Customer Reviews

The Frost-Haired Vixen

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

 

 

The only private detective in existence in the year 2061 is Zachary Nixon Johnson and whenever he is on a case, which are few and far between, mayhem and destruction follow. His latest client is the mutant Santana Clausa who works in the North Pole with a few thousand cloned elves who make three presents for each person for the winter holiday, an event that removes all religious connotations from what used to be Christmas, Hanukah and Kwanza.

Her problem is that someone killed two of her elves which everyone thought was impossible because the North Pole is the happiest place in the world. Zach accepts the assignment but before he goes to the North Pole he is attacked by killer bots. When he arrives at the North Pole, a bot tries to smother him with a pillow and other attempts are made on his life. With the help of his AI supercomputer HARV, he narrows the suspects down to the people who are visiting the North Pole but doesn't rule out an insider reprogramming the bots to kill.

John Zakour has written a serio-comic tale with the emphasis on comic futuristic thriller. There is so much humor in the tale that reader will find themselves instantly laughing out loud. Although the tone of THE FROST-HAIRED VIXEN is light, there is a serious undertone to the story. The protagonist is a man out of time, better suited to the twentieth century where he could be a Phillip Marlow then an almost extinct operative who relies on easy getting information and mid twenty first century technology.

Harriet Klausner

John Zakour goes it alone in this, the fourth book featuring freelance PI Zachary Nixon Johnson - the only freelance PI left in the world in the year 2060. In his latest adventure, he is approached by Santana Clausa - who runs the North Pole to make the toys for Holiday, when each person on Earth receives 3 presents. Two of the elves that she oversees have been murdered and she wants Zach to find out who did the deed.

Immediately people start trying to kill him. Just another day in the life of Zachary Nixon Johnson!

When he arrives at the Pole, he goes undercover to try to determine who among the current guests may have been the murderers. With guardbots being reprogrammed to attack him, sugared-up Elves all around and argumentative fellow guests to contend with, this won't be a walk in the snow.

In some ways this book was superior to the joint ventures in the previous works - it is a bit more gritty and "real." In others, it needed more work - there were a lot more typos and grammatical errors, for instance. All-in-all, I would say it holds its own against the first three books in the series and I look forward to seeing where Zakour takes this most amusing cross-genre series in the future. Keep 'em coming!

This is John Zakour's first solo effort of the series and it seems he is trying to get comfortable with "flying solo". The story was pretty solid but this book definitely needed a better copy editor/proof reader. The number of typos and grammatical errors were frequent enough that they were a distraction from the story itself.

If you read of this stories, you will probably read them all. This last saving of the world makes me wonder what else he will have to do to save the future. The story is good but the book does suffer from a lack of final editing and multiple grammer errors, not that I'm an expert. This may have only bothered me, but it stops the story. It was great that characters from his other adventures were included as a reference point and a lot of explanation wasn't necessary for Johnson's loyal followers. There were a lot more passages and pages of what Zach was thinking that sometimes worked for the story and sometimes slowed it down. The best in the series so far is "The Doomsday Brunette" which was fast paced with excellent dialog. Although "Frost Haired Vixen" was not at that level, it is a good read for fans and worth waiting for. I think he should get involved in "The High-Lighted Harem" next time. That'll keep Electra on her toes.

This is basically a fun book that could have been much better. I liked it, but sad to say, it was a much weaker entry in the Zach Johnson-series than the previous three books. Maybe because it's a solo effort by John Zakour, without the influence of previous co-writer Lawrence Ganem? Anyway, it has some unevenly written parts that were missing from the other books. Not to mention, it has way too many grammatical errors; too many to be just a misprint or something like that. I do hope it's not John Zakour himself who made this many mistakes; either way, it sure could have benefited a lot from a good proofreader and/or editor because they were annoying and detracted from the flow of the story. So DAW books, please take notice!
Okay, besides that: it was fun meeting the last freelance P.I. on Earth again, and having him run into Santana Claus, wacky elves, murderous 'bots and other assorted crazy individuals while trying to save the world - again! Here's to more adventures of Zack, but please bring Ganem back if that's needed to improve the quality once more.

Zach Johnson, last private detective on earth, the year is 2060 but Zach is a bit retro along the lines of 1950s PIs. In this serial like epiosde of the books, Zach is hired by none other than Santana Clausa, the overseer and public figure for the Holiday. It seems that someone has been killing her genetically created & cloned elves so she hires Zach Johnson to go undercover as Bart Starr to solve the mystery. Backed only by his onboard computer HARV, Zach joins the current tour group at the Pole and fends off killer bots, sugar addicted elves, wrestling powerhouse Nova Powers, aliens, and the ultra hot Santana herself. Meanwhile, HARV investigates his sense of humor and must make a decision that will change him forever (even more so than the sex change from The Radioactive Redhead (Daw Science Fiction).

John Zakour goes it alone in this book about the continuing cases of Zachary Nixon Johnson and holds up on his own. Unfortunately there is a serious editting problem with this one. This whole series could be turned into a serial tv show along the lines of The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. - The Complete Series. Either way, they are fun to read for some light entertainment.

I really wanted to like this book. Setting is great. However, the writing is noticeably not as good as previously. Not sure why not.

Still quite a fun story, and compelling characters.

Unfortunately, plot lines tend to degrade near the last quarter of the books in general.

Could make great films, tho.

I've enjoyed all the other books in this series. This isn't as good as the others. Mr. Zakour in trying to compensate for his former writing partner winds up over compensating. A little too long. More predictable than the others or what I've come to expect. A good read overall but slower. The others were gave me a rush like a roller coaster ride this one was more of a merry-go-round. I won't stop reading the series as I have confidence Mr. Zakour will eventually hit his solo stride.

John Zakour has turned out another fun guy saves world tale. It's clear that Zakour can come up with plenty of surprising situations and characters on his own. I hope there's another tale of Zach's coming up soon.

I've been waiting for this book for some time now since I happened to run into the series and while it was not what I expected, I was not disapointed in the style nor wit that John Zakour displays.
For anyone familiar with the series the writing style has changed slightly with the leaving of Ganem and perhaps that is why I didnt find it as strong as the others in the series but still one I am very happy to own and recomend. Personally I cant wait for the next adventure.