Midnight Concessions

Midnight Concessions is a compelling read.  Inspired by the Edward Hopper painting “Nighthawks”, the novel introduces the reader to the four individuals captured within Hopper’s masterpiece and provides their histories.   

Jay, Osvaldo, Stephanie and Thorpe all meet regularly in the early morning hours in Phillies Diner.  Each is running away from traumatic events of their past, hiding in plain city in the City.   Each patronizes the diner regularly and their stories are told through dozens of songs played on the old-fashioned jukebox in the diner.      

Jay struggles with intense sadness over the loss of his wife, Lara, to cancer, a loss he has not been able to come to grips with even though five years has passed.  Through his musical selections, we learn their remarkable love story, a story Hollywood might have a hard time properly scripting given their improbable courtship.  

Osvaldo, the sole employee of the diner during the overnight hours is the guardian of the diner. His mother’s instincts enabled him to flee his Sonoran homeland just before his entire family was killed by a drug cartel that his uncle had ripped off before disappearing.  Osvaldo lives in fear that the cartel is still seeking him to finish the job and is rapidly tiring of constantly living on the edge.  

Stephanie is a complex character in that she is haunted by events which occurred during her formative years.  Stephanie’s self-exile to the City is the result of having been betrayed by every single person she loved in her life.  Now she lives an uncertain life realizing the only person she can really trust is herself.  

Although Jay is mired in his grief, and Stephanie is shackled by her complete distrust of anyone other than herself, each is strangely drawn to the other.  For much of the book, this unusual attraction is told by their conscious and unconscious reactions to the songs played by the other.  

Thorpe is fleeing from past crimes, fearful that someday his sordid past will catch up with him.  Thorpe unknowingly places the diner and its patrons in grave danger through a poorly thought out plan which would enable him to appear heroic during the course of a crime and thus wins Stephanie’s affection.

Within the diner’s confines each of our damaged characters finds a sense of community and via the music of their lives that we are able to gain a complete picture of the person they were, are now, and strive to be.  Each ultimately comes to the conclusion that while you can run from the past, you cannot hide from it and we see their decisions to return to their past lives seeking some measure of redemption.   They fail to consider are the pitfalls awaiting them and the steep price that will be exacted of them for their harbored hopes and dreams.   

Midn...