Customer Reviews

Doppelgangster (Esther Diamond Novel)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Esther Diamond is between acting jobs. To make ends meet, she takes a job waiting tables at Bella Stella. Connor Lopez, the cop who may or may not be Esther's boyfriend, is concerned because Bella Stella is frequented by the Gambello crime family, but hey, a girl's gotta make a living!

Before long, though, Esther lands in deep trouble. One of Bella Stella's regulars, Chubby Charlie, sees a perfect double of himself and then is murdered right in front of her. She's traumatized by the event, the tabloids are painting her as mob-connected, Lopez doesn't believe her version of events, and she's starting to suspect that Charlie's double was created by magic. When other doubles start popping up, followed by more murders, it's up to Esther to find the killer, with the help of Max, her centuries-old wizard friend; Lucky, an aging wiseguy; and Max's new "familiar," Nelli, who may be a mystical creature but seems more like an ordinary, slobbering Canis familiaris.

What follows is a twisty, well-executed mystery plot laced with plenty of humor. Laura Resnick touches on some serious themes from time to time -- these are gangsters, not Boy Scouts, after all -- but DOPPELGANGSTER never gets too heavy or depressing. In fact, it's laugh-out-loud funny, the kind of book that makes me want to use words like "screwball" and "romp." Esther and her friends make a hilarious team, and I love watching them interact. My favorite scenes include Lucky teaching Max to use gangster lingo, and pretty much any scene involving the dog. (Max would of course correct me. I shouldn't call Nelli a dog. She's a familiar!)

DOPPELGANGSTER is a great mix of urban fantasy, humor, mystery, and maybe a dash of chick lit. It had me in stitches. I also recommend Resnick's first Esther Diamond book, Disappearing Nightly. You don't have to read it to follow Doppelgangster's storyline, but it's worth tracking down anyway, just because it's fun!

All Esther Diamond wants is a decent acting role that she can be proud of (and her typically Jewish mother can be proud of as well!) she'll do anything to get her to stop nagging. Plus, it would be nice to get a regular paycheck. And finally go on a hot sexy date with her police detective boyfriend. But it looks as if that's not in the cards for Esther. At least not while Mercury is in retrograde and her proverbial job as a singing waitress at Bella Stella's (the mob version of Casablanca) is soon to hit the skids.

When Esther's favorite wiseguy customer Chubby Charlie Chiccante is gunned down in front of her after seeing his mystical doppelganger, she's drawn deeply into a web of magical intrigue and the mobster underworld. Who is creating the magical doppelganger assassins that threaten to start an all out mob war between New York's notorious crime families? And can she stop it before she ends up sleeping with the fishes too?

Doppelgangster is an energetic gangster tale with elements of the paranormal that is both witty and hilarious. At first, I didn't know what to expect when starting it. Was it a paranormal? Was it a mystery? Was it a thriller? Was it a romance? I was so pleasantly surprised to find that it was all of these things and more. Diving into Doppelgangster was like getting the best piece of the pie and slowly savoring each bite.

Resnick is in her element with Doppelgangster's dialogue. She's a powerhouse with it. The funny and engaging mobsterisms are rampant, clever, and her character interactions are simply gut busting. In fact the two most important aspects of Resnick's tale are the originality of her idea and the brilliant character interactions. Esther, paired with Lucky, Max, and Nelli at the behest of the Gambello's shy don makes this one of the funniest books I've read this year. I laughed non-stop throughout this book.

There is a small thread of romance between Esther and her slurpalicious detective Lopez. But so far, the mobster shenanigans ensuing have firmly placed the lovers on opposite camps: Lopez on the side of the law and Esther helping the "family". While this tenuous thread between the two of them was smoking hot, I suspect that we'll be seeing more of sexy Detective Lopez in Resnick's next novel. Especially the barest hint that he might not be what he seems, and could be psychically gifted.

If you want to truly be entertained, (and laugh out loud frequently) and enjoy storytelling at its best, give Doppelgangster a whirl!

A Fiendishly Bookish Review

I'm fairly new to the urban fantasy genre. I read the first Esther Diamond book, "Disappearing Nightly",about a year ago and absolutly loved it. I passed it on to all my friends. They also enjoyed it. I had been anxiously awaiting the next book, and I was not disappointed! Dopplegangster is funny, witty, and impossible to put down. I am already looking forward to the next book!

I read and liked the first book, Disappearing Nightly, when it came out, but the date for the sequel kept getting pushed back and I started thinking it was never actually going to be released. Turns out it was well worth the wait; I liked this book even more than the first one, which Laura Resnick references enough to pretty much catch you up for the sequel.

Esther Diamond is working as a singing waitress, at a restaurant frequented by mobsters, between acting jobs and witnesses the mysterious death of one the hitmen. When she begins to suspect that magic was used in the killing it leads her to work once again with her friend and wizard, Max, despite the misgivings her boyfriend, Detective Connor Lopez, has about him. She and Max end up teaming up with a new character, Lucky, an aging mobster (even though I never forgot he wasn't really a good guy, I loved this character). They realize that the first, and subsequent, victims all have one thing in common; they have doppelgangers and will die shortly after seeing their double.

Esther, who doesn't have any magical abilities of her own, tries to juggle finding another acting job, keeping her boyfriend and keeping him alive (he just got transferred to the Organized Crime Control Bureau and is investigating the case), with trying to find the killer before the murders result in a mob war.

The book moves at a good pace, has plenty of action and laughs and Resnick throws in an interesting twist that I'm sure will be addressed in one of the follow-up books. Luckily, we won't have to wait as long for the next one.

It's such a hoot to see so much imagination and skill go into crafting all the new additions to the PNR genre. Without limits because of "magic" , the sky becomes limitless for clever authors. This addition fits that description nicely. Not deeply fantasy-oriented, more along the lines of the old "Moonlighting" TV show with interesting people in different jobs, chatting and wise-cracking about life in old New York. I liked the lack of angst. I also liked how the female and male leads end up in "opposition" because of their jobs (first) and belief (or lack of belief) in paranormal stuff, a distant second. These guys would ruffle each other no matter what is in the environment. A fine start to a good series and the author will join my long and renown list of auto-buys. Go Esther Diamond--a new gold dust sister!

Detective Lopez, who has just transferred to Organized Crime, isn't at all happy when Esther Diamond, the woman he's trying to date, goes to her fall back job as a singing waitress at an Italian restaurant the mob uses, when in between acting jobs. And his supervisor isn't at all thrilled when Esther is up close and personal at a mob hit that defies all logic.

Esther and Lucky, a semi-retired hitman, had seen the victim's double and team up with Max, a sorcerer who fights evil in the New York area, to find the answers to the Doppelgangers being seen just before another member of a mob family is killed in impossible circumstances. They are doing their best to prevent an all-out mob war, but no one accepts the unbelievable until seeing their own double: a portent of their death by the end of the day. No, the detective isn't at all happy with the company Esther is keeping and the fact that they can't provide him with reasonable explanations.

This second book in the paranormal mystery series has a strong, fun, chaotic feel to it for half of the book, similar to a grown-up Stephanie Plum story. The secondary characters are half the fun and the whodunit isn't obvious. Unlike most paranormals, the heroine doesn't have any magical abilities herself. The story does tend to drag for a portion of the book as it settles into research on doppelgangers and working out answers.

The first book in the Esther Diamond series, Disappearing Nightly, was released over a decade ago and is no longer in print. Two more books are expected to follow.

Plot Summary: Esther Diamond is a woman who takes supernatural stuff in stride. Maybe being an aspiring actress in New York City helps - she's used to believing in the impossible. While working her `day' job as a waitress at a mafia hangout, Esther becomes the prime witness of a murder. Her sexy sort-of boyfriend, Detective Lopez, is assigned to the case but he's not willing to follow the prime clue Esther witnessed - before he was killed, the victim said he saw his exact double earlier that day. As new wiseguys get whacked with evidence that they had a doubles too, Esther relies on an ancient wizard and a semi-retired hitman to help her stay alive and find the murderer.

Doppelgangster really grew on me. It's written in the first person, so the first step is getting to know and like Esther. It took me about 100 pages to warm up to this aspiring New York actress, but right about then the book made me laugh out loud, and I was with her the rest of the way. When Mary Jo Putney blurbed Doppelgangster she said, "Esther Diamond is the Stephanie Plum of urban fantasy!" I think that's an accurate description. Esther is not a natural bad-ass, and she doesn't possess any supernatural powers, but she does have a good brain when she's not spazing about her career.

If I liked Esther, then I positively loved all the men in her life. Max, the 350-year-old wizard is charming in an innocent, child-like way. Lucky, the semi-retired mafia hitman is a patient tutor on all things in The Family, and gallant as well. Lopez, is the kind of sexy, straight-arrow detective that gives law enforcement a good name, and boy, does he do everything right when it comes to wooing a woman. And of course, I loved Nelli, the sweetheart of a dog who is much more than she seems.

I made one mistake though. I assumed that Doppelgangster was the first book in the Esther Diamond series, but it's the second. The prologue recaps the main events from the first installment, but I still hate jumping in out of order.

Unfortunately the first book, Disappearing Nightly, was published several years ago and it's out of print. According to Ms. Resnick's website, book one will be reissued with a new cover, however the release date is TBA. The third novel, Unsympathetic Magic: An Esther Diamond Novel, will be released August 2010.

Humor is a lot harder to write than angst, but authors who do it as well as Laura Resnick are pure gold. Esther Diamond and her friends are terrific comic creations, with the wacky distractibility of real people. Poor Lopez. I suspect that his trials with Esther are just beginning! If you like your urban fantasy with intelligence, humor, and not much gore, Resnick's Manhattan is well worth a visit. I hope this is a good long series.

what can I say? I've been spoiled by other, better urban fantasy writers who do the kick-ass heroine with more elan and pizzazz. Not to mention an actual, interesting plot and relevant, modern characters. Esther Diamond didn't have much going for her. The Mafia, eccentric professor, and other minor characters in the book were just cliched and stereotyped to an extreme. After plodding through 100 pages of this book, I still had no idea what it was about. It was all ridiculous dialogue and no setting. If you're looking for urban fantasy books about competent, sassy, sarcastic, funny, independent women, give Esther a pass.

Love this book, a very enjoyable read. Ms. Resnick has created a group of lovable character. Esther Diamond the heroine in this story is just your run of the mill starving actress. When not working she also has a job as a singing waitress. She also seems to find herself the witness to a murder. Finds out this is not a normal crime but a supernatural one. And to solve it and clear her name she needs the help of a three hundred year old mage, a somewhat retired hit man, and a magical created dog. Together they solve the crime and help stop the guilty party. And somehow still finds the time to go her two jobs, to an audition and hears about an upcoming part. All of which is getting in the way of her love life. Parts of this book had me laughing out loud. If you want to be entertained then this book is for you. Five stars is well worth it.