Format: Paperback, 338 pages
Release Date: March 5, 2013
Publisher: DAW
Source: Library
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Cryptid, noun:
1. Any creature whose existence has been suggested but not proven scientifically. Term officially coined by cryptozoologist John E. Wall in 1983.2. That thing that's getting ready to eat your head.3. See also: "monster."The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity--and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and when her work with the cryptid community took her to Manhattan, she thought she would finally be free to pursue competition-level dance in earnest. It didn't quite work out that way...
But now, with the snake cult that was killing virgins all over Manhattan finally taken care of, Verity is ready to settle down for some serious ballroom dancing—until her on-again, off-again, semi-boyfriend Dominic De Luca, a member of the monster-hunting Covenant of St. George, informs her that the Covenant is on their way to assess the city's readiness for a cryptid purge. With everything and everyone she loves on the line, there's no way Verity can take that lying down.
Alliances will be tested, allies will be questioned, lives will be lost, and the talking mice in Verity's apartment will immortalize everything as holy writ--assuming there's anyone left standing when all is said and done. It's a midnight blue-light special, and the sale of the day is on betrayal, deceit...and carnage.
Midnight Blue-Light Special is the second installment in author Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series. This story picks up several months after the events of Discount Armageddon. Protagonist Verity Price is back on the scene in Manhattan, protecting the Cryptid community, dancing at Freakshow (formerly Dave's Fish and Strips), while also keeping an eye out on her newest discovery, a male dragon named William. In case you were curious, the characters on the cover of the book are Verity and her cousin Sarah Zellaby. This is a book of choices, and decisions for Verity.
Verity has been training her whole life to become either a full time cryptozoologist, or a full time dancer. Which is the reason she was allowed to come to NYC in the first place. To see if she can cut it in the world of dancing. She has tried to succeed in both, but the stakes are much, much higher in this story. Especially after finding out from paramour Dominic De Luca that the Covenant is sending representatives to Manhattan to check on his work and decide whether or not they will start a purge of the local Cryptid community which Verity has come very fond of since arriving in NYC. (One of the Covenant members is rather curious if I do say so myself.)
This is where we finally get a chance to meet the Price family's boogeymen, aka The Covenant of St. George, who believe that the Price-Healy's are traitors to the cause. This is also the story where Dominic has to make a stand as well. Is he loyal to the Covenant after everything that he's seen with Verity, or will he change his stripes and help Verity save the Cryptid's from mass genocide at the hands of the Covenant? What makes this book different from the previous novel is the romance growth between Verity and Dominic.
This book is quite different from the first installment. Why you ask? Because the author puts Verity into a situation where Sarah has to make the choices. It is Sarah who gets more than her fair share of story time as Verity is fighting for her life against the Covenant. We also get introduced to two members of Verity's extended family with the arrival of Uncle Mike, and Grandmother Angela Baker. One thing that remains the same regardless of what series you are reading, is that McGuire loves mixing humor, with action, and suspense. Oh, in case I forget to mention, yes, the Aeslin Mice are back. Yes, they are cuter than ever, and yes, they must be in my possession asap!
I have, for reasons that I have discussed previously, chosen to skip over the next two books in the series. I chose to jump back into the series with Verity's next book called Chaos Choreography before finally getting a chance to read Antimony's book called Magic for Nothing.
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