Day Shift

This is my first time reading Charlaine Harris' work. I heard great things about her Sookie Stackhouse series, but unfortunately I never had the chance to read it. When I found out she had a new series I was keen to give it a try as such I was glad to receive an advanced reader's copy through Penguin's First to Read program. When I received this title I had no idea that it was the second book in the Midnight, Texas series. Fortunately, it was easy for me to get into the story without feeling lost. The story is set in Midnight, a small and quaint town in Texas. The residents of this town are rather unconventional. They like their town the way it is and as such was not keen on the changes that was about to come upon their town. These were changes they could not afford as they had secrets they did not wish the outside world to know. In this installment the story focuses on Manfred a psychic. He does most of his readings via the telephone but there are times when he gives face to face readings. It was at one these readings that he found himself at the centre of a murder investigation. The investigation would open up the town to scrutiny which the residents could not afford and as such Manfred with the help of Olivia sought to clear his name. For me the story was entertaining and interesting. The pace was perfect. At no point in the story did I find myself feeling bored. The story was told from a third person omniscient POV I loved the characters. Although they were different in nature and had their secrets they were very close. They all had one goal in common, that of protecting their town from outsiders. This story shows that working together as a team can lead to successful results. I loved how Manfred and Olivia went about uncovering who the actual murderer is. Their attempts at times were funny. It was during this time that I learnt a lot about Olivia. She is definitely someone to watch out for. Although I enjoyed the story, there were some things I had an issue with. For example, one of the changes that was to affect Midnight was the building of a hotel by a multinational company, however not much detail was provided on this. In addition, it was not clear what happened to the senior citizens who were residing at the hotel. What was the real purpose for them being there? I enjoyed this book overall. After reading this installment, I am looking forward to the next book in the series as I can't wait to uncover the secrets of the town Midnight.