26 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good continuation of Twilight series, but VERY frustrating, March 8, 2005
Maxine Stuart, private detective, is moving to her sister's home in Maine to set up her own agency. Her partner, Stormy, is coming with her, and Maxine is desperately trying to persuade her old friend Lou to join them. A former cop and 18 years older than Max, Lou claims to be too old and burned-out to be of any use to Max. However, Max has been in love with Lou for years and is determined to prove to him that her feelings are real.
She persuades Lou to help them move, but no sooner do the three arrive in Maine than another old friend calls them for help. His teenage sister has disappeared and he needs them to find her. They travel to Endover, New Hampshire, and find themselves in the middle of what almost seems like Zombie-ville. It doesn't take Maxie and Lou long to realise that there's a vampire around. Their previous experience with vampires has taught them that not all of the breed are bad, but this one seems to be a rogue. He's holding Jason's sister captive, has the town in his thrall and seems keen on killing Lou and capturing Maxie and Stormy. In the meantime, Stormy seems to be suffering from some sort of mental disturbance - could she have been possessed by some figure from the vampire's past? And who is this vampire, anyway?
Blue Twilight is a direct continuation of Embrace the Twilight, the story of Morgan and Dante. Shayne has now returned to finish the story of Maxine and Lou, who were by far the more interesting characters in Embrace the Twilight; in my review of the earlier book I mentioned my frustration that Max and Lou's relationship was left in limbo. Well, now, finally, three books later, Shayne has at last given us that closure. But only in part. Because the vampire, who calls himself the Prince, was introduced right in the prologue to the book and is clearly a fascinating character. We learn his identity in the final chapter. But we don't get his story here. For that, we have to wait for Twilight Prince, not available until 2006. And so, yet again, I'm frustrated by a Shayne novel.
At least I enjoyed Blue Twilight, so the frustration's not as intense as with Twilight Hunger, which I thought was poor. But still, I'm left feeling that - despite Lou and Maxie's relationship apparently resolved - I've been teased. The book felt short; a lot more could have been covered in here. We could have had the vampire's story too. Instead, we got half a book, and that's just not good enough.
wmr-uk
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spine-tingling suspense, August 30, 2005
BLUE TWILIGHT - Maggie Shayne
MIRA
ISBN: 0-7783-2150-9
March 2005
Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Present Day - White Plains, New York & Endover, New Hampshire
"Mad" Maxine Stuart and her long time best friend Tempest "Storm" Jones are embarking on new careers as licensed private investigators, specializing in paranormal investigations. Max, Storm, and ex-police detective Lou Malone were instrumental in uncovering a covert government organization, DPI, the Department of Paranormal Investigation. They destroyed the DPI facility in White Plains and learned more about the paranormal than any of them wanted to. What they learned about vampires, in particular, will be very helpful in their new enterprise.
Max would like nothing better than to have Lou join their firm, but Lou has other plans. Retired from the police force, he tries to convince Max, and himself, that he just wants to fish and relax. But Max isn't buying it. At forty-four, Lou is too young to spend the rest of his life fishing, and if Max has anything to say about it, he won't. Max has been in love with Lou for ten years, since she was sixteen years old. She's done everything she can to show him that she's interested, but he never takes her "flirting" seriously. With a bit of trickery, Max gets Lou to accompany them to Maine where she and Storm will be living and opening their new business.
The trio no sooner arrives in Maine than a frantic call from Jason, an old friend, has them heading to Endover, New Hampshire, where two teenaged girls have disappeared. As Max, Storm, and Lou help Jason discover what happened to his sister and her friend it quickly becomes apparent that something is wrong with the town of Endover. Someone or something has a hold on the town that makes its residents little more than mindless drones. To complicate things, Storm, who suffers from unusual dreams and blackouts since recovering from a bullet wound to the head, grows worse. She sees and hears things she doesn't understand and begins to feel that she is not alone in her body. When this other force takes over, Storm has no memory of what happens during the blackouts. Meanwhile, Max continues her campaign to win Lou's heart despite his continued refusal to entertain thoughts of a relationship between them.
As Max works to find the missing teens, unravel the mystery of what is happening to Storm, and yearns for Lou's love, a dark menace is watching her every move. Whatever controls the town of Endover is now trying to get to Max, and through her, to Storm. Will they figure out what is going on before it's too late -- or will Max lose her life, never realizing her dream of a life with Lou?
Spine-tingling suspense laces the pages of BLUE TWILIGHT, the spectacular new book in Maggie Shayne's Twilight Series. In BLUE TWILIGHT the reader is reintroduced to Maxine, Storm, and Lou, all characters who have played key roles in previous novels. The story revolves around an ancient being who has controlled the town of Endover for years, a powerful and single-minded man who will stop at nothing to gain what he most wants -- more power and his lost love. Max and Lou's relationship, along with Storm's strange affliction, add elements of humor, passion and danger to the whole. Max is a woman who often acts on instinct and with passion, getting herself into a lot of trouble. Lou is always there to save her from her own actions, and he protects her with a fierceness that belies his claim that they are only friends. Lou has a lot of his own baggage, and he struggles with his feelings for Max, not believing he is the right man for her. As the danger escalates, so do the emotions of the key players.
The narrative is vivid and descriptive, especially in the portrayal of the miasma that hovers over Endover. It was easy to imagine the town and its people and the feeling of apathy that slowly creeps up on Max, Lou, and Storm the longer they stay. The dialogue is crisp and realistic, and the interactions between the characters believable, lively, and emotional. This is a group of people with deep bonds who find themselves questioning everything and everyone around them. The villain in the piece is not quite what the reader expects, and he garners almost as much sympathy as fear.
As I was reading the final pages of BLUE TWILIGHT, it was with a pounding heart and anxious worry over how it would all turn out. After turning the last page, I was left with many of my questions answered, but enough left open that I cannot wait until the next book, PRINCE OF TWILIGHT, comes out next year.
A novel that will grab you from the first page and never let up, BLUE TWILIGHT is one of the best paranormal suspense novels I've read this year, and the ending will knock your socks off!
Terrie Figueroa
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I liked it, March 7, 2005
I'm a new reader of Maggie Shayne. This is actually the first novel of her's I picked up. Perhaps that's why I feel comfortable giving her five stars. It seems her old fans expect a certain format from Shayne and have give less stars because of it.
Well, this novel is about a couple of paranormal sleuths who receive an urgent call from an old partner. Jason says his sister is missing and he needs Max and Stormy to help find her. Actually, it seems an old and powerful vampire, obsessed with his old blond haired petite love, came across a picture Stormy and was entralled with the likeness. Therefore, he's using Jason by holding his sister and friend hostage until he can get Stormy and Max to his island mansion. Sounds corney? Actually, I found it very readable. I liked the fact the old vampire had two sides. He holds an entire city in tralled, yet he chews out any of his minons if they harm a girl.
The above is the sub-story. The real story in Blue Twilight is the one going on between Max and her love interest, Lou. Max decides to pull all the guns and get Lou to admit his feelings for her. It doesn't work, but something else does in the end.
I'm looking forward to back tracking and seeing all that I missed in previous books. It was weird having to read Shayne referring to previous novels and not have a clue what she was talking about.
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