X-Rated Bloodsuckers
Mario Acevedo
HarperCollins
<p>Felix has survived Operation Iraqi Freedom, being turned into a vampire, and a ravenous horde of nymphomaniacs. Now he faces his toughest task ever—navigating the corrupt world of Los Angeles politics to solve the murder of a distinguished young surgeon turned porn star. But both human and vampire alike have reasons to want the secret to stay buried. . . </p>From Publishers Weekly<p>Hard-boiled action mixes with soft-core titillation in Acevedo's second novel featuring soldier– turned–vampire PI Felix Gomez (after 2006's <em>The Nymphos of Rocky Flats</em>), who's approached by porn actress Katz Meow to investigate the murder of her colleague Roxy Bronze. Before you can say XXX, Felix is off to California's San Fernando Valley and up to his fangs in intrigue implicating a vampire producer of adult films, a sham evangelist, a power-hungry local politician and the Araneum, the secret vampire hierarchy tasked with stamping out unorthodox human-vampire interactions. Felix endures the usual silver bullets and garlic, as well as several very human double crosses and miscalculations, before the story speeds to an unlikely conclusion that exposes a somewhat unconvincing villain. The novel's true appeal lies in its zippy banter and witty repartee on vampire lifestyle, particularly in Felix's ongoing partnership with Coyote, a low-rent vamp from the barrio. Acevedo has a natural flare for the hard-boiled idiom, and readers who enjoyed Felix's first adventure will find this follow-up equally entertaining. <em>(Mar.)</em> <br>Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>From Booklist<p>Raymond Chandler could never have imagined an L.A. like this, where hard-boiled, private-eye vampires fight crime, as well as commit a few during lunch breaks. When renegade vampires threaten to wreck the fragile balance between humanity and the netherworld, PI Felix Gomez is hired to repair the growing schism, or give up his immortal and somewhat immoral life trying. The mean streets have never been meaner--or stranger--and the result is a high-speed, well-crafted romp through the forests of the night. Fans of Acevedo's <em>The Nymphos of Rocky Flats</em> (2006) will find this a worthy sequel. <em>Elliott Swanson</em><br><em>Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved</em></p></br></br>