Review – Another One Bites the Dust by Jennifer Rardin (4/5 stars)

This is the 2nd book in the Jaz Parks series by Jennifer Rardin. This series currently has 4 books with a 5th book due out in Jan ’09. Don’t let the cheesy title and the saucy cover fool you. These aren’t chic lit novels and they aren’t romance; these are hardcore supernatural spy novels with great action, lots of violence, and oodles of gore.

In this book Jaz and Vayl get an assignment to deal with a Chinese vampire who thinks his current state is just temporary and he is destined to become a dragon. This vampire is a close-associate of Edward Samos (the Raptor). They aren’t sure what Lung is planning but they know they need to get information from him about Samos and bring him down. This time there’s a full team on the case with Cassandra and Bergman providing magical and technical backup respectively.

So far I am loving these books. They are fun and witty, fast-paced, filled with neat gadgets. The characters have a lot of depth and I am really enjoying the character development so far. Jaz and Vayl are both developing fascinating powers and learning how to use them. There’s a lot of sarcasm in these books and funny comebacks. Some of the analogies that Rardin puts into Jaz’s mouth have me roaring with laughter. I think it drives my husband nuts that I sit in bed reading this book and am constantly laughing out loud. That’t not to say these are light books; there is a lot of dark humor and a lot of life/world threatening situations.

So, I really loved this book. My only problem with it was that I didn’t think it was quite as good as the first one. I think maybe it was the setting at the festival that hurt the plot some for me…or maybe it was the lack of cool fast cars. Either way, overall I am really enjoying these books. I am so excited to read the next one.