There is also no love lost between the two. It is implies that they hold something against Marcus as well but what that is Alex never asked his partner. And since those powers have a certain set of canopic jars in their possession that Alex might possibly not be able to exist without, he has no choice but to comply. He does his job not because he likes it or needs the money, but because the shadow powers that stand behind the government said so. Alex, or Mankaure, has pretty much grown tired of petty human squabbles that never change, no matter how many millennia pass him by.

But where Marcus tends to be mostly broody, Alex exhibits a pronounced lack of interest for anything. Which calls for nocturne cops, or the Nocturne Squat.Īlex and Marcus are a few thousand years old each, and it shows in their generally pessimistic outlook on life and the world in general. Now there are laws and procedures in place to deal with the paranormal citizens. Staking a nocturne through the heart and cutting their head off will land you behind bars for premeditated murder just as easily as shooting a regular guy through the head. What was considered a monster and a creature of legend before is now a citizen of the United States. Even the smallest bodegas and grocery shops carry Hemo-Synth blood on their shelves.Īnd there is a bigger legislative shift as well. Humans work during the day, and vampires do the same jobs at night.

So there is a huge economical shift worldwide - the world literally never sleeps. If vampires are regular citizens now, they also need regular jobs and places to live, places to go to relax and have fun, places to buy their artificial blood at. I like how much thought the author put into this idea. And thanks to a successful PR campaign, they even persuaded said general public that they weren't a danger to anyone and that human and vampires could coexist peacefully. After the discovery and mass production Hemo-Synth, an artificial blood substitute, the vampires revealed their existence to the general public. I love the world I love the main characters. I have been spoiled with excellent first books in new series lately and Graveyard Shift is no exception. He is the mummy of pharaoh Menkaure, cursed to walk this world until the end of times… Oh I forgot to mention that Marcus is a few thousand years old vampire who knew Julius Ceasar, and Alex is even older than that. They are called nocturnes, and the Nocturne Squad is in charge of investigating all crimes perpetrated by and against nocturnes. Oh and 'vampire' is not a politically correct word. Except in this Miami, vampires live in the open and are considered as much citizens of the United States as humans are, obeying the same laws and enjoying the same rights. Alex and Marcus are detectives at the Nocturne Squad in modern day Miami.

Graveyard Shift by Michael F. Haspil