After a hiatus of too many years, Hambly has finally returned to her vampire series with a third volume following Those Who Hunt the Night and Traveling with the Dead.
It's 1911 and all Europe is bracing itself for the fury of the war that is waiting to engulf the world. James Asher, professor of folklore and old languages at Oxford University, and his intelligent young wife Lydia, are just getting over the private grief of Lydia's recent miscarriage. Asher would like to forget that he was once also a secret agent in the British intelligence service (the Department) until his marriage --- and disillusionment --- led him to resign. But he cannot so easily escape his connection with Don Simon Ysidro, the 500-year-old vampire who was once his adversary, then his (unwilling) ally, Lydia's protector, and now their uneasy partner once again.
For Don Simon has received a warning from an old acquaintance in St. Petersburg that the German Kaiser is seeking to recruit vampires to his service in the coming war. The Ashers and Don Simon travel to St. Petersburg to find Don Simon's informant vanished, revolution threatening, and disquieting evidence that a German scientist has found a way to allow vampires to walk unscathed in the daylight. In a world turned upside down, Asher must decide what constitutes the ultimate betrayal.
Hambly expertly combines history and horror in a mesmerizing tale.
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