Another YA novel from Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Midnight Palace did not engage me to the degree that The Prince of Mists or Shadow of the Wind did. As always, Zafón does an excellent job of capturing and conveying atmosphere and setting, this time of Calcutta, India in 1932. But the characters are not as well developed or engaging, and the plot feels more labored with a Star Wars revelation of paternity in the end that was somewhat predictable and not very satisfying. The protagonists are all just turning 16 years old, a time when they must leave the haven of St. Patrick's orphanage; these seven (6 boys and a girl) have bonded as friends and formed a secret club they call the Chowbar Society that meets periodically in an abandoned mansion--their "midnight palace." The leader of this group, Ben, is reunited with his heretofore unknown twin sister when their grandmother, Aryami Bose, returns to warn Father Carter that Ben is in danger from a mysterious man who wants to kill the twins. This threat, which began with the murder of the twins' parents, was the reason the infant Ben was left at the orphanage and Aryami fled with the other twin, Sheere, in 1916. Sheere is made an honorary member of the Chowbar Society and the group agrees to help the twins get to the bottom of the mystery and defeat the evil man who seems able to materialize at will in his quest to destroy them. The story is told as a sort of memoir by one of the original group of orphans, and closes in modern times with a post-scripted update on the fate of the other members of the Chowbar Society. 
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