It takes effort to finish “The Midnight Work”

I’ll say right off the bat that I didn’t much like Kassandra Sims’ “The Midnight Work” ($6.99, Tor Books). I found the main character to be unsympathetic, to say the least.

After a day of grading papers, PH.D. candidate and teaching assistant Sophie Aubrey is looking forward meeting up with her Internet chat group, who “Truth be told … were a whole helluva lot more than just chat. People. (Aubrey) didn’t just IM with them, but ran joint websites, monitored bulletin boards, organized conferences, the entire gambit of Net life pertaining to pre-high middle ages heresy and philosophy were covered by them.”

Actually, Aubrey’s chat group isn’t as dull as they sound because among them is Olivier. Olivier and Aubrey have been carrying on a mild online flirtation, so she’s excited about finally meeting him face to face.

They do meet and let’s just say the meeting ends up getting personal.

Aubrey awakens the next day in her pajamas at her apartment. But she doesn’t remember how she got there. On the way to her class, she’s distracted with memories of Olivier so she’s relieved when she gets to the classroom and finds out that class has been canceled. She’s not so relieved when she leaves the building to see Olivier waiting for her.

Aubrey panics and in trying to get away from Olivier she falls, breaking her neck.

Well, it’s not as fatal as it sounds because Olivier just happens to be a vampire and he turns Aubrey in order to save her life, so to speak.

After this the story is all downhill for me. Olivier lets a panicked Aubrey leave his apartment when she “wakes up” after her fall. I mean, no Vampire 101 lessons at all. On the way, home Aubrey realizes she’s hungry so she savagely kills a taxi driver, drinking her fill.

Sorry, right there Sims lost me. I mean, a main character without flaws is dull and boring true. But a main character who has no trouble going on a killing spree and isn’t the least bit bothered with feelings of guilt is not a character I even want to relate to. Even a visit to the Fairylands isn't enough to save the story for me.

So unless you like a heroine who is totally blasé about clearing those clotty blood clots from her throat after a fresh kill, you’ll avoid “The Midnight Work.”

“The Bait” has to be just right to catch a serial killer

In Karen Robards' “The Bait” ($7.99, Signet), the FBI is looking for killer. A killer who has been taunting them for weeks by playing a particularly vicious game. He gives the feds clues to his targets’ identities, then gives them seven days to get to his would-be victims before he does.

At the beginning of “The Bait,” the feds are so close to catching up to their quarry that the blood of the victims soaking the carpet is still warm when they arrive on the scene.

Sam McCabe, the agent who is the recipient of the serial killer’s calls, and his team are taking the losses personally. They’re always just one step behind the killer, close but not close enough. So far in the game serial killer 5, feds 0.

Then the killer makes a mistake: one Madeline Fitzgerald.

McCabe and his partner arrive at the Holiday Inn Express in New Orleans a week later, just as the coroner is wheeling out the body of pharmaceutical saleswoman Madeline Fitzgerald. They’re just leaving the autopsy of the aforementioned victim when they learn that ANOTHER Madeline Fitzgerald was attacked at that same hotel on the same night.

Maddie Fitzgerald, the owner of Creative Partners, is in New Orleans to give a presentation to a potential client with a $10 million dollar a year budget. If she lands this account,, she can keep her newly purchased company from going under. What Maddie doesn’t count on is being attacked in her hotel room the night before her big presentation.

She fights off her attacker using a tool of her trade, barely escaping with her life.

McCabe and his team don’t know what to think. Two Madeline Fitzgeralds at the same hotel, attacked the same night, one dead and one alive.

It’s obvious that the killer has finally made a mistake, but which Madeline was he after? The one he killed or the one who escaped him.

One thing is for sure, they aren’t going to let Maddie out of their sights. Either she was the intended target and the killer will be back to finish the job or she was a mistake who is now a potential witness and the killer will be back to finish the job. She’s getting protection whether she wants it or not.

Maddie definitely does NOT want it. She doesn’t trust the FBI and she’s has secrets that she wants to stay hidden. But as “The Bait,” she] isn’t given much of a choice.

Robards' “The Bait” is a real not-to-be-put-down-until-you’ve-reached-the-end page turner. This one is going on my keeper list for sure.

Cartoonist draws some fire in "Now You Die"

“Now You Die” by Christiane Heggan
($6.99, Mira Books)


Cartoonist Zoe Foster sees dead people.

Nah, not really, but in “Now You Die,” Zoe does stumble across the body of a woman in an alley after leaving an office Christmas party. The only problem is, by the time Zoe races back to the Herald building, alerts her boss, calls the cops and gets back to the scene, the body is gone.

With no body, the police think Zoe just had a little too much Christmas cheer and don’t take her seriously. But Zoe knows what she saw, so she gets her boss’ permission to run a sketch she draws of the dead woman in the newspaper, hoping someone will be able to identify her.

The next day the sketch is identified as nightclub singer Lola Malone by her agent. Zoe also discovers that Lola had a gig at the Blue Moon -- “one of those snooty nightclubs that charge an arm and a leg to get in.” It’s a nightclub that Zoe is very familiar with because it’s owned by her Rick Vaughn, her ex-husband.

Then Zoe learns that shortly before her “disappearance” that Lola had tried to get in touch with her several times. That makes Zoe more determined than ever to prove that Lola is dead so that the cops will investigate and find out who killed her.

Zoe decides to use her “Kitty Floyd, P.I.” comic strip to help her do that by giving Kitty a case similar to the disappearance of Lola Malone. Zoe hopes that by working on the story every day will help her focus on what she might have missed in her own investigation of Lola Malone.

Well, Zoe doesn’t miss much between interviewing her ex-husband, dodging snipers and discovering some things about her own life that were kept from her. She’s an engaging character even though the results from some of her actions seem a bit far-fetched. However, there are some interesting twists and turns in “Now You Die” so, if you enjoy a mystery where you don’t figure out who the killer is halfway through the book, you’ll enjoy “Now You Die.”

"Mortal Danger"
By Eileen Wilks
($6.99, Berkley Sensation)

In Wilks' version of reality,Sept. 11 2001, and all the ensuing changes to the world still happened. But they happened in a world that, in addition to the everyday happenings of OUR reality, is populated by werewolves, gnomes, demons and magic.

Former homicide cop Lily Yu is now with the FBI's Magical Crime Unit and she's been Chosen by the Lady to be mate to werewolf prince Rule Turner.

Of course, that's in addition to being a bridesmaid at her sister's wedding and having to wear a "puke-green bridemaid's dress," catching sight of a dead woman at said wedding and following her to restroom where she's attacked by a demon.

Of course, Lily's last case had her besting a goddess who was no Lady. Said goddess wants her revenge so Lily's definitely in mortal danger.
Great follow-up to "Tempting Danger."

Did I mention the dragons ...?

"Night Game" is right game for great read

The third in Christine Feehan's Ghostwalker series, "Night Game"($9.99, Jove Books),is a must-read for fans. It's a paperback, I know you're noticing that $9.99 price, but "Night Game" is one of the new "specially designed for comfortable reading" larger(more costly)paperbacks that we all knew was coming.

However, I must tell you, "Night Game" is certainly worth the price!

Iris "Flame" Johnson is one of the dozens of girls acquired by scientist Peter Whitney to illegally experiment on some twenty years ago. All the children were orphans bought from overseas.

Iris was one of the two children that Whitney disliked the most, so she was the recipent of the some of his cruelest experiments. Their purpose: to expand the girls' natural and various psychic abilities.

Whitney also genetically enhanced Iris, deliberately giving her cancer as a means both to deliver the modifications and as a way to ensure that she would come back to him if she ever escaped.

She did. Now, Iris is looking for the other girls that were experimented on so she can help them. And there is no way she is ever going to let herself be captured again by Whitney.

The world (but not Iris) believes Peter Whitney is dead. But he didnt die before he expanded his experiments to include volunteers with the military. These men, called Ghostwalkers, were rescued from Whitney's lab by his daughter Lily. She is trying to atone for her father's sins and to do that she needs to find Iris because, from her father's notes, she's sure Iris' cancer is going to come back. A cancer designed specifically by her father that can't be treated by conventional means.

Lily sends one of the Ghostwalkers, Special Forces soldier Gator Fontenot, after Iris. Let's just say when the two meet,Flame erupts. There's no way Iris is trusting anyone with the last name Whitney or anyone sent by that person.

Gator is determined to bring Iris in for her own good. Iris is determined to convince Gator that Peter Whitney isn't dead, he's just in the shadows pulling all their strings.