality while also coming of age. While both stories follow a group of close-knit, terminally ill teenagers who reside at a hospice manor through the perspective of Ilonka Pawnuk, the novel isn't a scary story by any means.

The midnight club christopher pike book