Customer Reviews

The Doomsday Brunette

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bought this book by reading the reviews and did not regret it. Quick and easy pulp fiction read with excellent characters and plot. I read this book in two fun-filled days. Takes place in the future 2058, the story involves four identical sisters and our P.I. is called out to One's house because someone or thing has murdered her sister called Foura. I will not go into any more detail,just telling all you guys who Laurell's works and Jim Butcher's books to try this book. I really enjoyed it. Now John hurry up and finish up The Radioactive Redhead. YOU HAVE A NEW FAN.................

The 2nd book of the trilogy, The Doomsday Brunette, picks up shortly after the events of The Plutonium Blonde.

She's super-smart, super-super-model gorgeous, nigh-invulnerable and a light shade of purple. Yup, purple. And she's 1/4 of the Thompson Quadruplet's. She is Ona Thompson and one of her sister's is dead.

Zach Johnson, Private Eye extraordinaire (that's because he's the ONLY PI left on Earth), is hired by the richest being on the planet, Ona Thompson, to find out who killed her sister.

Ah mayhem...murderous granny's, homicidal 13th Century Medieval suits of armor, golf ball-sized laser-firing security bots, zombie Vegas tourists (what! They're not REAL?!), and pheromones...sweet, sweet pheromones...What?! Where was I? Oh, yeah...one liner's, intrigue, acrophobia and more...all the ingredients for a fun-filled, fast-paced romp in the not-too-distant future of mid-21st Century.

Can't wait for the 3rd book, The Radioactive Redhead.

Don't make Zach's adventures a trilogy. We want more!!!

I was first caught by the title, then by the wonderful cover art which does a fine job of capturing the quintessential look of a period Pulp Fiction magazine. The content is no less entertaining. Not many authors have been able to carry off a classic Hard Boiled Detective novel (or even less a Detective/Mystery novel) in the Science Fiction vein. It was an easy and entertaining read. I occasionally thumbed a few pages back to re-read a particulary amusing or well-written scene.....My only regret is that this was the *first* one I read and that I haven't read the first book. Even though I'm reading out of order hasn't diminished my enjoyment a Nano!

Set in the middle of the 21st century, the Thompson Quads (short for quadruplets) are genetically engineered to be stronger, smarter, more beautiful and alluring, more everything than the average person. Ona, Twoa, Threa and Foraa (seriously) are supposed to be the pinnacle of humanity, but their personalities never caught up with their bodies. During a private dinner at Ona's private compound, attempting to patch up disagreements between them (which have grown to the size of the Grand Canyon), Foraa falls to the floor, dead, and apparently poisoned.

Enter Zachary Nixon Johnson, the world's last freelance private investigator. The wine Foraa was drinking when she collapsed tests negative for all known poisons. An autopsy on Foraa is impossible because her skin, like that of her sisters, is impregnable to outside objects, including scalpels, saws, and even lasers used on asteroids. Johnson, who is assisted in his investigation by HARV, the world's most sophisticated supercomputer hardwired into his brain, doesn't lack for suspects.

Perhaps the killer was aiming for Ona (she inherited all of Daddy's money when he died, and has become an arrogant, overbearing you-know-what) and miscalculated. After much investigation, and narrowly surviving an attack by a cybernetic suit of armor, Johnson feels the case is solved. During what is supposed to be the climatic scene, where the hardboiled PI calls together all the suspects in order to reveal the murderer, Johnson gets a call from the morgue. Foraa has woken up, gotten off the autopsy table and left. The final battle of the book takes place in a New Vegas casino that happens to be built on top of a real doomsday device, built by Daddy before he died.

Fans of hardboiled detective novels will enjoy this story; science fiction fans will also enjoy it. The authors do a fine job throughout and this is well worth reading.

Zachary Nixon Johnson is the last private eye on Earth - and he wouldn't have it any other way. When he receives a call at 3 am from Ona Thompson - the richest being on the planet - he really has no option but to do as she directs and come to her complex. There he finds her in the company of her siblings - Twoa, Threa and Fora. Of course, there is a problem - Fora is dead. This is made even more problematic because the Quads (as they are called) are nigh-invulnerable, having been genetically created by their genius father to be beautiful, intelligent and superior in every way. This resulted in their skin being slightly purple, but that only enhances their charm.

Zach has to discover who killed Fora, and how it was accomplished. This is easier said than done, since it appears that almost everyone had not only the desire to murder her, but also means and opportunity.

The book is filled with terrific characters - most notably the Quads themselves. Ona inherited her father's wealth, so she is a super-model and play-girl. Twoa is a super-hero - seriously - cape and everything. Threa is a fairy queen - she even has nymphs to follow her around. Fora was (to Zach) the most normal as an anarcho-goth who preached the dangers of materialism in New Vegas.

HARV - Zach's computerized personal assistant - develops a keep interest in detecting in this novel and begins to change his appearance as a result, with often quite amusing results.

Then there is W, the ancient butler who specializes in table setting; Opie, the silver-back mountain gorilla who has been genetically altered to have human intelligence and is a fan of practical jokes; the Pfauhans, who are identical "twin" cousins named Sturm and Drang who look like Teutonic power houses but have a shocking secret . . . as well as the return of Randy, Carol, Electra Gevada and Tony Rickey. There is also an amusing character in the person of the coroner, whose name has slipped my mind at the nano - he refuses to call anyone by name, as he feels that would personalize people and keep him from doing his job properly. Zakour has a true genius when it comes to creating memorable and interesting characters!

These books are wonderful works of cross-genre fiction, mixing science fiction with PI noir in a delightful concoction that is sure to please fans of both types of books, as well as fans of a well-concocted bit of word play. Zakour has a lot of fun with language and it shows in his writing. This book is a definite "don't miss" from me!

I loved this book...great character development (including the computers), snappy dialogue and all sorts of high-tech goodies. Great fun!

When Zach Johnson, the last detective on Earth is called in to investigate the murder of a woman who is nigh invulnerable, all hell breaks loose.

Set in the near future, the Doomsday Brunette is an excellent modern-day pulp fiction novel of humor and action. This is the second novel in a series, but can be read as a stand-alone work. Perfect for light, yet enthralling reading.

Story:
It was a dark and stormy night when the call came in at 3 am. That's what time the jobs come calling when you're the world's last private investigator by the name of Zach Johnson. What's not normal is the identity of the caller. Its Ona of the world famous biologically enhanced Thompson Quads (Ona, Twoa, Threa, and Foura) who wants to hire Zach to find out why and how her sister Foura was murdered while they where all in the same room for a reunion dinner. The problem is that just about everybody and their brother had a grudge with the sisters, including the sisters themselves. It doesn't take long for Zach to find out that while the sisters might have super powers they don't exactly have super personalities. It turns out each of the sisters had a pretty good reason to take each other out. Before their father died, he changed his will to leave all of his fortune to Ona, which made her sisters very unhappy. If sorting out the family feud wasn't enough Zach has to deal with the century old butler (it takes him 5 hours to set tea and 5 more to fix it, if it's set wrong), The overly protective security team (their twins, and their lasers are not set to stun) and the late professors first experiment, a addled but intelligent gorilla. It's going to take all of Zach's skill and all of HARV's (the super computer wired directly into his brain) wit for him to get to the bottom of this case.
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I definitely liked this book. It has a nice pace and quite a few laugh out loud moments. The banter between Zach and HARV carry the book through a couple of dead spots and the supporting characters are memorable. I won't call the mystery a brain twister because it is not, but the ending does make up for it because it does have a twist. I would recommend this to anyone that likes mysteries set in the future with a bit of noir and humor mixed in. m.a.c

It's the year 2058 and Zachary Johnson is the last licensed private detective on Earth. Dr, Thompson wanted to cement his legacy so he decided to create his official offspring by altering his DNA and putting in special additives. What he produces are the Thompson Quads, four identical women each with their own minor tweak but still superior to regular humans. Ona is the richast person on earth and inadvertently inherited all of Dr Thompson's belongings. Twoa became a superheroine, Threa turned towards magic and the realm of Vyrmont, and Forra went Goth... and dead. Enter Zach Johnson who is hired by Ona to uncover who killed Forra. Unfortunately for them, the Quads have many enemies with motives.

Great series of pulp fiction style books. This is the second book in the series and may not be as strong as the first but is still equally entertaining. Certainly worth picking up.

So, cleaning out the office I came up with a grocery bag full of books and went off to my favorite used book store to barter for a little credit. Of course, since that horrible Conan Incursion in the 80's - it is so hard to find anybody who writes decently, has anything remotely involved with the Sciences (as opposed to Magical Mystery Tours) to write about or can actually tell a story or develop a character. I won't carry on about the cardboard cut-outs flashing their imaginary glowing swords at each other, but all of that RomanceNovel Fantasy that fills the shelves of the SciFi section does leave me, yet once more, disappointed with decreasing mediocrity of the modern imagination.

As a true Veteran of SciFi, with a solid 40 years of indulging in this guilty pleasure and a liberal arts background in Literature/History/Philosophy, I feel pretty darn "qualified" to yell "YIPPEE!~!~!~!" when I have the rare and welcome pleasure of picking up a 'SciFi' piece that not only moves along & has some originality but, believe it or not, is actually entertaining! OK, OK - I know all too many things are "relative", relativistic or someway subjective - but really, wasn't Vonnegut great!? Venus on the Half-Shell at least half as good as Candide? Didn't you love Lindsey's sarcastic tone in Schismatrix? And who hasn't used a half a dozen Xanth books as substitute for a psychotic breakdown and a nice cozy stay in an asylum????!! Decent writing is hard enough to find, but somebody actually clever AND entertaining - Now That's a Treat!

So, when in the bottom corner of the last shelf of the SciFi section I come across "The Doomsday Brunette" I had little faith that the Lurid Cover and Campy Promises would actually bear out when it came to actually reading the book. As luck would have it, the next week visited me with an emergency root canal and a couple of days of drowsing on codeine and reading! I was so grateful to have Zachary Nixon(?) Johnson HARV to keep me company! What a romp, sure there was a lot of imaginative violence, campy invention, a mystery (or two), lots of sexy vixens, a macho hero, a smart-alec super computer... I couldn't hardly wait to get to the next page!!!

Just to make sure it wasn't just the codeine - I ordered a copy of the Plutonium Blonde -- and liked it just as much!!!
Since the Blue-Haired Bombshell is coming out for my birthday tomorrow, I just ordered it and the Radio-Active Red-Head! (I'm saving the Frost Haired Vixen for the Holidays - just a little more antica ------- -------- -------- pation)!!!!

3 Cheers for John Zakour!!!! Long may he find different shades of SuperVillainessess to 'track down'! John - if your reading this -- Please visit the Hair-Color section of you local drugstore on a regular basis!!! Good Luck with the Blue Haired Bombshell!!!!