Midnight Tribunal
Budjette Tan
See my review of Trese #1 (“Murder on Balete Drive”) for a broader view of the series.
Along with Trese #4, I thought the stories here were on the weaker end in the context of the whole series. There is more of a unifying through-line here than in #4, but it wasn’t as compelling to me as the Talagbusao story in #3 (or the Taga-dagat story in #6). Two things save this volume, though: first, the re-introduction of Maliksi the tikbalang as a recurring character (and wannabe love interest for Alexandra Trese); second, the introduction of “The Madame” (Imelda Marcos) as Trese’s archnemesis and the true mastermind behind the scenes. This last thing especially is just a stroke of genius on Tan’s part. So although the stories weren’t so compelling in this volume, it does advance the overall story quite a bit and keep me wanting to read more!