Review: Night Shift by Charlaine Harris (Midnight, Texas #3)

Night Shift (Midnight, Texas #3)
Charlaine Harris
Published: May 3, 2016 (Ace)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review 

Reviewed by: Margaret

Rating (out of 5): 3.5 stars

Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books. If you haven’t started this series yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, Midnight Crossroad.

You know how you sometimes put off reading the last book in a series because if you haven’t read it then the series isn’t really over? Really, that’s just me? Well, that’s what I’ve been doing with the Midnight Texas series. But it’s been adapted for TV and the show is set to debut soon. (I’ve seen an April premiere date mentioned, but couldn’t find an official source to verify it.) After seeing some things in the trailer that aren’t revealed until later in the books, I figured it was time to bite the bullet. Not only do I not want to be spoiled, but also I want to keep book world and TV world separate in my mind. Which brings me to Night Shift.

Midnight’s residents have always known that their town was different, maybe even magically so. But when people start coming to town to commit suicide at the crossroads, they decide they need to figure out what’s so special about their location. We, and they, will finally learn why all of these magical beings have been drawn to Midnight. And why a few of the mundane ones are there as well.

These characters are all a bit mysterious and closely guard their secrets, though I think they all come out by the end of this book. It’s been about a year and a half since I read Day Shift (VBC review), the previous book in the series, so I was a little bit confused at first about who knows what about whom. There are also a lot of different POVs, which often switch in the middle of a chapter. I felt like some of those transitions were not as smooth as others, which could be disorienting.

I usually complain about the lack of action scenes in a story like this, but the characters in Midnight are interesting enough that I really don’t miss it, even though it does make for a slower read. And I was happy that we did finally get to see the vampire Lemuel in action.

I also enjoyed the references to the Sookie Stackhouse series. (I think one was even to Sookie herself.) Since I learned that all of Charlaine Harris’s series are connected, I’m always wondering who will pop up next. Most of the Midnighters have wrapped up their storylines, though. Some have gotten their long-awaited Happily Ever Afters and some just have hope for their futures. Night Shift was a satisfying end to the series, even though I would be more than happy to read about these characters again someday.

Sexual content: sex, references to child sexual abuse