Dusk's Portent – T.A. White

TA White was writing four series in parallel at one point - and she has yet to drop the ball. All her books have been enjoyable. The Aileen Travers series is her first series and her best. When we first meet Aileen Travers, she is a recently-turned vampire with a penchant for running head-first into trouble.

Six books later, she is a more-senior, more-powerful, more-important recently-turned vampire with a penchant for running into trouble. But she has had six books worth of opportunity to accumulate that much more trouble - and this book starts with everything trying to go wrong at once. We start with assassins, vampire hunters, werewolves in trouble, and elder vampires who are trouble. (Some authors start with one thing going wrong and work from there.)

But it’s okay, Aileen has a plan. Step one is to borrow a jet so she can fly to Las Vegas to rescue some kidnapped friends. That’s okay, because they people she’s borrowing it from have a plan. Step one is to join Aileen on her trip - she can’t say ‘no’ because it’s their jet - because powerful beings who shouldn’t be gathering in Las Vegas are gathering in Las Vegas. That turns out to include Aileen’s biological father (a possible misnomer, as that branch of the family is only vaguely biological). He has a plan.

The book doesn’t slow down.