Undeath & Taxes (Fred, the Vampire Accountant, #2)

by Drew Hayes

• ISBN10: 1942111177
• ISBN13: 9781942111177
• Publish Date: 11 August 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Reuts Publications
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 382
• Language: English

Reviews

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

An Accountant in the Warehouse
Fred has gotten certified as a “Certified Public Parahuman Accountant”. He is now your official guy to find you all of those paranormal tax deductions. His first client with his new credentials is king of the therians (were-creatures) in the area. We met Richard and his daughter Sally in the first book. There is also Gideon, who is a very old, very powerful dragon who likes to disguise as a playmate for Sally. When someone tries to kidnap Sally, and Fred since he was there, things go awry.

An Agent at the Convention
In this story, Krystal, Fred and Bubba go to setup at the convention, which is the paranormal’s version of ComicCon. In this story, we meet Krystal’s ex-fiance’s sister is already setting up the booth. We learn more about mages, witches, therians and other creatures. When someone steals some of the weapons of destiny, the gang needs to hunt them down before the Con officially starts.

What I loved most in this story, was how they kept normal humans from finding out about this Con. Parahumans tried to keep the “veil of disbelief” about themselves.

“Red tape usually,” Krystal said. “Lost applications, extra fees piled on top of extra fees, constantly changing dates, and overall horrendous customer service. We make the experience so terrible, no one wants to come. Let alone, try again the next year.”
“I think my cable company has been stealing plays from your book,” Bubba remarked as he set a fourth box on the pile.
“Other way around. Every couple of years, we have someone set up a Castcom account, just to see if they’ve come up with any new tactics. They never fail to disappoint.” Krystal replied.

A Sword in the Catacombs
I can’t say a huge about this story as it could spoil the previous story. I’ll just say that someone finds out that they are to become the new wielder of the Blade of the Unlikely Champion. The Agency has Krystal bring the gang in so that this new wielder could be tested and likely recruited to the Agency.

A Lawyer in the Manor
When Fred is asked to come to a meeting at the Charlotte Manor, which is now a bed and breakfast, to basically interview for the job of accountant for investment firm. When the person from the investment firm starts talking about buying this B&B, the “employees” decide this is not want they want and take matters into their own hands. Fred solves this problem in a way that truly suits Fred.

A Dragon in the Office
When Fred goes to “gala” at Richard’s home, Fred notices that Gideon is not what it seems. Fred goes on the hunt to try to figure out what is going on.
Once again, I really enjoyed this story. It is a light-hearted read with plenty of laugh out loud moments. If you’re looking for a paranormal read that is funny with some action and less romance, this is the story for you. The story format of several small stories that build on each other is different, but I find it works really well with this series.

Narration
Now when I listened to the first book, I mentioned that Kirby Heyborne didn’t do a very good job with female characters. I’m not 100% sure what changed, but I found that his narration with female voices didn’t bother me as much in this story. I think he is a great voice for Fred. He sounds exactly what I think Fred would sound like. He does a really good job of the big trucker and werebeast, Bubba.

[EBookObsessed]

Fred and the gang are back for more adventures. I was so excited when this story was finally released back in July, but I had to hold out for the audiobook which was just released. Kirby Heyborne did such a great job bringing this series to life for me, I had to hold out to hear his presentation.

Trouble has once again found our favorite vampire accountant and we couldn’t be happier.

We learned in the last novel, that Fred’s sire turned him in hopes that vampire powers would send Fred into a killing rage of vengeance against all the oppressed the boring, unassuming accountant. What he didn’t know is that Fred was very happy with his life and with no other influence, decided to continue with his lifestyle. Fred was almost disappointed that none of the Hollywood stereotypes about vampires are actually true. Fred didn’t become handsomer or more suave. Even after his change, Fred was still…Fred. He just craved blood, wore his glasses for show, needed to stay out of sunlight and had to watch how much pressure he used to open a jar with his new super-strength.

The only real change Fred made in his life was to open up is own business so that he could keep night hours. Now, his accounting business is booming both due to the fact that, as a vampire, he really isn’t required to sleep, and he is now certified to do taxes for the parahuman community and is aware of all the special tax benefits which are allowed to them. He is now courting a completely new level of clientele.

But wanting to lead a quiet life just doing accounting and spending time with is girlfriend, Krystal, and his friends, doesn’t preclude problems from finding Fred. The best part of this series is that even though Krystal is an kick-ass agent, Fred hasn’t suddenly learned hand-to-hand combat or even attempts to get into a fight. Fred still uses his brains, his ingenuity and sometimes his vast knowledge of the tax codes, to help get him and his friends out of trouble.

The story begins with a bang…or really a kidnapping. Fred has just received his certification to do taxes for parahumans and is contacted by Richard, the alpha of the Therians, to prepare his tax returns for the year. While both the dragon Gideon, who is the King of the West, and Richard are off doing their duties, Richard’s daughter Sally finds her way to the office to see if Fred would be willing to play with her. It is at that moment that kidnappers break into Richard’s apartment to capture Sally and her vampire bodyguard. Fred isn’t much of a bodyguard, but he won’t tell that to the kidnappers that since he can’t let Sally go alone into what must be a frightening experience for a little girl.

Fred doesn’t look for adventure but it certainly finds him, and when someone he cares about is in danger, he finds the courage he needs to keep everyone safe.

THOUGHTS:
Fredrick Frankford Fletcher, or just simply Fred, is a delightfully unassuming character and yet absolutely compelling in his storytelling. This book is broken down into five journal entries. It is hard to get into too much detail since one story leads into another and to talk about the later stories would give away too much from the earlier ones.

Fred is still joined on most of his adventures by his girlfriend, Krystal, a kick-ass government agent part of the parahuman investigation, his assistant, Albert, the happy-go-lucky zombie, Neil, the necromancer and BFF of Albert, Amy, the Mage in charge of training Neil, and Bubba, the were-steed.

Suffice it to say that after reading the first book in the series, where Fred meets all of his friends, it was great to jump right into the stories knowing most of the main characters and secondary characters.

It is hard to explain what is so incredible about this series and this author. It isn’t nail-biting excitement. It isn’t an Avenger’s kick-ass team. It it just Fred working past his mild-manner persona and trying to make the best of these dangerous situations that find him without using force or fighting skills which he does not even possess.

I especially love the audiobook presentation of this series. Drew Hayes has been fortunate to find very talented narrators for his series. Kirby Heyborne really brought the series to life for me in The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant. I just had to wait to read Undeath and Taxes until the audiobook was released. Even looking again at my digital copy, I hear Kirby Heyborne’s narration.

Received a audiobook courtesy of Tantor Audio in exchange for an honest review.