Carlos Delacruz straddles the line between the living and the not-so alive. As an agent for the Council of the Dead, he eliminates New York’s ghostlier problems. This time it’s a string of gruesome paranormal accidents in Brooklyn’s Von King Park that has already taken the lives of several locals—and is bound to take more.

 The incidents in the park have put Kia on edge. When she first met Carlos, he was the weird guy who came to Baba Eddie’s botánica, where she worked. But the closer they’ve gotten, the more she’s seeing the world from Carlos’s point of view. In fact, she’s starting to see ghosts. And the situation is far more sinister than that—because whatever is bringing out the dead, it’s only just getting started.

I’m completely awful at “tracking” what I read & when. I really don’t use Goodreads for anything, so the most reliable method I have of tracking my reading progress for the year is knowing which was the first book I read in the year, and then just counting my Bookstagram posts. Like a caveman would.

Anyhow.

Half-Resurrection Blues was my first book of 2019, so it’s one I think of a lot (because of the…counting). Figured it was way past time to carry on with Daniel José Older’s Bone Street Rumba series, especially considering how much I enjoyed the first book.

Which is what makes this review a little wild to write, because, holy fuck, Midnight Taxi Tango takes this series to a whole other place! Everything about this book was just bigger & better & WAY MORE BADASS than the first volume. Like, oof…this is easily one of the best urban fantasy novels I’ve ever read.

To start with, the most impactful change in Midnight Taxi Tango is going from one POV to three. That’s a huge change from a first book to a second, and Older pulls it off masterfully. In addition to our half-alive hero, Carlos Delacruz, we now get chapters from Kia’s POV (which feels completely natural…she was such a scene-stealer in Half-Resurrection Blues, and I’m SO happy to see her get more “screen time” here), as well as chapters from the POV of a new character, Reza.

Carlos is still reeling from the events of Half-Resurrection Blues, and missing Sasha badly, but the creepy shit in Older’s version of Brooklyn keeps creeping, so Carlos’s work for the New York Council of the Dead continues. It’s a series of gnarly deaths in a local park that truly brings Kia into the fold, no matter how badly Carlos wishes she would keep her distance.

Reza comes into play almost suddenly. There’s not a ton of info about the organization she works for, but she and Carlos play well off one another, and she becomes a critical ally in a situation that gets more & more personal the more Carlos digs into it.

I’m sure I commented on it in my Half-Ressurection Blues review, but occasionally, there’s this lyrical/poetic quality to Older’s writing, and it goes such a long way toward creating an intense reading experience. I think I’ve only ever been in Brooklyn one time in real life, but these first two books in the series really transport the reader there…you get a sense of the community, the people, the music, the sights & sounds & smells…it’s just so fucking vivid, and could only come from an author with a lot of love for their city.

Midnight Taxi Tango is exactly why I’ve wanted to read more urban fantasy these last couple years. It’s in turns creepy af (I mean there are MONSTERS MADE OUT OF COCKROACHES FFS), really fun, and super imaginative. But Older also writes with a ton of heart, and gives you an incredibly diverse cast of characters worth caring about. Both Kia and Carlos are complex & flawed & badass POV characters…I just love them! And Reza is a great addition to the series, too…really looking forward to learning more about her & her organization.

Bone Street Rumba is shaping up to be one of my very favorite urban fantasy series…I’ve got Salsa Nocturna (a collection of short stories) to look forward to, and then Battle Hill Bolero, which I guess is the last book of the series. And while I wish this was a MUCH longer series, I have no doubt the ending will be goddamn epic!

Midnight Taxi Tango kicked my ass up & down the street…it’s early in the year, but this is easy one of my favorite books I’ve read in 2020!