THE MIDNIGHT WORK

Author: Kassandra Sims ISBN: 0765353946 12/2005 PARANORMAL Publisher: TOR

Christmas is a time of forgiveness—so when Sophie Aubrey's date, a sexy and mysterious artist named Olivier, turns her into a vampire, she decides to forgive him. Especially since being a vampire is just as cool as she always thought it would be. But there are a few drawbacks she never expected, like zombies, sleazy French alchemists, inexplicable and contradictory fairies—and her roommates: one has abandoned Chicago and her cat for the Fairy Lands, and the other reacted to vampirism by embracing it with both hands (and fangs) and gorging herself on human blood. Ick-o-rama. Plus, Olivier seems to believe that Sophie is his true love from a thousand years ago. Sophie can forgive that too, because when Olivier touches her, the whole world falls away—but what she can't forgive is that he didn't tell her the whole story, like how a crazy death fairy has a vendetta against her. This has Sophie vacillating between entertainment at the fairy's pretensions and being scared out of her mind that someone who calls himself the God of Death has got it in for her soul. With the help of Olivier—and the sleazy French alchemist, who turns out to be a vampire's best friend—Sophie thinks she can defeat the death fairy. And if she can't, not only will she and Olivier have no future, she's pretty sure that the whole world is doomed. Who says holidays can't be fun?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Hate it or love it, THE MIDNIGHT WORK by Kassandra Sims, does not fall any place in between. It's graphic, brutal, confusing, and downright odd. It's also blinding in its intensity, brilliantly written, and one of the most soul searching, thought provoking works I have read in a long time. It's wrongly perfect, even when you have to read a page or two over to comprehend what just happened.

Don't mistake the happy back cover synop for what lies between the pages. It's not that cute. It's deep and crazy, and may give you a rare chuckle here and there, but it's not cute. Actually, after I read a couple chapters, I nearly put it aside because it was so horrifying. My stomach actually hurt from the vision of brutality the newly made heroine vampire inflicted on her victim. Depending on what side you come down on, that is either superior writing talent or glorified violence.

If you are a fan of stories where the vampires are just misunderstood, brooding creatures waiting for the light of love to enter their lives, don't pick this book up thinking to add it to that collection. Though there are most certainly some romantic elements to THE MIDNIGHT WORK, it does not have your average happy ending. Or, your happy nice characters. No, this one would fit nicely next to the *gasp!* Bible or other religious books.

Shannon Johnson