Day Shift

Just bought book 3. Such a great story and great town. Wish it was a real place. ;)

I thought my addiction was over when the True Blood series ended but now there's an all new bunch of strange and fun characters to love. I just hope the next book is longer!

The story was quite good as always with Charlaine Harris and this series is a lot of fun if you have read her other series's of books. I love how characters from her non-paranormal mystery series are coming together with characters from the paranormal series. There is something a little less intense or polished about this series though, things like typos or the wrong name in some spots. That is not something I have noticed with any other of her books.

This book is slow to get going, and takes a bit for the characters to develop , but gets better. I like the Sookie Stackhouse characters woven in this.

Only one problem. It wasn't long enough!

4.5 stars rounded Midnight, Texas is literally in the middle of nowhere, but the town doesn’t lack for interest. Narrated by three residents, Manfred, Olivia and Joe. Manfred is a youngish single man, gifted with psychic abilities, living in a rented house. Part of his work is done on line, the rest from ‘weekends of work’ where he sets private readings for clients. A bit on the outside, he’s never really settled into his own skin. When Manfred’s work takes him to Dallas for a working weekend, he encounters Olivia in the dining room, with two guests that are soon found dead. The next day, his client arrives in a bit of a state, and then dies before the end of her reading. A mystery is afoot. Olivia Charity arrived in Midnight an enigma, and hasn’t spent much time ingratiating herself to the rest of the townspeople. Things in Midnight haven’t been quite right since the murder of the convenience store owner, and now people are looking at the abandoned hotel. Not just people, but outsiders and press. Am anathema in Midnight, and something to be avoided at every cost to Olivia. For she has secrets, dark deep ones that hide behind her cool and remote façade, often displayed in her anger, nearly uncontrolled if not for her relationship with Lemuel, a vampire. Joe runs an antique shop and his lover, Chuy the hairdresser are the third of the narrative voices in this story. There is an otherness about all the residents that Joe references frequently, usually obliquely. He’s very observant and cautious, and is one of the steady voices (it appears) of the residents, adopting a quiet wait and see attitude. These three very different, yet wholly interconnected characters each reveal bits of themselves and others, giving readers a clear example of Harris’ skill in plot crafting, dialogue, characterization and that compelling bit of weird that adds equal measures of menace and intrigue. Character driven, this story (that I did not realize was the second in the series) stands alone beautifully, but is laden with nods to other books from Harris, including Sookie Stackhouse, Aurora Teagarden and Lily Bard. Fans of those works will recognize these characters who appear with a smoothness that feels meant to be. Beside the murder mystery, there are threats for Olivia, the coming full moon, a mysterious arrival of a child left to the Rev, and the ongoing and quite sweet unrequited love story between Fiji and Bobo. I read this book in one sitting, and then have reread it again twice since then. I’ve read it a third time after buying and reading the first in the series, Midnight Crossroad, and I can’t wait for the next book. I will, however, be reading these again. I received an eArc copy from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review, all conclusions are my own responsibility.