Another One Bites the Dust (Jaz Parks, #2)

by Jennifer Rardin

I'm Jaz Parks. CIA assassin. Black Belt. Belly dancer at the Corpus Christi Winter Festival. The last is cover for my latest mission: retrieve a vital piece of biotechnology by killing the maniac who stole it. The thief is not your run-of-the-mill nut job, either. He's Chien-Lung, an obsessive vamp who's invulnerable while wearing his armour - which is constantly.

Then there are the reavers, ancient fiends who murder innocents and eat their souls. Only I can sense them. So it's not long before they want me dead, dead, dead.

And did I mention the nightmares? They're not your garden variety sit-up-and-screamers. These suckers may actually kill me before the reavers do.

• ISBN10: 0316023930
• ISBN13: 9780316023931
• Publish Date: 12 December 2007 (first published 1 January 2007)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Little, Brown & Company
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

And now I have Queen stuck in my head and I'm having flashbacks to the skating rink.

To the subject at hand:  a great read!  I was very uncertain about this book at the start; the plot about the body armour is just too sci-fi for me (that's where 1/2 star went).  But the bulk of the story doesn't involve the body armour directly; it's a story about Jaz's redemption, Vayl's unrequited attachment to her (so far) and the Scooby Gang they acquired in the last book (and I mean Scooby Gang in the most complimentary way possible).

I think, overall, the actual structure the plot is built around is shaky at best.  The plot is clear: they have to retrieve the armour.  But the bad-guy/doomsday portion of the plot had me rolling my eyes a tiny, little bit.  I chalk this up to personal preference: I lean towards preferring subtle machinations; these are more grandiose.  Think James Bond with supernatural beings.  But Bergman's gadgets? Very cool.

I mentioned this in my review of the first book, but I think it warrants a repeat: reports of the author committing suicide have completely altered the way I read her books, whether they are true or not.  I can't help but read Jaz's struggles with death and separation as coming more directly from the voice of the author.  The story is fun, funny, and entertaining, but there's a depth there now due to my altered perceptions going into the book that would have likely sailed clear over my head otherwise.  Call me shallow, but I don't read books about vampires and CIA assassins expecting to have deeper themes leave a lasting impression on me after I've closed the cover.

I have book 3 on my pile and I'll be looking forward to starting it.

(This was a buddy read with Degrees of Affection and I thank her very much for motivating me to finally pick up this series!)

","Paranormal, Urban Fantasy",Draft #BookadayUK - Day 19 - Most Memorable Plot Twist,9:31 pm 19 July 2014,"

I wasn't going to post today because I couldn't think of a single book I've read with a plot twist, never mind a memorable one.  My mind just went completely blank.  

Then I got 3/4 of the way through my current read.  Wow.  Did not see that coming at all.

And suddenly I had a book with a plot twist.  Since it's the only one I can remember at the moment, by definition it's the most memorable.