Schuyler Van Alen, one of New York's vampire elite, is on the run with Oliver after being accused of murdering her own grandfather. They're pursued by Jack, a vampire promised to another, who still holds Schuyler's heart. Soap-opera plot twists abound in this saga of love and power. The series' shallow materialism recedes as the vampires-as-fallen-angels conceit ratchets up.

A year has passed since the vampire massacre in Rio, and the New York coven is in disarray. Schuyler and her human conduit, Oliver, have been running since Rio, Mimi has joined the Venators to track down the missing Watcher in the body of Bliss’s little sister, and Bliss, having lost the year possessed by the Visitor, is struggling to keep herself in her own body.  de la Cruz continues to build the mythology of the Blue Bloods in this fourth book in the series, expanding the past lives of the young, rich, and powerful vampires into the time of Ancient Rome and far beyond to their origins as angels and demons. Chapters alternate between the three young women at the center of the saga—Schuyler, Mimi, and Bliss—and while these different perspectives create a complete view of the action, the structure becomes choppy on occasion.  The story depends heavily on details revealed in earlier books; readers should definitely read (and even reread, if it has been a while) the rest of the series first to fully understand what is going on here. The climactic battle with Lucifer and the Leviathan is strangely anticlimactic, and the revelation that Bliss must find “the wolves” and bring them to join the Blue Bloods’ battle is an eye-roller in these post-Twilight days.  But there is plenty of adventure, romance, brand-name dropping, and even classical history in this installment; the Blue Bloods faithful will not be disappointed.—Vikki Terrile.