{"id":5633,"date":"2016-01-30T10:21:45","date_gmt":"2016-01-30T15:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=5633"},"modified":"2024-08-09T10:19:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T14:19:00","slug":"midnight-taxi-tango","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5633","title":{"rendered":"Midnight Taxi Tango"},"content":{"rendered":"

Midnight Taxi Tango<\/a><\/em> (2016) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>First things first: that is an absolutely MARVELOUS cover. I LOVE it.<\/p>\n

It’s (obviously) not Carlos, who was the main character of the first book (and who is a main character here, never fear) but is Kia, the high school student who works at Baba Eddie’s bot\u00e1nica and is being pulled into Carlos’ world of the dead.<\/p>\n

A textbook lies open on the counter in front of me; I don\u2019t even remember taking it out. It\u2019s trig, some shit I already know how to do, and can\u2019t be bothered answering a bunch of mindless questions about. I know this is a terrible reason to be getting Cs, but the truth is, I\u2019m bored out my mind almost every day in school.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Carlos is still reeling from Sasha’s disappearance, and still doing the dirty work of the Council of the Dead, but becoming more and more unhappy with what he’s asked to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen,\u201d Riley says a little too gently, \u201cwe all been hurt, man. It\u2019s okay to feel pain. I mean shit, she was carrying your child. You ain\u2019t seen her in what, four months?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSix months and seven days.\u201d <\/p>\n

Riley leaps up. \u201cSee? That was a test, and you failed. You counting the days, man. Just be upset and be okay with being upset.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We also meet a third character, Reza, about whom I won’t say anything, so you can meet her without an expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurn slow,\u201d a woman\u2019s gravelly voice says. \u201cHands in plain sight.\u201d <\/p>\n

She\u2019s standing perfectly still in a perfectly tailored gray suit. Her stance is just wide enough to brace for the recoil from the hand cannon she\u2019s aiming at my face. It\u2019s clear from the bulges between her vest and bloodred dress shirt that she\u2019ll never be outgunned. Even her goddamn footwear is perfect: elegant alligator-skin dress shoes, perfectly shined. For the first time in my weird little life, I am outdappered.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I really love these characters, not just because they’re so very different from the people around me, but that does have something to do with it. But mostly they’re just delightful.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you heard the good word about Jesus Christ today, ma\u2019am?\u201d I say, flashing the cheesiest grin I can muster. <\/p>\n

She smiles for a half second. \u201cTry again.\u201d Not a cop\u2014 way too smooth and she would\u2019ve ID\u2019d herself by now. <\/p>\n

\u201cVote yes on question six,\u201d I say…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I mute the TV\u2014 you have to stand up and turn the remote at some hypotenuse-ass angle while pressing the button eighteen million times to get it to work…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Carlos is half dead, so I suppose he could be classified as a zombie, and I hate zombies, but he’s not a shambling wreck that wants to eat your brains, so I’m good with him.<\/p>\n

If you haven’t read anything by Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older<\/a>, I highly recommend that you check him out. Start with Half-Resurrection Blues<\/a><\/em>, the first book in this series, or Salsa Nocturna<\/a><\/em>, which is short stories with some of the characters and set in this world both before and after these two books.<\/p>\n

Seriously, check out the short stories and see for yourself.
\nRating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by ROC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Midnight Taxi Tango (2016) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older First things first: that is an absolutely MARVELOUS cover. I LOVE it. It’s (obviously) not Carlos, who was the main character of the first book (and who is a main character here, never fear) but is Kia, the high school student who works at Baba Eddie’s bot\u00e1nica and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,2,204,44,148,16,34],"tags":[139,138],"class_list":["post-5633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-10","category-fantasy","category-good","category-hispanic","category-queer","category-supernatural","category-urban-fantasy","tag-bone-street-rumba","tag-daniel-jose-older"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1sR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6234,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6234","url_meta":{"origin":5633,"position":0},"title":"Midnight Taxi Tango, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"November 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Midnight Taxi Tango, Audible Version (2016) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older, read by the author The second Bone Street Rumba book is as much about Kia as it is about Carlos, and that's one of the things I especially love about it. Kia is a teenage girl, bored with school, tired of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"midnight-taxi-tango","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Midnight-Taxi-Tango.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24951,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24951","url_meta":{"origin":5633,"position":1},"title":"Midnight Taxi Tango, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"September 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Midnight Taxi Tango, Audiobook (2016) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older narrated by Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older (Bone Street Rumba #2) A textbook lies open on the counter in front of me; I don\u2019t even remember taking it out. It\u2019s trig, some shit I already know how to do, and can\u2019t be bothered answering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Midnight Taxi Tango","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Midnight-Taxi-Tango-186x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8735,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8735","url_meta":{"origin":5633,"position":2},"title":"Battle Hill Bolero","author":"Michelle","date":"February 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Battle Hill Bolero (2017) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older This is the sequel to both Midnight Taxi Tango and Salsa Nocturna. You don't have to have read Salsa Nocturna for this, but you really really should. Events have come to a head, and Riley and Cyrus and many other ghosts are in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Battle-Hill-Bolero.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6431,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6431","url_meta":{"origin":5633,"position":3},"title":"Ghost Girl in the Corner","author":"Michelle","date":"January 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Ghost Girl in the Corner (2016) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older This is set after Shadowshaper. Tee has received a grant to take over the publishing of the Bed-Stuy Searchlight--the local paper that had been run by Manny. She has three other teens to help her: Mina, Rafael, and Coruscant, although the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Ghost-Girl-in-the-Corner.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24922,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24922","url_meta":{"origin":5633,"position":4},"title":"Salsa Nocturna, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"September 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Salsa Nocturna, Audiobook (2012) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older narrated by Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older (Bone Street Rumba #2.5) Nothing marginalizes marginalized people like a dead white guy talking sympathetically. A child\u2019s excitement is its own force of nature. \u2018Simp\u00e1tico\u2019 is the best word for him. It means \u2018nice\u2019 in English, but nice\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Salsa Nocturna","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Salsa_Nocturna-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6225,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/6225","url_meta":{"origin":5633,"position":5},"title":"Salsa Nocturna, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"November 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Salsa Nocturna, Audible Version (2012\/2014) Daniel Jos\u00e9 Older, read by the author As with his Bone Street Rumba novels, Daniel Jose Older reads his own work, and it's totally great! This short story collection was published before Half-Resurrection Blues and features not just Carlos and Riley, but one of my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"salsa_nocturna","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Salsa_Nocturna.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}