Publisher: Signet (December 2007)
Series: Midnight Warriors
 

Diedre Knight’s Parallel Desire, the fourth book of the Midnight Warriors Series, takes the war and the characters to the brink of Armageddon. Both within the outer political world and the internal world of love, the dangers are great, the passions intense, and betrayal lurking. Parallel Desire follows the third book, Parallel Seduction, and should be read within the context of that book and the whole series for its maximum reading pleasure.

Scott Dillon, reeling from his actions at the end of the third book, now finds himself in a parallel world of the past, not with his wife but with Refarian medic Shelby Tyler. Living in Jacob Tierny’s body yet hunting down the real Jacob Tierny in this past world, Scott Dillon is a stranger living in the wrong body, the wrong time and the wrong dimension. With a happy ending to his romance blown to pieces, he still has memories of his other life. How can he hope for love when grief and a passion for vengeance overwhelm his very soul? Obsessed with the desire to hunt down the man who killed his wife, Scott risks breaking the rules of the parallel dimension design to achieve his goal --- even if it means destroying the very fabric of the universe. Can Shelby’s body and comfort heal his very soul? She cannot deny the passion that draws her to this tortured Antousian, but can she accept his past ---- and indeed her own ---- so that love can transform them both?

While Shelby and Scott wrestle for the very survival of their souls, the war between the Antousians and the Refarians rages at its most deadly. The Antousians infiltrate the very power echelons of American government in a bid for their survival. As Kelsey prepares for the birth of her child and Jared’s heir, her own physical safety is at risk, not only from the Antousians but also in the very nature of her child, a dual being fetus in her human body.

In Parallel Desire, Deidre Knight reaches into the very heart of her universe and of love itself. In this dimension, the true nature of the characters emerges as they wage war to protect civilization from forces attempting to co-opt it for nefarious purposes. Even more, the characters battle passionately for love as their true natures are revealed in the most elemental forms --- both raw physicality and pure energy.

Deidre Knight’s Parallel Desire examines the theme of identity. What makes up a person’s identity? Is it the different body that makes the Refarians and Antousians alien? Is it a name that defines a person? What happens when another’s body is infiltrated by another human being? What happens to Kelsey when her body nurtures another not completely human being within? Do the mitres change her identity? Does blood line or duty define a person? Do the special powers define a being? When a dual nature creature is forced to into a mono-nature, does it destroy the very soul? When a man is forced to live within the body of a villain, can he lose his soul? When the very souls of characters are stolen, what happens to their identity? Is a lost soul retrievable?

In the last book of the Midnight Warrior paranormal romance series, Deidre Knight is absolutely brilliant. She takes the reader into a microcosm within Armageddon, focusing on the specific internal battles and hot passion within two characters. At the same time, Deidre Knight takes the reader out to the larger universe and larger questions of identity, giving us a prism with which to view the entire series in a new light, yet one carefully built in the previous three books. A magnificent book and series!