After Dark

Author: Jayne Castle
Published: September 1, 2000 (Jove)
Category: Paranormal Romance
Rating: 5/10

I'm not sure if the rating is due to the fact that I read the sequel, After Glow before this one. I loved that book so much and expected so much from its predecessor, when I really shouldn't have done that. The paranormal psychic terminology is more complex in After Dark than AG, where Castle simplified the long terms into "ghost hunter" and "tangler" for the two types of psychics.


The events of AD accur after Lydia's "lost weekend," when she was lost in the catacombs under Old Cadence for 48 hours. She's now a has-been para-archaelogist working at Shrimpton's House of Ancient Horrors, a puny excuse for a museum. Just as she's about to get consulting work with the mysterious Emmett Smith, she finds a corpse in one of her displays.


Lydia and Emmett's relationship is very rocky, what with her dislike of ghost hunters and their guild. Emmett happens to be a very powerful ghost hunter and a former Guild Boss in another city. They almost get it on a few times but Lydia usually stops him because it would be unwise to mix business with pleasure. And then when the deed is actually done, it's like they're dealing with murder and then bang! They're in bed. Something about the relationship was slightly off, so I had a feeling like the two weren't really meant for each other.

But please, don't stop reading Jayne Castle books because After Dark is disappointing, because After Glow, its sequel is fantastic. Emmett and Lydia are so lovely together in that book. I would definitely recommend skipping AD and going straight to AG.