Saving Midnight by Emma Holly

At the end of "Breaking Midnight", Edmund Fitzclare was freed and saved from his captors. But the captors themselves, the Vampires Frank and Li-Hua, escaped to America. One of their minions, the Vampire named Durand, joined up with the FitzClares, disliking the casual cruelty and stupidity that Frank and Li-Hua exhibited, and the sexual pleasure they took from torturing Edmund.

But now that they are in America, they have come across an artifact called the Dragon Casket- a device that can steal souls from their victims and use them to give the two power. What they don't know is that using the casket will drive them insane, but already being insane, they wouldn't particularly care, even if they knew.

Meanwhile, Pen's mother has died, and her father has to inform her of some hard truths about her mother- like the fact that she has to attend the funeral. Pen has never liked her mother, and she likes her mother's sisters, who also live at the estate and sponged off her mother, even less. But as she leaves England to head for Texas, where her mother's estate lies, she tries to see Graham one last time. He's no longer at his London home, having decamped to the FitzClare estate, where he's trying to fight his need for Pen, resorting to masturbation on a more than nightly basis to stave off his hunger for her.

Edmund, meanwhile, is suffering the fallout from his imprisonment, becoming much more savage and wolf-like, even to the point of nearly attacking Estelle. Ben and Sally, too, have changed, now being married to each other, and Sally is Pregnant with Ben's child. But when the FitzClares realize what Frank and Sally have, and what they are doing with the casket (courtesy of Nim Wei), they must take off for America and hunt down the now even greater threat that the two have become. But this time they'll be doing it without Edmund and Estelle- at this point, he's too mentally fragile to be of use, and Estelle wants to stay with him and plan their wedding.

So Graham travels to visit Pen at her home, and he also doesn't think much of her aunts, charming them but protecting her from their thinly-veiled barbs. Naturally, she wants to come along to deal with Frank and Li-Hua. And Graham lets her, because she has access to guns and friends among the Pinkertons. Also along for the ride are Durand, Ben and Sally.

But as they track Frank and Li-Hua across the United States, the two other Vampires have become a sort of Vampire Bonnie and Clyde. In a country still experiencing the Dust Bowl and the aftermath of the Depression, will they be able to track down Frank and Li-Hua and overcome them before the souls they've stolen make them too powerful for them the kill? And will Graham and Pen, Ben and Sally, Edmund and Estelle finally get the happy ending they deserve?

Well, this seems to be the end of the little "mini-trilogy" of the FitzClare family. But I am reminded that with Robin still unmatched and unmarried, there is at least one more FitzClare still to be written about. (Two if we count the one who serves as the family's pilot and maybe even Durand will get a story). But at least they aren't heavily sequel-baited, which always makes me annoyed when it happens in the story. It's like a giant sign flashing, "HELLO! SEQUEL FORMING HERE!"

Anyhow, Holly ramps up the menace of Frank and Li-Hua in the novel with the introduction of the Casket, increasing their powers, but at the same time, their own passions seem to take over, actually making them a bit more scattered and thus, easier to track. We also get to dip into the minds of Frank and Li-Hua a lot more, and while it's distasteful, we also get to see how very dysfunctional their relationship is, which only increases the level of distaste and makes the reader more eager to see them brought down.

The ending, however, comes down to a whimper rather than a bang, as the partnership between the two disintegrates, allowing them to be more easily picked off. Not that it is an easy fight, regardless, and the cost to their allies is high. But there is a happy ending- although how happy it will stay with the War (WW2) looming, no one can say. But I liked this one better than "Breaking Midnight" mainly because it seemed less of a bickerfest between the two main characters. Recommended.