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"Talk about an ending!"

Once again, we're back with Team Limpett. This time around, the team is really broken and shattered. Kiko is still fighting his addiction to pain pills. Breisi was murdered and is now a Friend and Dawn is still trying to cope with what happened when her mother kidnapped her. Right now, she doesn't know who to trust, Jonah—aka The Voice—or Matt Lonigan—her love interest—also a vampire hunter. The Friends are disappearing one by one and the worst thing, Dawn knows her mother has changed Frank into a vampire, for Eva took Frank after Breisi was killed. When Kiko starts his withdrawal shakes, the Friends put him to sleep. Now totally at loose ends and unable to sleep, Dawn decides she's had enough and is going to learn everything she can. To begin, she summons Breisi. When she ends up in the "fire woman's" portrait, Dawn does indeed learn something new. She learns that all of the Friends were once vampire hunters working with Jonah. The most important thing Dawn learns is that she can command the Friends. She also becomes jealous when she realizes all the Friends are female, because she realizes he has "had" all these women. Now she's more determined than ever to find out exactly what Jonah is and so off she goes to find him. And so she learns both Jonah's and Costin's stories. Jonah is nothing more than a wealthy man whose body Costin inhabits. For, you see, Costin was once a seer who became a vampire. The Dragon—as their leader is called—turned him and his best friend, Benedikte. However, Costin is incensed with Dawn for invading his privacy and tells her to leave. The only place Dawn can think of to go is to Matt's. On the way there, she sees Eva in the middle of the road and ends up running her car into a tree.

During all this Benedikte is not simply sitting on his laurels. Oh no, he and his second-in-command, Sorrin, are preparing the Underground for an attack. Sorrin has created ever more vicious guards and everyone is training for a major fight. In the middle of this, Eva overfeeds Frank and he escapes. Due to the Master's infatuation with her, Eva has managed to talk her way out of all the problems she created with Frank and Dawn and Breisi. Now that he knows he will never have a chance with Eva because of Frank, Benedikte has transferred his obsession to her daughter— Dawn—and will do whatever it takes to bring her to the Underground and make her his.

Will Benedikte manage to get Dawn to the Underground? Is Costin simply using Dawn again? Who can Dawn trust? What will Costin do when he discovers the Master of this Underground is none other than his good friend Benedikte? Will there be a showdown between the two? And who will get caught in the middle of it? Will Dawn really be the "key" to defeating Benedikte as Kiko predicted?

BREAK OF DAWN: VAMPIRE BABYLON BOOK 3 is a fantastic end to this trilogy. Once again, Chris Marie Green takes us on an emotion-filled roller coaster of a ride, jam-packed with discoveries, betrayals and madness. At every new development in this story, I felt for Dawn as she was either frustrated with not finding out the truth, or betrayed yet again by someone who should never betray her— from her mother, to Jonas/Costin, Matt Lonigan and even Breisi. We learn Costin's entire story in this book, along with how he came to have the Friends and what they are. And the ending—well, what can I say other than totally not what I expected. This is a story that will leave you guessing right up until the very end. This is one of the best series I have read in quite some time. And even though this is the last of the trilogy, I was very excited to find out there will be another one starting in March of 2009. Very highly recommended series, very highly.

Reviewed by Chere Gruver
Posted August 19, 2008