Summary:

Sealed away through unending centuries in a sarcophagus never meant to be opened, he had patiently waited for the opportunity to live again, for the chance to feed on the unwary and grow strong. Now, at last, the waiting had come to an end. Brought to the Egyptology Department of Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum, the seals and spells that imprisoned him chipped away by his discoverers, he reached forth to claim the minds and souls of the unsuspecting city dwellers, to begin building an empire for himself and his god. And only three people had even a hint that anything was wrong.

For Henry Fitzroy, 450-year-old vampire, it began with a haunting, inescapable image of the sun, a terrifying symbol of death to one such as he. Fearing for his sanity, he called upon his sometime-lover and comrade in supernatural investigations, ex-cop Vicki Nelson, for help. And even as the two struggled to cope with Henry’s obsession, Vicki’s closest friend and former partner, Police Detective Mike Celluci was following up on two mysterious deaths at the museum, certain he was looking at murders not accidents – and equally convinced that the killer was a mummy brought back from the dead!

Goodreads

Thoughts:

This is the third book in the series and the main characters are really settling into their own here. I also love that we get to have an adventure dealing with yet another typical horror monster–this time it’s a mummy!

I love the way this story gave each of the three pivital characters time to shine and also grapple with their own issues. Vicki continues to grow as a character. She’s still learning to deal with the limitations of her sight and what that means for her but she’s also not letting that hold her back (even though sometimes maybe she should). She’s a very guarded person and you get a feel for that in how she interacts with those closest to her–Mike, Henry and even on occasion her mother. It’s hard for her to really let people inside those defenses but you see that she might be starting to give a bit by the end of this one.

Meanwhile Henry is dealing with a lot here. Right from the beginning he has a connection with the mummy even though he doesn’t know that’s what’s happening, for a long time he just thinks he’s having terrible dreams and that maybe it’s his time for him to walk into the sun. He’s really dealing with some deep inner demons here and we get some more flashbacks which give us more insight to his character and what he’s going through, wrestling with his immortality. Being a vampire isn’t all fun and games! The connection between Henry and this mummy isn’t just this mental thing but once they meet up you realize they have this whole immortality thing in common. Even though this other immortal is clearly evil, Henry has to confront his own immortality in the process and there’s a certain bond therek, if you like.

I also really enjoyed all the bits of the story following around Mike Celluci. He’s not exactly embraced the supernatural but it’s very clear that he’s opened his mind to it and is actually the first of them to put things together. You see why he’s such a good cop here, because faced with the unbelievable he just realizes these are the facts now and goes from there to investigate. Getting to know Mike more as a character, apart from Vicki, was really great. I hope we get to spend more time with him.

There’s a lot of tension in this book revolving around Vicki’s love life–things have gotten complicated! Not only is she seeing Henry (well, letting him feed from her and enjoying fantastic sex and friendship) but she’s also kind of still dealing with feelings for Mike. The love triangle ramps up here and Vicki is pretty confused regarding her feelings overall especially when Henry seems to be so sure of his. Love triangles can be hit or miss with people but I love them when they’re done well and I actually like the way it’s written here. Mike and Henry do a lot of posturing which is amusing to me but annoys the crap out of Vicki and I love that she doesn’t hold back in telling them to knock it off.

I think the plot here was pretty great and well-executed. There’s plenty of danger as the mummy is really powerful. So powerful that even Henry is afraid to face him alone. This one is really an all hands on deck and everyone doing their part thing. Of course, things get further complicated when Vicki is essentially kidnapped when they need her most. Yikes! All of this gave the story a great pace and kept things moving right along.

Overall, really loved this one. It had a lot of things that appealed to me as a reader on a personal level and I am looking forward to the next one for sure. 4.5/5 stars.