Rachel Caine – The Dead Girls’ Dance

The second book in the Morganville Vampires series, published April 3, 2007.
Genre: Young Adult Urban Fantasy
Cover: Meh. My book has a prettier cover.



Good news, girls: your dates are here!
Claire Danvers has had her share of challenges – like being a genius in a school that favours beauty over brains, dealing with the homicidal girls in her dorm and, above all, finding out that her college town is overrun with blood-sucking fiends. On the plus side, so far Claire and her friends have managed to survive getting on the wrong side of some Morganville VIP’s… Vampire Important Persons. But their temporary peace is in danger of collapsing, thanks to the arrival of her new boyfriend’s scary father and his vampire-fighting supporters.
Bad news, girls: they’re dead.


The second book in this series is just as strong as the first one, and continues where that one ended. Michael is killed by Shane’s father and his biker friends. They have come to Morganville to kill vampires, and avenge the death’s of his mother and little sister. But money cannot make murder right, especially when the guilty party is never punished. Crazy Monica set fire to Shane’s house after he slighted her, and his little sister died because of that. His mother went almost mad with grief, and that same grief lifted the memory block the vampires implanted when they ran. They killed her for that, but did not see that Shane’s memories were coming back as well. And now, when things looked so dire for them, Shane called in his father. But Shane doesn’t want revenge anymore, there are just too many vampires here, they are too powerful. Those details were forgotten while living outside of Morganville but once back, every memory was restored. They have to get rid of his father and his cronies, before the vampires will execute them all. Amelie’s protection will only go so far.

And so it is a race against the clock for Claire and her friends. First item, stay clear of Monica Morrel, the mayor’s daughter, and her even more insane friend Gina. They are truly homicidal maniacs, and they want to kill Claire. And everyone else who irritates them.

When Shane is arrested for killing a vampire (which he did not do) Claire is determined to gather the evidence to set him free, before the vampires will burn him to a crisp in two days. Won’t his own father rescue his son? She doesn’t know who to trust anymore, Oliver wants to own her body and soul and mind, and Amelie does not interfere even though she knows the truth. And who is this vampire named Sam? The youngest one in town? He is Michael’s grandfather, and Eve likes him, but can they trust him?


A fast paced second book in the series, Claire finds out she has fallen in love with Shane, and he seems to like her a lot too. But is there a chance for Michael and Eve as well? After all, Michael is not really alive anymore. I just know that Claire is going to regret saving Monica, I sure wish she had let her burn. Still, Monica’s brother Richard does not seem to be a bad cop after all, he knows his sister is mental and he does stand up a bit against his father.

I am very curious what will happen next. I like the worldbuilding and the writing style, and all the different characters Rachel Caine has created.

8 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian