Masquerade: A Blue Bloods Novel (review)

In their quest to find out who's killing the young vampires of New York (see Blue Bloods, BCCB 9/06), Schuyler and her human conduit, Oliver, follow her dying grandmother's instruction to seek out Schuyler's grandfather Lawrence in Venice. He initially proves a disappointment, evading and then sending them away, but shortly thereafter he turns up in New York to train Schuyler in her powers and address the threat that the Committee seems determined to hide: a Silver Blood, one of Lucifer's remaining faithful, is menacing young Blue Bloods and is probably being harbored by one of their own. As the plot intensifies, so do the relationships between characters, but in disappointingly foreseeable ways. Schuyler still finds herself drawn to Jack and vice versa, even though Jack is eternally bound to Mimi, who happens to be his twin sister in this cycle of incarnation (adding an ick factor that's hard to overcome), and a beautiful new bad boy turns out to be as untrustworthy in character as he is perfect in appearance. Meanwhile, Schuyler's health is failing because she hasn't yet performed the Sacred Kiss on a human familiar; not wanting to lose this virginity of sorts to a stranger, she uses Oliver, only to find that he's deeply in love with her—no surprises there either. Thankfully, added historical mysteries and power intrigues move the story forward in ways much more interesting than the romance plots, and a cliffhanger ending turns on an unexpected and intriguing twist. Though not as delectable as the first book, this is still undeniably tasty fare; the vampire-romance fan base will savor this strategically plotted midsection of the chronicles of the posh and pointy-toothed.