The Helm of Midnight is the first book in the dark fantasy series The Five Penalties, written by Marina Lostetter, published by TOR. A novel that mixes together elements from police procedural with ambitious worldbuilding, a dark story which takes the opportunity not only to deep dive into the villain and his origin, but to also explore the weight of the past over your present in many forms, developing an engaging story full of excellently crafted characters.

A story that opens with a heist of magical artifacts, including among them the death mask of Louis Charbon, a serial murderer that terrorized Lutador ten years ago; that mask equals to Charbon's return from the grave, and the corpses don't take much to start appearing. It's in the hands of Krona Hilvarth and her fellow Regulators to find and stop this terrifying killer, recover the mask and discover the reasons behind this plot.

Lostetter expertly weaves together three different timelines that help the reader to compose a full picture of the characters that become part of this story. Firstly, we have Krona, a Regulator running against time to stop this new wave of killings; a person who grew with guilt due to how her father died, always trying to become as good as her sister, De-Lia. Duty and family bonds are her biggest motivations. We will see her risking everything for her bond with her sister; a strong character who also has space for weaknesses, and whose growth during the narration was one of the highlights of the novel.
In the second place, we will be also following Louis Charbon ten years before, becoming spectators of how a desperate and grieving father was convinced to serve other purposes; a man in pain whose descent will create the serial murderer figure.
And finally, we have a seemingly disconnected timeline, two years before the current events, following Melanie and her quest to cure her mother, how it put her in contact with a certain mask, and the consequences; another example of how family bonds can be a really compelling force. It also establishes a complex character and lays some foundations that eventually will gain weight over the narrative.

The worldbuilding is pretty rich, not only putting the emphasis on the city atmosphere and capturing each detail, especially pointing the contrast between zones, but the magic system related to emotions and the concept of death masks that echoes the person it was made was well executed, with enough depth to still surprise despite its rules. As you might have imagined from the premise, this novel is not afraid of diving into darker zones, so be aware of it.
The novel is well paced, alternating the timelines while trusting the reader to put together the pieces; always found myself invested in the story.

The Helm of Midnight is an excellent dark fantasy novel, kickstarting the Five Penalties series with a first instalment that gifts the reader with excellent characterization, delving into how their guilt and past acts are conditioning their present, police procedural elements and a quite rare blend of genres. Won't be the last book by Marina Lostetter I read!