Her words smacked me with the force
of a pool cue in a bar fight. How
would a human like her know about vampires?
Within my belly, my kundalini noir—that
black serpent of energy that animates the undead—thrashed in alarm. My
fingertips buzzed to signal danger.
Katz Meow couldn’t be allowed
to live with this knowledge. I
would hypnotize her to glean what she knew about vampires. Then I
would kill her. I had no other choice.
I dropped my hands
behind the desk to hide my extending talons. My
growing fangs nudged against the inside of my lip.
“You look like you’re coming unglued.” Katz gave a short,
nervous laugh. “I’m not crazy.”
I let my fangs
retract. “Then you don’t believe in vampires?”
“Should
I?”
“Why did
you bring them up?”
“Because someone told me Roxy’s
murder is connected to a deal between people and vampires.”
What kind
of a deal? My kundalini noir writhed
in distress. “Someone
who?”
“A friend.”
“Give me
a name.”
Katz crossed her
arms. “I
came here thinking I was going nuts for even pretending to believe
in vampires. I mention the word and you go
ballistic.”
She was right. I had lost my cool. My
talons withdrew and I placed my hands on the desk. “You
mention murder. Next you bring
up vampires. I was about to throw you out.”
“But you
haven’t,” Katz replied.
“Then talk.”
Review of X-Rated Blood Suckers
Playboy Magazine August 2007
X-Rated Bloodsuckers by Mario Acevedo--The hero of this whodunit is an Iraqi
Freedom soldier turned vampire turned gumshoe. The plot tests credulity
here and there, but the snappy dialog (pun intended), the pace and the porn
stars (supernatural and otherwise) who populate the book more than
compensate.
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Review of X-Rated Bloodsuckers
ca-reviews.blogspot.com
posted by Deborah Hern
It all began, as it so often does, with a visit from a woman called Katz Meow. Ms. Meow is a stage name, of course, and the woman who sports it is a porn star. Excuse me, an “erotic film actress.” Her reason for being in Felix Gomez’ office in Denver is completely serious. She wants him to investigate the murder of her good friend and co-star, Roxy Bronze. The murder, like most of the porn industry, was in Los Angeles. The police made noises and paperwork, but got nowhere near finding the murderer.
There are plenty of suspects, starting with Cragnow Visoom, president of the video company that made Roxy famous. Roxy bought out her contract and had plans to start her own production company. According to Katz, Cragnow was more than a little worried that Roxy would take a lot of the talent with her. Then there are a couple of politicos who tried to push through something called Project Eleven. Roxy worked hard to stop the project and the resulting scandal cost the politicians enough to make them viable suspects.
But the most worrisome thing, from Felix’ point of view, is the suggestion that vampires might be involved. Not that Katz believes in vampires any more than she believes in fairy tale endings. But other people do, and she’s willing to follow any lead. Felix is shocked at this revelation, since, as a vampire, he knows that the rules of his “family” forbid revealing the secret of vampires to humans. The Araneum, a sort of global governing network for vampires, takes swift and merciless action against those who violate the rules. However, the Araneum is aware of a possible breach in Los Angeles and orders Felix to investigate, beginning with the leader of the Los Angeles nest, one Cragnow Visoom.
The character of Felix, a veteran of the war in Iraq, is an excellent blend of a private investigator and a vampire. The author adds some interesting new twists to the vampire mythos; and, since Felix is a new vampire, his struggles to acclimate are believable. Felix’ unhappy past comes into play here, leavened by a liberal supply of dry wit. Perhaps the most amazing twist of all, though, is the author’s ability to weave the vampire story in with the mystery investigation, without allowing either one to suffer. Readers offended by the porn industry, or don’t enjoy vampire stories… well, if you weren’t warned off by the title alone, I don’t know what else to tell you. I’m sorry that I missed the first book in this series, THE NYMPHOS OF ROCKY FLATS, but I’ll soon be correcting that mistake. Mario Acevedo is a great talent, and an author to watch.
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Publishers Weekly:
"Hard-boiled action mixes with soft-core
titillation in Acevedo's second novel featuring soldier-turned-vampire
PI Felix Gomez.... The novel's true appeal lies in its zippy banter
and witty repartee on vampire lifestyle, particularly in Felix's ongoing
partnership with Cayote, a low-life vampire from the barrio. Acevedo
has a natural flair for the hard-boiled idiom, and readers who enjoyed
Felix's first adventure will find this follow-up equally entertaining."
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The February 7th
issue of Booklist calls X-Rated Bloodsuckers "a high-speed,
well-crafted romp through the forests of the night"
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 The Nymphos
of Rocky Flats (2006) will find this a worthy sequel.
—Elliott Swanson
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X-Rated Bloodsuckers by Mario Acevedo
Review by Steven Sawicki, SFREVU.com
This is the follow up book to Acevedo's The
Nymphos of Rocky Flats: A Novel, which was his first foray into the genre of supernatural romance
comedy. Like the first book, Felix Gomez, who was turned into a vampire
during the first Iraq war, is once again the protagonist. This time,
Felix is hired by a porn star to investigate the death of her friend,
another porn star, who died under mysterious circumstances. The Areneum,
a sort of vampire ruling council, also wants Felix to investigate this
death, along with a few other things that may or may not be related.
And so, Felix heads off to California where he teams up with a Mexican
vampire who's sort of a cross between Carlos Castaneda and Cheech Martin.
Felix ends up getting involved in multiple investigations as the woman
who initially hired him is also killed. These investigations include
a number of strange and seemingly unrelated events and circumstances
including a land deal gone wrong, a movie deal, a religious deal, a
bowling alley and a couple of Hollywood hit men.
Acevedo is the first author that I have read who seems to have figured
out how modern day vampires would really live. They're out in the sunlight,
they're only kind of organized, they take care of their own problems,
and they've managed to take advantage of the cult of human wannabe's
that one would expect to exist. Beyond that he deals with the issues
that one would expect to find between those who were turned centuries
ago and those who were turned recently. Let's face it, the culture
clash would be enough to make life very difficult.
This is also a pretty funny book, not so much fall down funny, although
that probably depends more on your sense of humor than anything else,
but dry and wry funny, with Acevedo having his characters recognizing
the sometimes ironic situations they find themselves in. There are
also some genuinely funny set ups, such as the vampire bowling alley.
All of this hangs on some pretty strong writing and interesting plotting.
The book is a quick, fun read and adds to the beginning of what will,
undoubtedly be, an interesting series.
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