Midnight Creed is the 8th book in Alex Kava’s Ryder Creed series — a spin-off from her long-running Maggie O’Dell novels. Since Maggie and her FBI colleagues play such an integral role in Ryder’s world, the series often feels like an extended Maggie O’Dell universe.
The Story
In this installment, Maggie O’Dell is investigating the serial killings of homeless people up and down the East Coast. Meanwhile, Ryder Creed and his dogs are searching for a missing boy, while also preparing for a shipment of K9s left behind when U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan.
When another boy goes missing — one Ryder’s coworker Jason knows personally — Ryder and his team launch a frantic search. At the same time, the serial killer Maggie’s tracking is headed to Florida. The question is: will these two cases collide?
My History with Alex Kava
I’ve been reading Alex Kava since her debut A Perfect Evil, the first Maggie O’Dell book. Across the first 11 O’Dell novels, Maggie faced everything from serial killers and arsonists to a potential mall bomber, electrocuted teenagers, and deadly pathogens.
The Entwining of Maggie and Ryder
Kava introduced Ryder Creed in the 2015 release Breaking Creed. A former Marine turned K9 search-and-rescue trainer, Ryder rescues dogs and trains them for life-saving missions. Over the first seven books, Maggie and Ryder’s professional relationship has deepened, and in book 7, they finally acknowledged their love for each other — though they still live apart. Maggie can’t leave the FBI and Quantico, and Ryder can’t leave his dogs.
Final Thoughts
Once again, Kava delivers a well-paced, character-driven treat. Alongside Maggie and Ryder, supporting characters like Jason and Ryder’s sister Brodie have grown in importance. (Brodie has been part of the backstory since the beginning, but readers only met her in recent books — raising the question: where was she all this time?)
Midnight Creed can be read as a standalone, but I suspect you’ll want to dive into the earlier Ryder Creed books — and maybe even the Maggie O’Dell series — once you’ve read it.
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