Drink Deep by Chloe Neill
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Book five in the Chicagoland Vampires series
Publication Date: November 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0451234865
Page Count: 368
My Rating: ★★★★

Summary
Clouds are brewing over Cadogan House, and recently turned vampire Merit can't tell if this is the darkness before the dawn or the calm before the storm. With the city itself in turmoil over paranormals and the state threatening to pass a paranormal registration act, times haven't been this precarious for vampires since they came out of the closet. If only they could lay low for a bit, and let the mortals calm down.

That's when the waters of Lake Michigan suddenly turn pitch black-and things really start getting ugly.

Chicago's mayor insists it's nothing to worry about, but Merit knows only the darkest magic could have woven a spell powerful enough to change the very fabric of nature. She'll have to turn to friends old and new to find out who's behind this, and stop them before it's too late for vampires and humans alike.

REVIEW

This was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year, and also the one I was least looking forward to reviewing. Because how can I review it without giving away that thing you're not supposed to know? Because you can be sure there's one BIG THING people are dying to know. It's all to do with what happened in the last one. You know, the last one? With the thingy and the whatsit and the doo dah?


Hmm, hmm. You know it.

What I can tell you is that I enjoyed this book. I loved getting back to these characters, especially Merit. She's one of my favourite Urban Fantasy females. And even though she's having a tough time of it, she still maintains that strength of spirit and determination we grew to love in previous books.

The mystery element was particularly strong and was very well-executed. As you can see from the blurb, weird things are a-happening in Chicago, starting with Lake Michigan turning black. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Merit and her team work tirelessly to try and help the situation, even in the face of accusation from the humans that they're the ones responsible. They can't seem to do right for doing wrong where humans are concerned at the moment. This is further fuelled by the new Mayor. If you thought the last one was bad (which he kinda was) at least he was pro-supernaturals. This new one? She's got a face you'd never get tired of slapping.

Some of the secondary characters had time to shine this time as well. I feel like I got to know Jonah a lot more, and remembered just how much I love Lindsey's character. She has some great one-liners.

The reason this one isn't getting the full 5 star treatment is the ending. While I was happy with the events that took place, they felt very rushed. My emotions just didn't have time to catch up with how quickly everything got wrapped up, so this was a little disappointing.

I am really looking forward to the next one, however. Hopefully by then it will be slightly easier to talk about this series without everything you say being a potential spoiler. I'm pretty sure just acknowledging this book exists is some kind of spoiler. It's that much of a minefield.

Can't wait for the next one.
4 stars! ★★★★