From Publishers Weekly
This debut novel succeeds largely because Acevedo gleefully acknowledges that it takes a lot to make a vampire story interesting anymore. PI Felix Gomez, an ex-soldier who became a vampire while serving in Iraq, uses his supernatural powers to solve mysteries that befuddle mere mortals. When a friend in the Department of Energy asks him to look into an outbreak of nymphomania among female guards at a plutonium processing plant in Colorado, things get really weird: hypnotized personnel talk cryptically about Roswell and something called Project Redlight, trained assassins start decimating the local vampire community and an amorous dryad shows up to assist in the detective work. As though this weren't enough, Felix refuses to drink human blood, an ethical stand that attenuates his uncanny powers and results in intriguing plot complications. Not everything adds up by the book's dizzying finale, but most readers will be too charmed by the crisp style to notice the loose ends. Acevedo doesn't add anything new to the modern vampire tale, but he has a lot of fun sounding its bells and whistles. (Mar.)
Copyright ยฉ Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From
Acevedo's first novel opens in Iraq, where Felix Gomez is a sergeant in the U.S. Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the midst of a shoot-out, Felix is horrified to discover his team has accidentally shot and mortally wounded a young Iraqi girl. Guilt ridden, Felix stumbles off on his own and runs into a man who finds a way to extend his suffering by turning him into a vampire. Now working as a private investigator, Felix is called to a Department of Energy site by his old college roommate, Gilbert, to look into a sudden outbreak of nymphomania among female workers. Adding to Felix's troubles is the appearance of a deadly group of vampire hunters who have started slaughtering locals and now seem to have set their sights on Felix. Although not as laugh-out-loud funny as Andrew Fox's The Fat White Vampire Blues (2003), Acevedo's vampire comedy provides plenty of chuckles, particularly in its exciting final wrap-up, which leaves an opening for further Felix adventures. Kristine Huntley
Copyright ยฉ American Library Association. All rights reserved