wicked game

I wrote yesterday about purchasing this book in lieu of the new Laurell Hamilton book, "Blood Noir." Not one of my better decisions. I read a review of "Wicked Game"by Jeri Smith Ready on one of my favorite author's websites. Sounded like a good bet. Take con artist Ciara Griffin who is trying to reform, toss in a pack of vampires who work as genre specific radio deejays, add an imminent corporate takeover and stir. Then whip in hunky grunge musician vampire Shane for a love interest and a pissed off old vampire who doesn't like the attention the deejays are getting. With all of that plus a secret undercover government agency who monitors vamps, you have the foundation for the book.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. Bummed me out a bit. The writing isn't bad, heck the story isn't bad. It just never grabbed me by the throat and said, let's go for a ride. Something just didn't click for me. Jeri Smith Ready is to be lauded by bringing some new twists to the vampire genre...I loved her description of what happens after a vamp is staked. I also enjoyed the idea of a vamp being tied to the time frame when they actually lived and fading as they become more removed from that era.

Perhaps the problem is too many new twists in the world building and not enough exploration into them. The final twist at the end comes when we learn that our heroine's blood heals the grunge boy's holy water burned arm. What about the other vamp she just fed? How will her blood impact him? His creator just got waxed, will he be healed in some way too? The pat answer of her religious unbelief serving as the antidote for a holy water burn just didn't work for me.

Can't give it a major thumbs up, but I wish I could. It was just alright for me.

Over the next few days I'm going to be reading and commenting on Kim's second Shannon Wallace mystery. Yeah! I'm also digging out "Whiskey Sour" by J. Konrath. Picked it up at our last big book sale. Kim raves about Konrath, so I'm going to see what all the fuss is about.