Day Shift by Charlaine Harris

Title: Day Shift
Author: Charlaine Harris
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Mystery
Series: Midnight, Texas #2

Hardcover, 320 pages
Publication: May 5, 2015 by Ace

Source: I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review. 

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There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in Midnight, Texas, where the residents like to keep to themselves. Even in a town full of secretive people, Olivia Charity is an enigma. She lives with the vampire Lemuel, but no one knows what she does; they only know that she’s beautiful and dangerous.

Psychic Manfred Bernardo finds out just how dangerous when he goes on a working weekend to Dallas and sees Olivia there with a couple who are both found dead the next day. To make matters worse, one of Manfred’s regular—and very wealthy—clients dies during a reading.

Manfred returns from Dallas embroiled in scandal and hounded by the press. He turns to Olivia for help; somehow he knows that the mysterious Olivia can get things back to normal. As normal as things get in Midnight…

Day Shift is the second book in Harris’s Midnight, Texas series following an eclectic group of characters in a small town with a population of about 13 people. I read Midnight Crossroad, my first book by Harris earlier last month and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. And much like the first book, Day shift is told in multiple point-of-views in third person but focuses mostly on Manfred, the psychic and the mystifying Olivia when the two both go on personal trips to Dallas, only to have three strangers end up dead between the two of them; and Manfred becoming a murder suspect.

With the second book in the trilogy, readers delve deeper in uncovering some of the secrets of Midnight. While all of the characters got their page time, Manfred was once again at the forefront. However, we didn't learn anything new about him. And this time around Bobo and Fiji are more like side characters with Day Shift focusing on Olivia, the reverend and a boy thrust into the Reverend’s care. Olivia has been a giant question mark since the beginning of Midnight Crossroad, all readers really knew about her is that she’s a tough chick helping people locate items or dispatching trouble/evidences and that’s she dating the town’s only vampire. Readers will finally find out why she is the way she is and how she ended up in Midnight of all places. I was shocked and sadden to learn about Olivia’s background, and while readers got to know her a little better, there’s still a lot left unanswered. Then there’s the reverend and the boy. I never gave the reverend much thought, since he rarely spoke in the first book. But things get interesting now that he’s tasked to watch over a child that seems to be growing/aging faster than a regular human with lilac eyes.

The murder mystery plot involving Manfred took a good chunk of the book which I thought was well done. Just when I thought I knew who the murderer was, Harris throws in a twist I didn't see coming! Harris pretty much wrapped it up (sort of) but the book also had a subplot involving the renovation of an abandoned hotel which was left open-ended. The Midnight Hotel’s opening is a big change for the town, so I’m guessing we will see the outcome of it in the next book.

All in all, I thought Day Shift was an excellent sequel to Midnight Crossroad. The more I read of this series and its characters, the more things I find to love about it. Once I began the book I didn't want to leave, being so caught up in the characters’ lives. Too bad this series is a trilogy; I don’t think I’d ever be tired reading about Midnight, Texas. I loved Day Shift and can’t wait to read the last book in the series when it comes out. I highly recommend this series! To get the entire vibe and experience, it’s best to start at the beginning with the first book, Midnight Crossroad.