Four Short Reviews: Paranormal and Paranormal Mystery

Well, when you get lots of heat and humidity – though nothing like they’ve had in the mid-west and south – it does encourage loafing around and reading.  I was the mood for mysteries and paranormals and we have some winners and losers and a couple of recommended reads.

• Title:  Dead in the Family
  
• Author:  Charlaine Harris
• Type:  Paranormal/fantasy
• Genre:  Sookie Stackhouse #10 – the never ending story
• Sub-genre:  Fae, vamps, shifter and their coming out of the closet
• My Grade:  C- (2.7*)
  
• Rating:  PG-13
• Length and price:  Novel – about 100,000+ $15-$17
• Where Available:  Available at most bookstores
• FTC Disclosure:  acquired through and online book swap site

OK, I haven’t read a Sookie Stackhouse book in years and now I remember why.  I just got sick of Sookie.   What is it with her and men – or perhaps males would be better?  It’s like she allows herself to be emotionally abused – not to mention physical abuse and misuse.  I know lots of folks follow this ft the ‘love story’ aspect of the novels, but jeeze, if this is ‘love’ with vampires, spare me.

The ‘two natured’, namely were, have come out to the public.  Werewolves, being the largest group, have taken the brunt of the backlash.  Vamps are already out, but the weres seem to worry folks more because they work and live like ordinary humans.  Sookie, a telepath with some fae blood, is not quite unique, but she talents are very rare.  The plot, such as it is, revolves around Sookie and her efforts to to keep her romance with Eric going under difficult circumstances.  Mostly, he’s off the radar for one reason or another for much of the book.  First because of concerns about the new leader for Louisiana, Victor, who is looking for reasons to force Eric out, and second because Eric’s maker, an ancient Roman called Appius, shows up and demands his assistance with his ‘young’ vampire, the last living Romanov.

A ‘child’ of a vampire must do its makers bidding and Eric is drawn from Sookie into trying to control the vicious Alexander Romanov, so looks frail and childlike, but is actually an insane killer.  Sookie is also involved with the Long Tooth Pack of werewolves and the fact that Sam, the owner of the bar where she works and a long time friend, has come out as one of the ‘two natured’.  Despite his family’s long time history and his own military service, he gets a lot of backlash.

The ending is bloody and inevitable, but the plot is weak and lightweight.  The real question is ………….. Is Dead in the Family worth the $15-18 hardcover price or the $9.50 to $11 trade paperback price?  Nope.  Obviously, if you are a dedicated fan, you’ll disagree, but this is a family drama that has run its course and is, thankfully coming to an end soon.  Get it from the library or buy a cheap used used copy.  Nothing original here.

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Short Reviews: 4 Mysteries/Thrillers from Paranormal to Historical

I like mysteries in general, and their frequent partner, action thrillers.  I cut my teeth on Nancy Drew and Dame Agatha so it’s  no surprise really.  I admit that I am a bit particular about them, though.  I have little patience with certain tropes and character types.  Here are 4 very different books, and my reactions to them.

• Title: A Glimpse of Evil
  
• Author:  Victoria Laurie
• Type:  Paranormal mystery
• Genre: Amateur sleuth; Psychic Eye series; meddling psychic works for FBI
• Sub-genre:  Meddling profiler violates FBI procedures and gets in trouble
• My Grade: C  (3.0*)
• Rating:  PG-13
• Length and price:  Full length novel; about 90,000+ words for $7.99 discounts available
• Where Available:  book available at any book store
• FTC Disclosure:  purchased book from online bookstore

A Vampire Mystery and a New Action Thriller

Every once in awhile, a book title is just so intriguing you simply MUST have it regardless of the fact it’s out of print and the publisher is defunct.  Such was the case with The Case of the Virtuous Vampire.  How did I stumble across such a niche market book from a tiny publisher?  Paperback Swap.  Yes, despite what many publishers think, book swapping online actually increased my purchasing of books, it didn’t reduce it.  It does the same for many others.  Why?  Because you find many new authors and/or genres and the waiting lists move too slowly because there aren’t millions of copies sold.  But I’ve bought a hundred paperbacks – trade paperbacks (those $14-$18 oversized paperbacks) and mass market paperbacks, many by new or new to me authors.  I’ve also bought more than my fair share of hardcovers.  SIGH!

I wonder sometimes just how much the current paranormal/UF craze owes to J.K. Rowling and her brilliant Harry Potter series.  You have a whole generation of kids growing up enjoying the story of the ‘boy wizard’ in the books and the movies.  A lot of today’s Twilight reader’s probably cut their fiction teeth on Harry and his friends.  It’s only natural they would find a touch of the supernatural appealing.   I think the predictions of a waning interest in paranormal and UF that many publishers predicted were a bit premature.

Book Review: Hex Marks the Spot by Madelyn Alt

• Title: Hex Marks the Spot
• Author: Madelyn Alt
• Type: Mystery
• Genre: Paranormal cozy series
• Sub-genre: Gifted human witch with a talent for crime
• My Grade:  B- (3.6*)
• Rating: PG-13
• Where Available: Everywhere books are sold

Madelyn Alt writes very likable, if rather predictable, cozy mysteries with unusual settings and very limited ‘woo-woo’ factor.  Her Bewitching Mystery series feature Maggie O’Neill, a woman discovering her empathic ‘talent’ with the help of her older friend and mentor, Felicity ‘Liss’ Dow, a witch.  Between them they run a ‘gift sop/antique store/witchy emporium’.  Today Maggie and Liss are off to the first fair of the spring season looking for stock for the store and perhaps something for themselves.  The book is set in Stony Mill, Indiana and the area plays host to both Mennonite and Amish communities.  Lissa buys much of her furniture and other handmade articles from them.

BOOK REVIEW: Death Perception by Victoria Laurie

About two years ago I started reading the Psychic Eye mysteries written by Victoria Laurie. They start as bright, breezy, light weight mysteries; entertaining, very readable and charming, pretty much what you want in this kind of cozy. Like many readers I don’t always want to be hip deep in blood, bodies, killers or clues and I enjoy good fun fluff with a decent story. The psychic angle was a clever hook. I’d put her early works as a C+ to B- grade. Death Perception is the 6^th in the series and the first where Laurie tries to get into a meatier, more complex mystery plot.

Abby Cooper is a psychic. She does her readings in person and by phone (so does Laurie, by the way). Her ‘crew’ are those spirits on the ‘other side’ nudge her in her readings. Lately, her crew have been very quiet. So quiet that Abby is concerned that her gifts might be leaving her somehow.

Dutch is having a family crisis, his cousin Chase has been kidnapped and his family has asked for his help. Dutch, who has finally accepted that Abby has ‘special gifts’, he asks for her help. But Abby’s visions turn dark and deadly – for Dutch.  Things don’t improve when they arrive in Las Vegas and check in at the Wynn.

Then Dutch goes out and Abby’s visions turn ever darker and more frightening. She grabs a cab and follows the GPS signal of Dutch’s phone. She lands at the scene of a car accident. A bad one. Panic seizes her. A body is

BOOK REVIEW: The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevedo

The lurid title of this first book in Mario Acevedo’s vampire detective series made me curious enough to give it a go. It kind of reminded me of the titles of Craig Shaw Gardner’s Cineverse series. This book, though, is an off-beat black humor, paranormal, noir-mystery. Acevedo has an unusual resume – an attack helicopter pilot in the first Gulf war, an engineer in civilian life, then an IT professional, then teaching art to prisoners and finally a published author. His off the wall stories are not for everyone. Take a bit of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden, some of David Boreanaz’s Angel, and a dash of Terry Pratchett’s humor and Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe and you have this rather bizarre hybrid. Tough to be neutral about it and you’ll like it or it will leave wondering, “What the hell?” And oh yes, it isn’t XXX material. Actually, I’ve read his 3 books, The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, X-Rated Bloodsuckers, and Undead Kama Sutra, in the series and none get much beyond PG-17 to maybe NC-17.

It’s the Second Gulf War and despite the president’s, “Mission Accomplished”, Sergeant Felix Gomez and his platoon at fighting fedayeen guerrillas south of Karbala. In the nighttime mission Gomez mistakes a 12 year old girl as the enemy and kills her while the platoon takes out the rest of her family. Gomez, stricken by what has happened, wanders off, inexorably drawn to a room with a man who asks what he wants. In his guilt, Gomez says he should be held accountable. Punishment is what he is given – he is made into a vampire.

Chapter 2 finds Felix, after a medical discharge, working as a PI in Denver. A request for help and $20,000 from an old college roommate and friend, Gilbert Odin, a manager at a government installation, send Felix to Rocky Flats Closure Project – formerly a nuclear weapons facility. Gilbert has a very unusual problem. An outbreak of nymphomania among female employees. Every man’s dream, right? Maybe not. In no time at all nymphomania becomes the least of the problems.

Now, the title might lead you to think that the nymphos play a major role, but you would be wrong. An array of mythical and paranormal creatures put in an appearance. Even aliens. You know – the flying saucer crowd. Not even Gilbert is who he seems – and why does he smell like cabbage?

The story moves at a fast pace, but some of it is aided by all these ‘vampire powers’ that Felix has which gets a bit irritating at times. Acevedo also tends to hit all the notes from X-Files while he’s at it. Not a whole lot of new ground here, but a moderately fun ride. The story is no match for the far more complete, realistic or tightly plotted stories of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Felix is a likable character and his first person narration has the kind of one-liners you’d expect from Robert B. Parker or Robert Crais. It’s the plots that need some work. In my opinion, X-Rated Bloodsuckers, about the porn industry, is better and I’d call it a C+ to B-. Undead Kama Sutra gives “Sexual Healing” a whole new meaning and it’s also a C. The fourth book just released, Jailbait Zombies, will determine if Acevedo has the right stuff to grow and improve as a writer from merely OK to really good. Certainly the potential is there and this series has a lot of promise if the plots tighten up and there are fewer ‘magical’ answers and more plausible ones.

My Grade: C

Who would enjoy this book: Fans of X-Files, Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV shows. Harry Dresden fans are doomed for disappointment.  The rating for this book is NC-17