Vamparazzi (Esther Diamond #4)

Laura Resnick definitely has her stride now in the urban fantasy genre. This time around, not only do we get the real scoop on what a vampire is, but it is non-stop action mixed with a whole lot of craziness and Lopez trying to get back in Esther’s good graces, not knowing how afraid Esther is that she’s going to get Lopez killed. This particular story is filled with as much excellent research as in Resnick’s other books and really gives a good look at where and when things vampire got started. When Esther finds herself in a good part high profile, if kitschy play opposite a cult favorite D-list star playing to full houses, she doesn’t expect to be attacked by the star’s fans. When one turns up dead the morning after giving Esther a black eye, having been escorted from the scene by the show’s star, things go down hill. Lopez shows up to warn Esther when “exsanguinated” bodies start turning up with the show’s star as the prime suspect, but nothing goes right except Esther finds she still cares for Lopez. The unexpected ending was a real treat. I’m looking forward to the next Esther Diamond book!

The only thing that disappoints me about this book is that now I have only one more Esther novel to read that’s been published to date. Woe!

This was an excellent book. It has a lot more of Esther’s acting experiences in it, and I thought it was fun to get a glimpse of that part of her life. The basic plotting was well-paced; I called a couple of the plot twists but not all of them (which makes me happy both ways), and some of the scenes were literally laugh-out-loud funny- like the depiction of a really FAILED performance, and a real vamp going on a rant in a wanna-be vamp club and getting told to be more tolerant because “everyone can be a vamp in their own way”.

The vamps were… not tedious, and I generally find vamps tedious almost by definition at this point. The author has an interesting and coherent take on them that works well and is less stupid than most.

Well-drawn characters, too! Her co-workers in the play were nicely written and seemed very real (even when absurd). I am finding the mostly-off romance to be getting a bit tedious; I think Lopez needs a good kick. I LOVED learning about Max’s “thing” about Lithuanians.

This is probably not the best book to start with, although I think it stands alone OK. However, if you start here, you’ll miss a lot that the previous books brought to the series and the characters. Start with “Disappearing Nightly” or “Doppelgansters”.

I also have to give a good thumbs-up to the cover artists- these are GREAT covers.

This was good. The mystery was an intriguing one, the new characters/suspects were immensely entertaining, the laughs were great, and the world-building was clever.
My sole point of contention was Max’s absence for most of the first half.
Anyone who likes Laura Resnick, or Urban fantasy in general should check this book out.

This is a truly original take on vampires. And the story is full of unexpected twists, it’s incredibly funny; I laughed aloud almost to the point of tears, and enjoyed the relationship between Lopez and Esther, which is getting funnier with every book! Buy this book and prepare for a great time

If you liked the other books in the series you’ll probably like this one as well. For me, the action took a little long to get started: Max and Nelli don’t even make an appearance until Chapter 11 and Lopez isn’t much of a presence in the book. At least the author has a refreshing take on Vampires and we finally get to know about makes and Lithuanians. A fun read once but I don’t see myself picking up again (although I will be looking for the sequels to see what happens from here.

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