Publication Date: September 30th, 2025
Paperback. 208 pages.
The acclaimed Korean horror and sci-fi writer’s goosebump-inducing new book follows an employee on the night shift at the Institute. They soon learn why some employees don't last long at the center. The handkerchief in Room 302 once belonged to the late mother of two sons, whose rivalry imbues the handkerchief with undue power and unravels those around it. The cursed sneaker down the hall is stolen by a live-streaming, ghost-chasing employee, who later finds he can’t escape its tread. A cat in Room 206 reveals the crimes of its former family, trying to understand its own path to the Institute’s halls.
But Chung's haunted institute isn't just a chilling place to play. As in her astounding collections Cursed Bunny and Your Utopia, these violent allegories take on the horrors of animal testing, conversion therapy, domestic abuse, and late-stage capitalism. Equal parts bone-chilling, wryly funny, and deeply political, Midnight Timetable is a masterful work of literary horror from one of our time's greatest imaginations."
Bora Chung never fails to deliver the weird and unpredictable, and Midnight Timetable is no exception. I read Bora Chung's Cursed Bunny a while ago and had been to get to her collection Your Utopia, but then Midnight Timetable showed up at my door and I knew I had to check this one out as soon as I could.
Unlike her previous collections, Midnight Timetable is a series of interconnected ghost stories set within a mysterious institute, a setting which suits Chung's eerie, layered storytelling perfectly. These stories are all generally tied together by our narrator, a new night watchman, as he learns all about his new job and how to correctly--and safely--make his nightly rounds checking doors and encountering (or rather, trying not to encounter) unexplained things.
What I liked: Each story has its own sense of being quietly unsettling, and I think Chung did a great job of maintaining a subtly haunting atmosphere across each story in different ways. I liked a lot of these stories, but I think Tunnel is one that stands out most to me. I love how Chung's writing feels deceptively simple in a way, yet is actually deeply complex and is filled with so many different ideas, thoughts, and themes. Even when meanings feel more elusive or uncertain, the general hauntingly contemplative quality of these stories lingers even after finishing. I particularly enjoyed getting to find out some of what was actually going on behind those doors, and even things going on elsewhere within the institution, though I equally appreciated that there was still much mystery leftover for readers to sit with. This is, overall, a very thoughtful collection, and one I am really glad I had a chance to read.
What I didn't like: I don't have too much to say here as I think this was a really solid set of stories. I'd say there were a few moments here and there where I found myself feeling a bit confused and had to re-read some passages, but I'm not sure if this is more to do with the stories themselves or the translation, so I can't say for sure on that. As with most collections, I found some stories stronger than others and there were one or two that I didn't particularly connect with, but overall it's a solidly haunting collection that I'd absolutely recommend.
