Author: Daniel José Older
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Bone Street Rumba # 2
Mass Market Paperback, 319 Pages
Publication: January 5, 2016 by Roc
Source: I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.
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The streets of New York are hungry tonight...
Carlos Delacruz straddles the line between the living and the not-so alive. As an agent for the Council of the Dead, he eliminates New York’s ghostlier problems. This time it’s a string of gruesome paranormal accidents in Brooklyn’s Von King Park that has already taken the lives of several locals—and is bound to take more.
The incidents in the park have put Kia on edge. When she first met Carlos, he was the weird guy who came to Baba Eddie's botánica, where she worked. But the closer they’ve gotten, the more she’s seeing the world from Carlos’s point of view. In fact, she’s starting to see ghosts. And the situation is far more sinister than that—because whatever is bringing out the dead, it’s only just getting started.
Midnight Taxi Tango, is the second installment in the Bone Street Rumba series and it was even better than the first book! Two things I’ve come to learn reading Older’s work is that it will never disappoint and always expect the unexpected. Many of the Urban Fantasy novels I’ve read are of the same variety and too similar to one another. However with the Bone Street Rumba series, It’s a breath of fresh air and I love all the unexpected twist and turns. In HRB, Carlos and his team had to deal with a powerful sorcerer and creepy, bike riding ngks that permanently destroyed spirits. And in MTT, we had blattodeon men lurking at every corner, and once again, Carlos is brought in to investigate a random string of murders that took place in Von King Park…which turned out not to be so random after all.
This series is full of eclectic and diverse characters, so I was surprisingly happy to see that this time around, Older utilized multiple POVs. I say surprising because I’m usually not a fan of them. Not only did this showcase others’ perspective/background but we also saw an in-depth look at Brooklyn from someone other than Carlos. Which I was glad for because Carlos was still devastated about Sasha leaving. And at the best of times he was still kind of melancholy and incoherent. In addition to Carlos’s POV, we had Kia, a teen that worked at Baba Eddie’s shop and a bad-ass lady name Reza.
Readers met Kia Briefly in HRB, a street savvy sixteen-year-old and manager of Baba Eddie’s Botánica. Kia is smart, headstrong and outspoken. Kia is very independent and I like that she does whatever she wants. Sometimes I forget she’s a teenager. Kia has a lot of personality, and people will either take to her or find her completely unappealing. I’m obviously in the former category. Kia is certainly not like the typical teenager most people read about. Also somewhat ironic, since she is as realistic as it gets. And Older did a great job of capturing teenage youth and angst. Reza is a new character that readers will meet in MTT. She’s like a lady version of Carlos, but probably a little more unforgiving. She’s a tough as nail, blunt, fearless and has the take-no-prisoner- attitude. Literally. Any one that messes with her and her crew is likely gonna eat a bullet. No joke. She is scary awesome. Besides loving the two new fierce ladies POVs, Kia BFF Karina was a freaking hoot. I absolutely loved all the scenes with Karina.
Midnight Taxi Tango was a great squeal, especially with the world and characters firmly introduced and grounded in the first novel. There was a lot more action this time around and the dialogue had me laughing constantly. If you haven’t checked out the Bone Street Rumba series, then you need to run to the nearest bookstore/site and get it ASAP. This series doesn’t get as much attention as it should, it’s truly a hidden gem when it comes to the Urban Fantasy genre. Older has become an auto-buy, shelf keeper author and I can’t wait to see what you comes up with next.
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