Prisoner of Midnight

March 11, 2019
This darkly witty eighth novel (after Pale Guardian) in Hambly’s WWI spycraft and vampires James Asher series features James’s wife, Lydia, a doctor and investigator in her own right, in a lively international travel mystery with outcomes that modern readers will find morally satisfying. Lydia follows a tortured dream sent to her by her dear friend, Spanish vampire Don Simon Ysidro, who has been kidnapped and may be forced to use his powers for the war—or for private industry. She looks for him on the America-bound ship City of Gold, understanding that she may need to kill him herself to keep his abilities from being misused. Lydia uses her social status to access the likely villains among the industrialists and royalty in first class, and her medical and investigative skills to understand the xenophobic fear spreading through the third-class decks. At home, James leverages his Parisian vampire network to identify the kidnapper and research ways to save Don Simon. The amount of explicit racism and anti-Semitism depicted on the immigrant ship—although probably realistic for the period, relevant to the story, and placed in the mouths of unsympathetic characters—may be off-putting to some readers. Fans of Lydia and Don Simon will love the focus on their connection, and James’s fans will find enough of him in his usual mode to be content. Agent: Fran Collin, Frances Collin Literary.

August 24, 2015
In the sixth installment of the James Asher vampire series, Hambly (Kindred of Darkness) deftly nests one historical story inside another. The key to a mystery on the eve of WWI lies in James Asher’s fever dreams reliving the exploits of his old friend Don Simon Ysidro at the beginning of the 17th century, when Simon navigated the politics of religious dissent among his fellow vampires in Paris. When James’s practical wife, Lydia, receives word that he has been tossed from a church steeple in Paris in a vampire attack, she calls upon Simon for resources and protection while James heals in a hospital, despite James’s new resolve to destroy all vampires. Series regulars who crave more of Simon’s backstory will find the focus on him satisfying, and Lydia’s fans will enjoy her skills in medicine, disguise, lock picking, and not dissolving in sunlight, though those more focused on continuity may dislike that Hambly leaves James and Lydia’s new baby out of the story entirely. It’s not a standout on its own, but this book is a solid continuation of a strong series.

May 15, 2019
This eighth installment of the James Asher Vampire series (after Pale Guardian, 2016) finds Lydia and James separated, with him fighting in Europe and her traversing the Atlantic on an ocean liner. They both know Don Simon Ysidro has been captured and is being held against his will, and Lydia understands that it's up to her to save him. However, she may only be able to succeed at freeing him if she kills him. Hambly's exceptional knowledge of history and her deft touch at imbuing emotion into her characters are evident in her latest, and the mix of vampire horror and historical mystery?with an extraordinary attention to detail?will make this another fan favorite.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)