Prisoner of Midnight (A James Asher Vampire Novel)
At the Hotel St-Seurin in Paris, James Asher reads a letter written hurriedly by his wife. Dr. Lydia Asher reports that she sees the vampire Don Simon Ysidro in her dreams—and feels his pain. He is imprisoned on the steamship City of Gold bound for New York City. Despite threats to shipping because of the Great War in Europe, she feels compelled to find and free him before he is pressed into service as a weapon.
Prisoner of Midnight is the eighth in the James Asher series, which introduced James, a professor and former spy for Queen Victoria, Lydia, and Don Simon in Those Who Hunt the Night in 1988. The books follow the trio as they get involved, together and separately, in espionage and political intrigue, romance and love, and altercations between the living and the undead.
Prolific author Barbara Hambly (she has written 15 other novel series) smoothly transitions between characters’ thoughts and actions and long-distance, independent storylines. In Prisoner of Midnight she adds keen insights about war and its effects on different populations. A number of the wealthy who sail on City of Gold bemoan the inconvenience of wartime as it delays or interferes with business dealings. Vampires, meanwhile, revel in the carnage of the battlefield. The concern for both Ashers is the recognition of the abilities of vampires by a hostile power and their subjugation to win at all costs. Characters are clearly delineated; plotlines are, for the most part, crisply drawn and unpredictable. This is a prime example of the staying power and fascination vampires hold for readers who wonder whether the prisoners of midnight are the undead or their victims.
