Review: Beyond the Pale by Savannah Russe (Darkwing #1)

Beyond the Pale (The Darkwing Chronicles #1)
Savannah Russe
Published: June 7, 2005 (Signet Eclipse)
Purchase: Amazon
Review source: purchased

Reviewed by: Jill

Rating (out of 5): 5 stars

Daphne Urban is a 400-year-old vampire who has simply had enough. Nothing interesting is ever going on, and she’s thinking that this is probably the end for her. Until she is offered a job she can’t refuse. The government wants her to be a part of its new division of vampire spies called Project Darkwing, or else they’ll kill her.

Her first mission: Pose as an antique art salesman and sell ancient tribal masks to a shady collector. In the process, she’s to gather information. This collector has been implicated in the sell and distribution of weapons to domestic terrorists, and they believe that a large deal will be going down soon. The action is awesome and very gripping, leading you quickly from one intense situation to the next. In between action scenes, there’s a riot of humor, mostly provided by the secondary characters.

We fall quickly in love with Daphne because she’s so genuine. She’s a hopeless romantic and has many flaws, but when push comes to shove, she starts to mature and grow into a very strong woman.

Daphne is finally feeling alive and needed for the first time, but she’s realizing that everyone might not be as honest and well meaning as they first implied. She meets a man named Darius della Chiesa, who tells her that he’s from a rival branch of the U.S. government and wants to protect her from J, the tough-as-nails leader of the Darkwing team. There are rumors that J is only working for his own gain. So, whom can she trust? The suspense is intense as she tries to determine what to do with the information that she gathers. Give it to the enticing Darius, or be true to her promises and give it to J and the Darkwing Team.

J, the leader of the Darkwing Team, hates vampires and is convinced that this project is a waste of time because nothing good can come from it. There is the sassy and classy vampire, Benjamina (Benny) Polycarp, from Branson, Missouri. She does the ‘stupid Southerner’ farce perfectly. As any Southerner knows, you can catch more flies with honey, and Benny loves to lay it on thick. She is awesome. There is also Cormac O’Reilly, a failed vampire actor who’s as bitter as they come.

I loved Beyond the Pale. The action is magnificent, the thrill of whom-can-you-trust is gripping, and the blooming romance between Daphne and Darius is rife with tension and mistrust. If you like a book with action, romance, friendship and self-discovery then you must pick up this book.

Sexual content: Sex *fans self*