Death Before Daylight by Shannon A. Thompson

The start of 2015 has been pretty awesome.  I’m getting a lot of chances to check out some independent novels.

Up next, I have a review for the final book in the Timely Death trilogy by Shannon A. Thompson called Death Before Daylight.  This novel is not released yet but Shannon was nice enough to send me a review copy.

If you’d like to check out my review of the first two books: Minutes Before Sunset & Seconds Before Sunrise. I’ve linked it up with the names.  If you haven’t read the first two, you will want to go back to check those out.  In a nutshell, I absolutely loved the first one.  While the second one was less of a page-turner and connected with me a little less, it was still a pretty good read. At the end of the second part, I have to admit that I really anticipated reading this third one.  Lets check it out!

Death Before Daylight

by: Shannon A. Thompson

 A few months after the battle between Light and Dark, the society itself has lost a few of its own.  Normal humans have a cover story that hide away what really happened but behind the scenes, Jessica and Eric, although with their memories again, have to deal with the urgency of the situation.  The Dark is agitated by what could happen and when the Light will make their attack.  The battle and the after effects have caused most Shades to slowly lose their powers while surprisingly, Jessica and Eric are not gaining in strength.  After a close encounter with Darthon, Jessica knows more about her existence and the meaning behind it.  At the same time, Eric’s meeting with Darthon has revealed a few unknown secrets to him, especially stuck with being the only person that knows the true identity of Darthon.  The war is between Light and Dark but its as much between Jessica, Eric and Darthon and the choices they will make for their own side.

Right off the bat, Death Before Daylight picks up relatively soon after where the second book leaves it off.  The Dark is in shambles and everyone is feeling the effect of it except for Jessica and Eric.  That makes them wonder about what is going on.  Although, it took me a few moments to remember a few details of the second novel, when it all came back to me, it worked out well. The final part is an intensely paced novel.  I enjoyed it immensely, maybe the best out of the three and I loved the first one a lot. The structure of the novel stays the same with fluctuating between the two narratives of Eric and Jessica, our main protagonists.  What I liked the best about this time’s narrative was that it flowed tremendously well making the story flow flawlessly as the situation switched over back and forth as the focal point changed. This made it feel like the importance of Jess and Eric creates a balance.  At the same time, this time, the readers spend a lot more time with the enemy Light leader, Darthon that we’ve only read a lot about through what our characters have heard and had one battle scene.

Death Before Daylight also works because it now puts our main characters in more dire situations.  It really focuses on how our main characters are all stuck in predicaments where although there seems to be choices, there are so many lives at stake with each decision making everything more intense.  As this is the final novel of the trilogy, there are surprise reveals of hidden identities and honestly, the ideas felt really refreshing. Plus, there was a bigger focus on the whole back story of both Jess and Eric, each having their own demons to slay in a way.

Overall, Death Before Daylight was a really awesome read.  It was refreshing and intense all at the same time.  It was intriguing with lots of twists, hidden secrets and reveals.  The narrative flowed perfectly and the pace of how the events unfolded was really well done.  Its been a while I’ve read such a fun trilogy finale.

Remember to head over to check out what Shannon is up to at her blog right HERE! If you haven’t read the Timely Death trilogy, I highly recommend it!