Midnight Reign:
Vampire Babylon Book Two
by Chris Marie Green
Ace Books, 326 pp; $14
When I started reading this, I thought “here we go with another book on stylish vampires running amuck in L.A.” And I almost put it down.
     I am really glad I didn’t because the book, for me anyway, has an unusual feature: who’s on the good sidea nd who's on the bad side is very, very murky
. It isn’t a cut and dried look at vampires fighting it out in a power play, manipulating humans and/or using them for food. Unless I am really missing the point!
    It’s kind of a dark, twisted, but… bittersweet tale. A four-hundred-year-old Master Vampire named Benedikte has established what he calls an “Underground” (which it is) as a refuge for several echelons of vampiric folk in Los Angeles. And even more interesting, are the Elites—humans who have been turned to vampires because they didn’t want their youth (and because we are in L.A./Hollywood) and fame to disappear. They hunker down in the Underground indulging in all kinds of sensual pleasures, kept young by drinking the blood of the Master Vampire and waiting for the right moment for a comeback when they can be resurrected as it were and be a “new” star who kind of reminds people of the original star they actually were before they turned.
    And I am hoping this is what the author wants, but I am not sure exactly where the “wrong” part is. As far as I can tell, the Master Vampire does not take humans willy-nilly in the night except those who ask to be changed. Who want the “eternal” youth he can give. But to be honest—it is not clear where all the blood the others drink from goblets is coming from…and I haven’t read her previous book Night Rising.
    But there is this group, the “good” guys I guess who work for a mysterious stranger (who sounds obviously vampiric to me) named Jonah Limpet. The organization does PI work and is called Limpet and Associates. They call Jonah “The Voice” because mostly that’s what he is for them, not a physical presence. And the three main characters are Dawn (whose famous movie star mother died horribly and who is also on an obsessive hunt for her missing dad), Kiko who is a psychic and Breisi Montoya who is a gadget wiz. These three take orders from Jonah, go out and hunt the undead.
    The initiating story here is a nasty murderer dubbed the “Vampire Killer,” who has stalked a few women and ripped their throats out. But what is really behind these murders is pretty interesting.
    Of course there is way, way more to this tale than simply staking those “that hunt the night” among the film industry elite of Hollywood.
    And that’s what makes this book a really good paranormal offering. There are lots of layers and mysteries and when I was finished---I was NOT quite sure who I should be rooting for. I know who I felt sorry for, but not who should “win.”
    For me, this is the sign of really good book and a clever author.
    I really will hunt down her first book “Night Rising” as maybe it will be a bit clearer who is doing what to whom and why. But this, as a stand alone book, is a really compelling vampire hunter tale. - Sue Martin