Well… that was a trilogy.
After book one (Whispers at Dusk) earned a middling 3 stars and book two (Secrets in the Dark) left me underwhelmed, I still held out hope that book three would pull things together, especially with the promise of a suave international killer loose in Edinburgh. Instead, Cursed at Dawn managed to be the most forgettable of the bunch.
Despite the stakes supposedly being higher, Dante—the series’ criminal centerpiece—is barely even present. We spend most of the book with agents eating, sleeping, showering, and flirting, all while coming up empty on every lead. The romance is dull, the tension nonexistent, and any spark of danger is buried under repeated history lectures about Edinburgh’s tunnels, which, by this point, are practically supporting characters. (Yes, they're old. Yes, they’re built on older tunnels. Yes, we got it the first twelve times.)
Nearly every character speaks the same way, to the point that dialogue becomes a guessing game. There’s zero personality in the voices, just a flood of interchangeable agents, victims, and disposable "failures" from all over the world, none of whom make a lasting impression.
And for a finale? The big showdown lasts a few pages, at the absolute end of the book, and it's hardly a showdown...more of a dirty walk, though something's crumbling.
If you’re in it for a gritty, gripping criminal pursuit, this series ultimately doesn’t deliver. If you’re here for historical facts and agent bar snacks, you’re in luck.