Midnight Taxi Tango

Bone Street Rumba, Book 2

By: Daniel José Older

Narrated by: Daniel José Older

The author of Half-Resurrection Blues returns in a new Bone Street Rumba Novel - a knife-edge, noir-shaded urban fantasy of crime after death.

The streets of New York are hungry tonight...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.

©2016 Daniel José Older (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The second entry in Older's urban fantasy series is intense and satisfying. What's more, he narrates it well.... Older's experience as a composer and musician serves him well. His delivery of dialogue is crisp, the cast of characters is well defined, and it's always clear which of the three narrators is speaking." (AudioFile)

Sublime

Wonderful story. Wonderful narration. Complex, poetic, interesting, unexpected, a little bizarre, and the characters are magnificent.

More Supernatural Fun from Daniel José Older

I would absolutely recommend "Midnight Taxi Tango" to urban fantasy/horror fans, though I would advise reading the previous book, "Half-Resurrection Blues," first as while this one CAN stand on its own, there's significant context regarding Carlos, his behavior, and state of mind that's gained by reading the series in order.

Older's writing always paints a vivid picture, and this is no more apparent than when he describes the vile creatures in his stories. With a thoroughly creepy menace, it's easy to feel concern for the fate of the protagonists, and it was difficult to stop listening each time I had to turn off the book for another task or sleep. While I really like Carlos and want to know more about the mystery of his life and death, the female characters really shine and captured my attention in this one. Kia, Reza, and Sasha (though her appearance is limited) are all fierce, emotionally complex, and all-around fascinating individuals. Kia in particular is easy to love. This story is a perfect expansion of an already rich and vibrant world, combining Brooklyn with the supernatural.

Once again, the author narrates the story - something which I thoroughly enjoy. While he doesn't use the range of tones or accents that other narrators do, Older still gives each speaker their own unique voice and brings to life the lyricism in the writing in a way that I'm not sure another could. All in all, I think this book is well worth the listen.

Terrific new voice(s) in urban fantasy

I really dug Older's first book in the Bone Street Rumba series, Half Resurrection Blues, when it came out at the beginning of 2015, and am enjoying this second installment just as much.
The author is an interesting character himself, until 2014 an EMT by day, and a musician and author by night. His musical side comes out in a lot of his prose, which is very attuned to the sounds of NYC, where the Bone Street Rumba books take place.
These two books, along with Salsa Nocturna, his first collection of short stories, introduce many wonderful characters in Brooklyn, "civilian" and supernatural, primarily Carlos Delacruz, an agent for the Council of the Dead, and himself an in-betweener, half dead and half alive. The second character that comes to life in a great deal more detail in this book is Kia, a teenage girl who, against her will, is becoming all too deeply involved in Carlos' supernatural world.
Although Carlos was the narrator for the entirety of H-R Blues, Older has chosen to structure this second book by alternating the first person narration of each chapter; thus, Carlos narrates one chapter, Kia the next, and so on. It's a really interesting mode of storytelling, and Older is satisfyingly believable, in both his writing and his spoken narration, in both these voices.
Unlike the majority of books in the urban fantasy world, most of the characters in The Bone Street Rumba 'verse are men and women of color, a beautiful and rich layer to Older's already imaginative and cool storytelling. There are many beautifully drawn characters, wonderful comedic moments, great action, some creepy scary stuff, some lovely sweet moments, and a few awesome monologues of just plain philosophizing.
Bonus; the author himself reads his works and is a terrific narrator, giving each character a very specific sound. He's quite good and makes the listening experience super enjoyable.
There's some language, nothing terribly rough, a few f-words, but it is, nonetheless, a story with some sweetness at its heart. The hero and the people he is surrounded by are good, kind, and funny.
If you want to start at the very beginning, start with Salsa Nocturna, a nice introduction to the Bone Street Rumba 'verse, then dig right in. If you're a fan of urban fantasy, I know you'll enjoy it.

Miles Davis Cool

Any additional comments?

Really enjoyed the first book, but this installment is crazy cool, one of the best urban fantasy novels I've listened to. Older has gotten better in every way, writing, writing prose, and most importantly narration. Listening to this novel was like listening to Miles Davis, no matter what's going on, it's f'n so cool.

Hard to distinguish main characters

The story was great and so many of the characters have a very distinct voice but Kia and Carlos sounded the same. I kept getting lost because I couldn’t tell who was talking. Fun story though.