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

"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels - “the Mark Twain of things that live under your bed” - comes a new novel of Midnight, Texas, the town where some secrets will never see the light of day...

At Midnight’s local pawnshop, weapons are flying off the shelves - only to be used in sudden and dramatic suicides right at the main crossroads in town.

Who better to figure out why blood is being spilled than the vampire Lemuel, who, while translating mysterious texts, discovers what makes Midnight the town it is. There’s a reason why witches and werewolves, killers and psychics, have been drawn to this place.

And now they must come together to stop the bloodshed in the heart of Midnight. For if all hell breaks loose - which just might happen - it will put the secretive town on the map, where no one wants it to be..."

I have kind of fallen for Midnight, Texas and don't want this to be the last volume!

Night Shift combined all the things Charlaine Harris does best- darkly quirky Southern setting, unusual though interesting and charming characters, a bit of an out-there plot, and managed to finish off this trilogy with a solid story ending. As a librarian I'm likely to recommend this series to those who appreciated the darker elements of the Southern Vampires series.

This is not one of her vampire books and I liked that about it. Some authors seem to stay with what feels safe to them and sometimes the reader likes to see the author grow and change. I love that it's set in Texas. The characters did seem like some that you would find is a quirky little out of the way Texas town.

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 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, 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 HEAs and some just have hope for their futures. I feel like Night Shift was a satisfying end to the series, even though I would be more than happy to read about these characters again someday.