The Midnight Ground is a novel by Eric Dontigney. The main character is Adrian Hartworth, an itinerant practitioner of the grey arts. In his travels, he stops in a small town in Tennessee, gets into a bar fight, spends a night in jail, and finds his car smashed up the next morning . . . then he starts having problems.
Despite a warning from Marcy, his dead girlfriend, (they talk occasionally in his dreams), Hartworth gets caught up in the troubles of a teenaged girl whom he discovers to be cursed. Attempting to protect her drags Hartworth into a century-old conspiracy and the potential wholesale slaughter and destruction of a small town by demonic powers.
This novel provides examples of:
- Creepy Twins: Hartworth reluctantly consults with the Osinov twins, dealers in magical information who have a habit of speaking in stereo and finishing one another's sentences.
- The Chew Toy: Hartworth suffers from burns, beatings and severe psychic assault throughout the story.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Adrian Hartworth's entire life (including his name) is altered when a hit-and-run kills Marcy.
- Deader than Dead: When Hartworth first attempts to drive it away from Abby, the demon threatens to kill Marcy's spirit, destroying her utterly.
- Demonic Possession: Late in the book, Tucker becomes the chosen physical agent of the demon, causing tremendous havoc and eventually forcing Hartworth to kill him.
- Psychic Child: Hartworth discovers that Abby has tremendous psychic senses which had been previously unknown because her entire life until then they were completely occupied in protecting her from demonic assault.
- Summon Bigger Fish: When he first encounters the demon in the spiritual realm, Hartworth manages to drive it off by attracting the attention of an archangel, itself a highly risky move. The archangel advises Hartworth to work on his grammar.
- Talking in Your Dreams: Marcy occasionally meets Hartworth in his dreams, including warning him to get out of town as soon as he possibly could.
- Year Inside, Hour Outside: Abby helps Helena return from the dream realm. In the waking world, about fifteen minutes pass, but Abby and Helena experience a three year journey to escape.
