This 3rd volume in the Vicki Nelson series was again a re-read, but I found I enjoyed this one more than the first two, having found them a little disappointing this time around. The villain in this story, a weak point in the other volumes, was far more convincing: it isn't a spoiler to say he was a pre dynastic Egyptian sorceror, sealed with spells into a sarcophagus which has been in the private collection of a aristocratic British family for the last couple of centuries but is now sold to the Museum in Toronto. Before his arrival, the disturbance to his sarcophagus gives him increasing freedom to send forth his ka - the Egyptian life force/personality - to influence the museum curator who has bought the sarcophagus for the museum in the (correct) belief that it is unsealed and therefore contains a mummy. And before long, he is feeding on the life forces of modern day people and beginning to establish a power base, in the service of his god but also ultimately to try to gain sufficient power to become godlike himself.

I enjoyed the Egyptology background and the idea that, in contrast to ancient Egypt where sorcery was believed in and the gods were real and most people were dedicated to a god from birth and had protections which kept them safe from the villain's machinations, the modern world has such a lack of religious belief that he is able to overpower and recruit without opposition.

I also liked the fact that Henry played a much bigger role in this story than the predeceding one and that he and Mike, Vicki's other lover in their love triangle, have to start to work together and to develop some mutual respect. Although it was never spelled out to him, since the events of the previous book which occurred a few months previously, Mike seems to have accepted the notion that Henry is a vampire. Possibly though, Vicki has a bit too much baggage in this novel and going forward in the series: not only is she suffering from the progressive eye disease which may render her blind and is the reason she had to leave the police force and is now a private investigator, it seems that her inability to commit to either man - or any man - is because her dad abandoned her and her mother when she was a child.

One continuing oddity is the way Vicki seems quite happy to share Henry with Tony, the young man who grew up on the streets but now has a steady job etc thanks to Henry. As Tony's former mentor who tried to look out for him, it is a bit strange that she thinks it OK for them both to have a sexual relationship with Henry (entailed in the blood drinking for a vampire, if a regular relationship is in place as opposed to hunting strangers). Henry isn't exactly exploiting Tony, but he is obviously a mature character at 450 years old whereas Tony is just around 17. The whole issue is dealt with very much as a casual side mention and Vicki seems to feel that open relationships are great all round: not an attitude most people can handle in practice even if they subscribe to it in theory.

The end of the story implies that there might at some point be more trouble with the god who lay behind the mummy's predations, but I don't know if that was ever followed through in a later volume.

As I enjoyed this one more than the two preceding volumes, it rates 4 stars. ( )

I love how Tanya Huff writes the perfect mix of humor and seriousness it is the best mix of dark and light. No matter what series of hers I read I find myself thoroughly enjoying it. The main character in this is a kick butt heroine and I love her. I was very sad several years ago that the tv series ended so quickly because Vicki is a great character. ( )

OK, this series is degenerating to the point where characterization is being sacrificed for, "There must be some reason the character does this stupid, unreasonable thing to make something happen." I'm losing respect. ( )

This is my favorite of the Vicky Nelson books so far. I really like the way it plays out.

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2020 UPDATE: This book was harder to read this time around than it was the first time I read it. There's an example of police brutality in here. It's not for very many pages, and it's the bad guys doing it (and there are example of good cops to balance it out) but with everything going on in the news that was NOT an easy section of the book to read. I still enjoyed the main plot and most of the characters, but it wasn't "purely fantasy" the way I had seen it when I originally read it. ( )

This is another action-packed, detective, urban-fantasy novel in the Blood Series by Tanya Huff. These books make for entertaining reading. ( )