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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Detective pulp & sci-fi makes a good read, May 6, 2008
This review is from: Dangerous Dames (Mass Market Paperback)
I picked this up during a deployment with the US Army a few weeks ago, and already the book has gone through a lot. It's a great page-turning read that combines a lot of 1960s private detective story trope with science fiction elements and a dash of humor (inlcuding plenty of pop culture references - one example, heavily edited so as to not give away the story, is when one character tells another "You're mistaken. I am your father," to which the other character simply, and inevitably, replies, "That's not true. That's impossible!" and does it so smoothly it took me a second to recognize it). My only (minor!) nitpick is that I was able to figure out both of the mysteries about the same time as Our Intrepid Hero, (one Zachary Nixon Johnson, the "last private detective on Earth"), but to my mind that's not that much of a bad thing - it allows the reader to let out their own inner mid-21st century private detective.
Even just from a value standpoint, "Dangerous Dames" is also a great pick. It combines two stories seperately available, The Doomsday Brunette and The Plutonium Blonde, into one book that weighs in about as much as a Tom Clancy novel. (For the record, it does indeed fit in an Army Combat Uniform pants cargo pocket.) And at $8.99 USD, it's a great bargain. If you're a fan of sci-fi or pulp fiction, I'd highly recommend picking this one up. If you're looking for a good read that doesn't take itself too seriously, I'd highly recommend picking this up.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Light, Fun Read, May 13, 2008
This review is from: Dangerous Dames (Mass Market Paperback)
The Zack Johnson books have been described as part parody, part homage to the old pulp detective novels. It's fifty years in the future. Zach Johnson is the last licensed P.I. on Earth. He's a bit of a celebrity, which means he gets some interesting cases. In book one, Zack and his partner HARV (supercomputer extraordinaire) must track down a homocidal plutonium-powered android superbabe. Book two sets Zach and HARV out to learn who murdered a genetically enhanced superbabe. (There's a bit of a superbabe theme to these books, if you haven't noticed...)
I'll admit that the first few chapters worried me. I really wanted to enjoy the books, having heard good things about them. But the first chapters felt like they were trying too hard to be funny, giving backstory and shooting off jokes without really starting the story.
Fortunately, the chapters are short, and the book soon drew me in. The stories are a lot of fun to read, and kept me turning the pages long after I meant to put the book down. Some jokes worked better than others -- I couldn't quite buy everyone swearing by "Gates" and "DOS", for example -- but then, that's going to be the case whenever you write humor. The story is good enough to draw you along regardless of whether you appreciate every last joke.
I thought the second story was stronger than the first, and I've been told the series continues to improve. The silliness sometimes threatens to cross the line, but it never felt over-the-top enough to throw me out of the story. Not even the attack toaster or the pixie/nymphs.
Will you like the book? That depends a lot on your taste and sense of humor. Personally, I think the world needs more humorous SF/F. So if you're looking for a fun, light read, I'd give it a try.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A terrific fun read, January 3, 2009
This review is from: Dangerous Dames (Mass Market Paperback)
The 2 books, The Plutonium Blond and The Doomsday Brunette, are so much fun to read. Both are such humorous scifi adventures, that I had a hard time putting down. Zach gets himself into all kinds of trouble, and Harv performs well as his "sidekick". I highly recommend John Zakour's series of books.
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