Day Shift by Charlaine Harris (Midnight Texas #2)

Charlaine Harris has done it again, continuing to build a compelling world in this sequel into the lives of the townsfolk of Midnight, Texas. If you haven’t read Midnight Crossroad (please stop reading this review here), then you may not know that Midnight is a place full of secrets and mysteries and although we may find out a few more of these during the course of Day Shift, there are plenty more still waiting to be discovered and also seemingly set up for future novels to solve.

The book is very fast paced and easy to read, in some ways it is like coming back to your favourite TV series after a hiatus, the characters you like are still there and you can’t wait to find out what will or won’t be revealed. Just like in Midnight Crossroad there are no main protagonists and this allows each character to be able to have their own narrative. Whether that is Joe and Chuy looking out for the inhabitants of Midnight and trying to keep them safe or following the day to day exploits of the town.

The last book introduced us to Manfred who was getting settled into this strange town, whereas now he feels that he has been accepted and knows that people will share their secrets if and when it pleases them. Manfred is still very observant, which helps him at his job as a psychic. One of the storylines affecting Manfred is the death of his client Rachel. This leaves Manfred having to protect his professional reputation from a world that already sees psychics as charlatans.

At the same time, Day Shift focuses a lot more on Olivia and her back story; we are slowly given some insight into what Olivia does for a living and what drives her. Olivia is sent to help Manfred with his growing legal problems so that these issues do not reflect back on Midnight itself. Another of the town’s characters is the Rev, who seems to prefer his own company to that of the rest of Midnight. Because of this it is quite surprising when he ends up taking care of a child, but will it take the community to help raise this child and does the child bring more secrets and danger with them?

Change is also afoot in Midnight as someone wants to reopen the old hotel and with money not being an issue, they plan to be able to do this within a six month time frame. This in itself causes the residents of Midnight some consternation as they are unsure why anyone would do this. Is there an ulterior motive to do with Midnight or something else entirely?

Although there has been some crossover between Charlaine Harris’ previous series’ and the town of Midnight in Midnight Crossroad, Day Shift again gives us an interesting trip down memory lane when a very nervous Barry from the Sookie Stackhouse series ends up in Midnight. This might be because having a telepath in a town full of secrets doesn’t bode well for anyone’s safety and peace of mind. Why Barry is there and whether he is staying you will just have to read for yourself.

So far there isn’t a Charlaine Harris novel that I haven’t enjoyed and this is no exception, I am really looking forward to reading the next book in this series and will be very surprised to see if all the inhabitants of Midnight’s secrets are revealed, or if there is a reason that they have all gravitated to this town. If there really is only going to be three novels in this series then I expect the third will be quite explosive and dynamic.

8/10 Charlaine Harris has built a compelling world.