Midnight Alley (The Morganville Vampires 3) by Rachel Caine

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. (back cover)

Claire has now pledged herself to Amelie, the founder of Morganville, but is scared to tell her friends knowing they will get mad. Something is happening to the vampires and Amelie needs Claire’s help to solve it. She sends Claire as a pupil to Myrnin, who is old and half-crazy with periods of lucidity.

I have to say that I hate these evil cliffhangers! It’s so wrong to end every book like that…

The book pretty much starts where the last one ended and now Claire is pledged to Amelie but is afraid to tell her friends because she knows they’ll get mad. Especially Shane who is still trying to come to terms with the fact that Michael is a vampire. Shane doesn’t trust Michael anymore and honestly it’s getting old very soon. I mean they’ve been best friends for ages and now that Michael is a vampire everything suddenly changes? It’s not like he wanted it and is killing half the city.
But I like Shane and Claire together and it’s nice to see they move forward slowly.

How Claire always manages to get herself into these situations where she need to be saved is beyond me. And once again she finds herself in party where everything doesn’t go as planned. I understand she’s polite and all but enough. Monica threw her down the stairs and what else and she’s still being polite to her. Enough is enough.

We meet new vampire Myrnin to whom Amelie sends Claire. I liked Myrnin who’s half-crazy and only has periods of lucidity. His mood swings made him unpredictable and dangerous but he was nice between those.

We also meet Eve’s brother Jason again who’s apparently killing girls but no one seems to do anything about it. I really want to learn what’s his deal and I think he is hiding something.

Another enjoyable read from Caine. These are fairly quick reads but entertaining.

3,5/5

Published: Allison & Busby (2008)
Format: paperback
Pages: 384
Source: my own