Book Review

A Shining in the Shadows: The Gabriel Davenport Series, Book 2, by Beverley Lee

4.5 Stars

Fiction. Thriller. Horror. Suspense. Dark Fantasy.

Pulls you in and when it’s over, you need more.

Menacing dark fantasy and paranormal suspense combine in the second book of this reader acclaimed supernatural series (Gabriel Davenport) from British author Beverley Lee

Gabriel Davenport has been remade from darkness. Now, he must adapt to survive .

In a small seaside town, Gabriel’s maker unwittingly takes his wards into the throes of a deadly new game. There are rumblings on The Bloodvyne, the mental web of linked vampire consciousness. Whispers about a cleansing, about the ruling council hunting vampires with impure blood.

Gabriel finds himself thrust into a new nightmare, where the hunter becomes the hunted. When his maker is taken, he must battle to untangle the mystifying clues laid out in an uncovered labyrinth to find the only creature strong enough to fight against those that hunt his new-found family.

Gaze long into the darkness, and you’ll find old vampire foes out for revenge, new ones with their own agenda, and a witch who holds the key. But just who is the monster in the middle?

The Making of Gabriel Davenport was a fantastic opening to this series and in A Shining in the Shadows that world we were introduced to explodes. With beautiful style, Beverley Lee takes us through the night of a seaside town, throwing us, along with her heroes, through the muck with no idea what way is best to turn.

A difficult thing to accomplish, book 2 far surpassed book 1, as far as I was concerned. Complete with depth of plot and equally deep characters, Shining is a book lover of all styles will enjoy. A master storyteller, Ms. Lee is a champion of drizzling just enough at perfectly timed intervals to keep you turning pages, never lost, but never clear on what is about to happen to create a perfectly crafted story.

Well balanced between suspense and horror, Ms. Lee’s use of the genre term “Dark” is classic, of which I was a great fan. No need for flashy scenes of violence or gore to move us along; this is a tale full of story the reader will devour.

A Shining in the Shadows brought me back to the days when I was an avid Anne Rice reader, stuck on tales of Lestat and the psychology of what it meant to be a powerful immortal, before the more romantic versions of vampire stories graced the shelves. I felt right at home with this book and can’t wait for more from Ms. Lee. There’s so much more to learn about Gabriel’s new world and those he shares with it.