The Midnight Palace is a 1994 Young Adult horror novel written by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
In 1916s Calcutta, orphan twin siblings Ben and Sheere were separated as infants after an English lieutenant fought to save them from an unthinkable threat...
Sixteen years later, the twins reunite under unexpected circumstances in the St. Patrick orphanage in the city and, along with fellow orphaned friends of Ben, the self-styled Chowbar Society, find themselves being stalked by a powerful and sinister force that sought out the twins.
This time, Ben and Sheere will need all the help they get to uncover the secrets of their past and unveil the identity of the being that haunts the shadows of the night.
One of the Trilogy of Mist books, the predecessor is The Prince of Mist, and its successor is The Watcher in the Shadows.
The Midnight Palace haunts the following examples:
- Artistic License – History: Jawahal claims that Roman general Cato destroyed Carthage and covered its lands with salt so nothing would ever grow there again. Inaccurate in both things: the salt thing is a 19th century legend (in fact, Rome was keenly interested in Carthage's farmable lands and would have not ruined them) and Cato was not the general in charge of the city's capture (he died three whole years before the city was taken, and even back then he was already retired from warring due to his advanced age).
- Author Appeal: Trains, past family tragedies, murders and supernatural revenants were Zafón's specialty.
- Big Bad: Jawahal, although in the past the position went to Col. Llewelyn.
- Bittersweet Ending: Ben and friends survived and escaped Jawahal, but Sheere succumbs and dies from the poisonous snake bite, leaving behind a heartbroken grandmother and brother.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Sheere succumbs and dies to the poisoned wounds surrounded by Ben and his friends.
- The Empire: The British Empire, which destroyed the Indian industries and instrumentalized their crops in order to serve their own needs, causing famines and regression in all the country.
- Ghost Train: The location of the confrontation against Jawahal.
- Half-Identical Twins: Ben and Sheere.
- Master of Your Domain: Jawahal has become this for Jheeter's Gate.
- Power Born of Madness: This seems to be the implied origin of Jawahal, whose clinical insanity somehow derived in Reality Warper powers.
- Raised by Grandparents: Sheere was raised by her grandmother for sixteen years.
- Sdrawkcab Name: Jawahal = Lahawaj Chandra Chatterghee.
- Separated at Birth: Years ago, Ben and Sheere were separated to protect them from being found by Jahawal.
- Shout-Out: A Whole-Plot Reference to the original Star Wars trilogy. We have a tall, black-clad villain born of fire and hate that exerts supernatural powers, worked unwillingly for an evil empire he was forced to serve, and can stop gunshots with his hand; we also have a pair of different-gender twins, children of his, that only learn about it later in their life, when their father is out to get them for his dark designs; and at the end, the male twin manages to redeem him and end his menace.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Jawahal has them, presumably only now that he's a ghost.
- Taking the Bullet: To save Ben's life during Jawahal's deadly challenge, Sheere took the poisonous snake bite in his stead.
- The Team: The Chowbar Society: Ben, Ian, Isobel, Roshan, Siraj, Michael and Seth, as well as Sheere.
- Vengeful Ghost: Jawahal
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The Midnight Palace ends over fifty years later as Ian shares the fates of the Chowbar Society members in a memoir he's writing.
