What do readers think of The Midnight Taxi by Yosha Gunasekera? Write your own review.

The Midnight Taxi, by Yosha Gunasekera, for me was a "I didn't love it/I didn't hate it." The book was well written. The plot has been described as "cozy", I might call it "cute" but it seemed more like young adult fiction to me. I did not find the characters to have much depth. I kept reading because I was curious but not intrigued. I would recommend to someone who wanted a light, quick read, not to someone who enjoys intriguing mysteries.

While the idea behind this murder mystery was interesting, I difficulty staying engaged. It was frustrating to see exactly how the crime unfolded while the main character remained clueless. The story felt sluggish until the very end, when everything suddenly was resolved too conveniently.

Midnight Taxi was an okay read. I found the plot devices far-fetched and did not ever really connect or development much sympathy with the main character.

Suspense! Murder! Culture! Hope! Love (even if it is fraternal)! The Midnight Taxi by Yosha Gunasekera has most of the ingredients of the perfect YA novel. While the plot is somewhat plausible and the characters (mostly) likable, I found the vocabulary and the prose juvenile and the narrative often repetitive. A take on the locked room narrative device, it is even apparent when the murder occurred, so no mystery there for the reader! I enjoyed, however, the bits about NYC (who knew there were so many bodegas?) and found the cultural observations often enlightening, but it still felt like the book would have benefitted from a more judicious editor.

Younger readers looking for a light read might find Taxi to be fun; it is not a book for readers looking for literary enjoyment, however.

Thank you to BookBrowse, Berkley Mystery and NetGalley for an advance readers copy of this book.

Siriwathi Perera (Siri) is a 28-year-old Sri Lankan, transplanted as a child with her family to New York City. Still grieving for her older brother, who died two years ago, she supports her elderly parents by driving a taxi.

Siri is a lonely, rather sad and somewhat immature character, but she also is warm and smart and clearly loves New York City. Her drives are accompanied by true-crime podcasts, the closest she gets to the law career she had hoped for.

Late one night, two fares change her life: first, public defender Amaya Fernando, also Sri Lankan, gets in Siri's cab and is delighted to find that Siri shares her background and love of food. As she leaves, she gives Siri her card.

Later still, a young man gets in the cab – but when Siri arrives at his destination, he is dead, stabbed in her locked taxi. The police assume she is the murderer, and she has just a few days to clear her name.

The plot is a bit improbable and complicated, but engaging; the writing is a little uneven, including sobering, graphic descriptions of a women's jail cell, but also sometimes confusing details of car chases and characters' relationships. There are many references to "Law and Order, Special Victim's Unit," with the assumption all readers will understand them.

However, it is a promising debut, and from the material at the arc's end, we can look forward to another outing for Siri and company.

This was cozy, fun read about a female Sri Lankan NYC taxi driver, Siri, who discovers that her fare has been murdered on the way to the airport. Of course the cops don't believe her and arrest her, whereupon she calls the only lawyer she knows, another Sri Lankan, a public defender in Manhattan. They both go on a search for the truth after bail is posted by Alex, a wealthy male friend from Siri's school days and apparently her only friend.

The plot moves fairly quickly, but has a lot of weak spots. For instance, what NYC public defender would have the time to personally go on a mission to prove her client's innocence? And neither of the women seem to get any sleep in the five days allotted to solve the crime. Then there are Siri's over protective immigrant parents, the death of her brother, the favored sibling in medical school (of course!) years earlier, and Siri having to drop out of law school due to her father's failing health and job loss, and you have some basis for her frustration for her dead end life.

I didn't connect with any of the characters and found the story to be a rather average mystery with nothing new to set it apart from others. It's obviously meant to be a book series, but not interesting enough that I'll be reading any sequels. It's a mindless read for those days when you have nothing else to do. Fun, quick, and easy.

I enjoyed #themidnighttaxi, graciously given to me by @bookbrowse in exchange for an honest review. While I did find the writing and dialogue to be quite juvenile, Siri and her friends - Amaya and Alex - are good characters, and it's fun "watching" them solve the mystery (think Scooby Doo). I also appreciated Siri's internal monologue, and the author gives her backstory as appropriate. We learn how her brother's death has affected her, her parents and their home lives. She didn't strike me as a plus 25 year old (again, the writing...) but it seems churlish to criticize a character so full of heart.

A quick, lighthearted (despite the subject matter) read.

Overall, I liked the book. It was interesting to read a story from a point of view you don't often encounter, and I appreciated the uniqueness of the narrator's voice. However, the mystery felt more like a side element and didn't pick up steam until about halfway through. It was also fairly easy to guess the culprit, and some of the circumstances surrounding the crime felt implausible. The main character's inner monologue and frequent flashbacks became distracting at times, and there was a lot of world-building that didn't always feel necessary.

On a positive note, the story wraps up quickly and doesn't rely on cliffhangers. If you enjoy a character-driven story (especially one with a rare perspective) and don't mind the mystery taking a backseat, I would recommend this as a quick, easy read. The writing is approachable, with occasional touches of humor.