Switchback (Nightshades, #2)

by Melissa F. Olson

[EBookObsessed]

The second book in this series, while still short, manages to give us an interesting story and begins to build the characters.

My complaint with both the first and second books in this series is that they are very short. The audiobook narrations are just over 4 hours. The first book was laying down the world building, introducing characters and attempting to give us an FBI investigation. It was too much in such a short time, although the introduction of vampires was intended to be vague since we only just found out they existed. I presume that the learning curve will be part of the entire series, at least for a while.

The second book does what I hoped it would do, and begins to build on the characters in a very natural way as the story develops and just like you would if you were meeting new people.

Now that the world has accepted that shades (vampires) are not a youtube hoax or government lie, several states are creating fear-based laws so they have cause to arrest any shade they can find, such as the recent Wisconsin law that drinking blood is illegal. When the first arrest is made, in a small town of Switchback, the entire police force is found murdered in what looks like a shade retaliation.  The BPI, Bureau of Preternatural Investigation, is sent in to investigate and determine if this was a shade attack and if it has anything to do with Hector and the abducted teens a few months ago.

As we investigate the attack on the police force, we start learning more and more about Alex McKenna and the rest of the BPI agents, as well as more about Lindy Frederick, who is a shade working with the BPI. The agents, while still leary of Lindy, start to realize that she will not harm them and they begin to accept her as one of them as the story builds.

The story was very good and well laid out to blend the investigation and character building and left me wanting more.  That is the problem with reading back to back stories.  It is just a shame that there wasn't more to it. The next book is due out sometime in May and I will definitely pick up the audiobook to enjoy more of Luke Daneils's captivating narration.