Day Shift by Charlaine Harris

(A Novel of Midnight, Texas Book 2)

308 pages

Ace (May 5 2015)

Sci-fy et fantasy

Just to have a little change after several thrillers, I decided to try the new series by Charlaine Harris, who is well know for her  hit series starring Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood for fans of the TV series). Day Shift is the second book in the series that began with Midnight Crossroads.

Again, Charlaine Harris has managed to create a world of her, whose characters have in common a love of secrecy and discretion. They all have something to hide, whether a particular gift or a shady past. Now, in the small town of Midnight, nothing should happen but external events will soon disturb its residents.

I appreciated the fact that the author makes a nod to her hit series citing Sookie and certain events that occurred in the series and including some of the characters in that series (but even if you haven't read the Stackouse books, it won't bother you). I also liked to rediscover Harris' style of writing as she has a gift for making sympathetic or sinister characters all while remaining in the context of her own. The atmosphere is never very dark, even when events are horrible. There is always a magical background, a very pleasant je ne sais quoi. With Harris, one skins someone alive, one risks one's life, one is faced with a killer, a vampire, an angel, a Bengal tiger but on condition of good southern education.

Some questions remain unanswered at the end of the book, which does not please me but which points to the rest of the series. Everything is whether you are ready to dive into a new series that can potentially last very long. Personally, I like it when a book, even in a series, answers its questions.

But what's the story?
In Midnight Crossroad, Charlaine Harris “capture[d] the same magic as the world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, and [took] it to another level" (Houston Press). Now the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels returns to the one-traffic-light town you see only when you’re on the way to someplace else…

There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in Midnight, Texas, where the residents like to keep to themselves. Even in a town full of secretive people, Olivia Charity is an enigma. She lives with the vampire Lemuel, but no one knows what she does; they only know that she’s beautiful and dangerous.

Psychic Manfred Bernardo finds out just how dangerous when he goes on a working weekend to Dallas and sees Olivia there with a couple who are both found dead the next day. To make matters worse, one of Manfred’s regular—and very wealthy—clients dies during a reading.

Manfred returns from Dallas embroiled in scandal and hounded by the press. He turns to Olivia for help; somehow he knows that the mysterious Olivia can get things back to normal. As normal as things get in Midnight…

In a nutshell

A good book to pass the time which reads very quickly. A very friendly atmosphere and quite a few unanswered questions for a series to come, it's a 3.5 / 5 for me.

Disclaimer: An e-galley of this title was provided to me by the publisher. No review was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.