A change for Duncan was far from a surprise. Serving Raphael for nearly two centuries, he was more than ready to become a Vampire Lord and manage his own territory. With Raphael and Cyn's blessing, he's sent from the west coast to the east coast on a mission to overtake the current Lord in Washington, DC and clean up the territory while he's at it. Politics, corruption and secrets are big characteristics of the city, and the vampire community has its hand in all of it. Duncan will have to prove that he has what it takes to turn things around. 
 Enter Emma Duquet. She infiltrates the world (or at least she tries) in an attempt to locate her best friend and roomate, Lacey. Lacey's a bit of a social buttery, but she may have landed herself in the center of a complicated web that is the vampire underground, and Emma wants to do all she can to get her out of it even if that means teaming up with the mysterious Duncan to find her. 
 I do have to give D.B. Reynolds credit for moving all over Anglo-America in her books. You might not appreciate it unless she's written about your hometown, but a lot of thought goes into describing the settings correctly. I haven't read her biography but I wonder if she's lived in these places for a time herself. It's a little trippy to read a book about D.C. while IN the city myself. I was actually in the park facubg one of those famous landmarks as I was reading the book (though I won't say which one). That makes it a little more fun. 
 Once again she seems to have returned to her roots featuring a story on about a missing female, but there is more of a twist to it this time around. Duncan's character was great and I liked seeing him in the driver's seat this time, being a natural leader. You think about how far he's come since the first book a lot. Emma's character isn't really that distinguishable from any other heroine, but the chemistry between her and Duncan was natural at least. While she has a tragic back story, she doesn't really let it get her down, and through that we learn about Duncan's past as well which is great for character development. 
 The cover is bad, yet again (though this time it's the female model that's the worst of the two), but at least this time I can see the subtitle! We're making progress! 
 This book is an absolute must-read for the fans. Though it's the penultimate book in the series, you don't really get a sense of building tension until the end. But once you read the last page you will be totally pumped to see how everything plays out in the finale.