Another One Bites the Dust by Jennifer Rardin
Jaz Parks has enough trouble in her personal life. What she doesn’t need is more trouble with her vampire boss and another mission. This time she has to retrieve a vital piece of biotechnology by killing the maniac who stole it: an ancient Chinese vamp. Their cover in this mission: professional entertainers at the Corpus Christi’s Winter Festival.
The crew’s all here: a psychic, a techno-wizard, a singing vampire, a juggling PI, and Jaz. Holy crap in a bottomless well, Jaz is going to bellydance. It’s definitely, probably, quite possibly going to be the end of the world as we know it.
The second book in the Jaz Parks series was even more fabulous than the first. Secondary characterization allowed me to see a wider view of Jaz’s world. Cassandra, the ancient Seer of Troy fame, Cole, the high-top wearing flirt, and Bergman, the quintessential techno freak, are examined more closely in this installment.
The only part that bugged me was the confusion with Cole’s flirtations. In the first book, he and Jaz share a kiss and some wayward flirting. Near the beginning of this book, he gets jealous when she and Vayl are alone in the bedroom, indicating romantic feelings. But later on, he gives her a brotherly kiss. There was no middle ground. It kind of threw me off.
Jaz and Vayl’s relationship furthers, but not to a satisfying point. That’s not to say the writing wasn’t satisfying, but the “will they or won’t they” when you know eventually they will is killing me! They have a few breakthroughs, but share no more than a quick and powerful peck. Grr… It’s odd to say this, but I think stringing their relationship along through books without actual physical contact has heightened the sensuality of it.
These books have absolutely amazed me. Not since first discovering Kelley Armstrong and Kim Harrison have I found a gritty yet humorous paranormal series with a protagonist that you can’t help but love.
Book Stats:
- Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Orbit; Reprint edition (July 28, 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0316043559
- ISBN-13: 978-0316043557
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Books in the Jaz Parks series in the order they should be read:
Once Bitten, Twice Shy
Another One Bites the Dust
Biting the Bullet
Bitten to Death
One More Bite
Bite Marks
To visit the author’s website go here.
I loved this book and your review is dead on.
I have only read the first book at this point, but after reading the review it makes me want to pull them out of my huge to be read pile.