Claire has pledged herself to Amelie, the Founder of Morganville and the most powerful vampire in town. With transferring no longer an option, Claire must rely on Amelie for the protection her contract grants. This does little to reassure her friends - especially when the Founder orders Claire to take private lessons from an ancient vampire, who is seemingly losing his mind.
To top it all off, Eve's murderous brother is on the loose and girls are suddenly turning up dead in town.
Ever since Claire stepped foot into Morganville she's attracted trouble from the worst people - or vampires - possible. I think this is my favourite out of the three so far. We're introduced to a few new characters and mysteries deepen even further in Midnight Alley.
In Midnight Alley, Claire isn't the little mouse she is in Glass Houses and Dead Girls Dance. She made slight improvements in Dead Girls Dance, but now we see her mature and grow into a fierce young woman. She's more considerate of the impact her choices have on her friends and the consequences she may face. I think she is growing up quite quickly (coming from a safe home environment into Morganville vamp-town would do that to you) and mustering as much strength as she possibly can to overcome the struggles she's facing; new tougher classes, her contract, Monica and Co., terrifying studies with a mad vampire and Eve's psychotic brother. This would probably break anyone older, so I respect her for handling it as well as she can.
With Claire keeping secrets - her super secret work with an ancient vampire, and the fact she has signed a contract with Amelie - and Michael being a vampire, which Shane refuses to accept, trust is scarce in the house. Throw in the fact dead girls are turning up dead near the house, relationships are strained and tension is high. I feel like this is mostly down to Shane due to his hatred of vampires and can't see past that when it comes down to Michael. The only reason michael turned was because he couldn't continue the half-life he had, and to save Shane from his dad. Although Claire could have told her friends about the contract, I can understand she was scared about their reaction and losing her 'freedom'.
I wanted to slap Shane in this book to be honest. He was constantly whining and acting immature (I mean come on, moving out? Really?). His constant bickering with Michael was not called for; Michael turned to save him so he should be thankful. I get it's an adjustment, but Shane could have tried a bit more. With this, I have a love-hate relationship as he does have his moments.
Anyway, my new favourite vampire: Myrnin! I might be a weirdo by thinking this, but I absolutely love him; he's so fascinating - and also unstable. It's like he's losing his mind, and when he can't remember he's terrifying and deadly. When he remembers, he's so adorable and a great teacher for Claire. I don't know if he's in the next book (I think this is where I stopped first time round), but I hope he is; He's such a complex character and has so much potential.
So, the plot. I said in my Glass House review there isn't much of a plot to start with, and I can see why. Each book has it's mini-plots (or sub-plots, if you prefer that term) but I can finally see the bigger plot at play in Midnight Alley. We finally get a cliff-hanger!! It's definitely a slow build-up: You are given little pieces of information in each book that don't make much sense on their own, and the further you get through the series you can slowly piece them together. I haven't figured out the twist or yet, given I'm only on book 3.
For example, Glass House's mini-plot was about the vampire town and the mysterious book. The piece of information for the bigger plot that the book is important and there hasn't been any vamps turned for decades. Dead Girl's Dance's mini-plot was Shane's dad; the information we gain is that there's a sickness within the Vampires, resulting in them going mad and not being able to turn more vampires. See the pieces connecting? I won't give away Midnight Alley's, work it out yourself!
Ohhh, and that ending was amazing. We finally get a cliff-hanger!! I didn't see that coming at all and I felt it was the perfect way to end the book; especially with Clare's parents turning up! I know some people hated it and felt the scene was unfinished, but for me it was absolutely right to end that way.
Rating: 5 Stars
Would I recommend? Yes
Will I read the next? Yes
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