BOOK REVIEW - Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine

This review is part of the Morganville Reading Challenge 2012 which you can learn about here.

Midnight Alley is the third book in the best selling Morganville Vampires series written by Rachel Caine. It was originally published on October 2^nd 2007 by Signet.

PLOT

Morganville is such a nice place to live... And die. If you don’t mind that sort of thing.

When Claire Danvers learnt that her college town was run by vampires, she did what any intelligent, self-preserving student would do: she applied for a transfer and stocked up on garlic. The transfer is no longer an option, but that garlic may come in handy. 

Now Claire has pledged herself to Amelie, the most powerful vampire in town. The protection her contract secures does little to reassure her friends. All of a sudden, people are turning up dead, a stalker resurfaces from Claire’s past, and an ancient bloodsucker extends a chilling invitation for private lessons in his secluded home.

WHAT I THOUGHT

Have I mentioned I loved the Morganville Vampires series it is so much more than just ANOTHER vampire book. One of the ongoing themes in MV is secrets. All too often Claire and co have held back on something of importance either out of fear or wanting to protect others. This time it is Claire’s turn. In this instalment of MV we do a little more exploring of the town itself which is very welcome and we get to add to the cast of characters that we have met so far. Once again we see that in the world of Morganville everything isn’t black and white and Vampire does not always mean Evil as Human does not always mean Good.

This book like all of the Morganville series happens directly after the previous which is refreshing and allows the book to flow as one long saga so this is one series were you HAVE to start at number one or you’ll find yourself all at sea.

Claire continues being Claire strong yet fragile and always fun. The wonder she shows when learning about the slightly less fatal aspects of the town have the same inspiring effect on the reader. Shane can be a bit of a jerk but he can be very gentle and someone who can be relied upon in a pinch and I have a lot of respect for him. Michael I’m not so sure about I think him a little too perfect in a lot of ways but that may change. Eve is at her sarcastic best and we get a lot of insight into what makes her tick in this book and it is a truly scary look into her past.

Amelie and Oliver are something else I swear if MV had been started a little earlier I would have sworn they inspired the Lannisters and the Starks. They are the heads of the two most powerful factions in Morganville and their clashes are guaranteed to cause a lot of collateral damage. Then we come to Myrnin who is quite an enigma, a man who has sold his sold in his thirst for knowledge (foreshadowing for Claire herself perhaps) and he is an excellent mentor for her if it wasn’t for those homicidal tendencies of his he would be absolutely perfect.

In Midnight Alley MV steps things up to a new level and Caine continues to write a compelling story full of realistic multi-faceted characters.