Killing Paparazzi [Hardcover]

Robert M. Eversz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 2002

Nina Zero is a girl who attracts trouble. Serious trouble of the guns-a-blazing, knife in the back variety. After serving a prison sentence for single-handedly blowing up LAX airport - by mistake - she finds on her release that the world just won't allow her to lead a simple life. The "electrifying" demise of heavy metal group Death Row in a hotel hot-tub gives Nina the opportunity to launch a new career as a paparazza - but all too soon the shine of her glamorous job begins to tarnish with the chilling realization that someone is killing Los Angeles' paparazzi.

While the corpses of her competition pile up around L.A. Nina takes it upon herself to track down the killer, becoming prey for both the police and the murderer. While searching for the killer she manages to squeeze in an off-the-wall green card wedding, a guest appearance on the docu-soap, Meat Wagon, and a walk-on part in a longstanding family feud. At turns hilarious and thrilling, with a pace as fast as the paparazzi's flashbulb, Killing Paparrazi is no normal trip down the red carpet.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Raymond Chandler's mean streets were never like those traversed in this new satirical novel by the author of Shooting Elvis. Nina Zero, Mary Alice Baker, is paroled after serving five years for blowing up LAX airport by mistake. Starting a new life for herself, she's going to earn two thousand dollars by marrying, so that her new English husband can obtain a green card. There's more: when members of a heavy-metal band called Death Row are electrocuted in a hotel hot tub, she sells pictures of their demise to a one-man photo agency and signs on as a paparazza. At last, she seems to have found her calling. But someone is killing L.A. paparazzi. As if that weren't enough, her husband's body is found beaten and stabbed. Properly enraged, Nina resolves to track down the killer herself. There's the expected unexpected ending, but half the fun is getting there in this noirish ramble across L.A.'s seedy underbelly, most notably Nina's deadpan narration ("Frank was one of those guys who could take a bite at the beginning of a sentence, chew through the middle and lunge for another bite without so much as a comma to separate mouthfuls"). Along the way Eversz manages to satirize rock groups, television, the glitterati and California correctional facilities, among other tempting targets. While the satirical overtones are omnipresent, the violence is a little too visceral to take lightly, and the overall effect a little too close to reality particularly in the wake of September 11 for comfort.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Eversz's hip thrillers sizzle with flashes of mordant wit and merciless mocking of Hollywood pretensions. Shooting Elvis (1996) introduced baby photographer turned revenging she-devil Nina Zero, who's back on the street after serving hard time for a spectacular crime spree. One man got her into that bizarre mess, and now another gets her into a whole new world of violent trouble. Her green-card marriage to Brit Gabe, a paparazzo, or "princess killer," is supposed to be all business, but Nina, who quickly joins his despised, dangerous, but lucrative profession, falls in love only to become a widow hell-bent on finding and punishing her husband's killer. Her pursuit takes her into the weird, vampirish realm of the paparazzi, the tabloid racket, and the sanctum sanctorum of L.A.'s richest and most decadent stars and real-estate pirates. The ensuing kinky-sex blackmail plot is neatly done, but it's Eversz's killer sense of humor and Nina's extreme rage, toughness, and quest for justice that make this smart and stylish mystery hum. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (January 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312289022
• ISBN-13: 978-0312289027
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,937,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars strong satirical mystery, April 21, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Killing Paparazzi (Paperback)

When Nina Zero was Mary Alice Baker she swears she was a good girl. A stud here and a stud there turned her into what she is today. Finally after serving five years for blowing up a section of LAX airport that she insists was an accident Nina is paroled.

Unable to obtain work and written off as a terrorist by friends and family, Nina agrees to marry English photographer Gabriel Burns for two thousand dollars and a weekend in Vegas so that the Paparazzi can obtain a green card. Nina takes pictures of a heavy-metal band electrocuted in a hotel hot tub that she sells to an agency. This gives her the impetus to start a new career as a paparazzi. However, when her new husband's body is found battered, Nina resolves to find the killer. Is Los Angeles big enough to handle a Nina earthquake off the Richter Scale?

KILLING PAPARAZZI is a visual satire that leaves few prisoners as much of Southern California media life is exposed to humorous ridicule. The story line tosses rocks at many an icon as Nina does what she does best, cause havoc. However, this mystery is not for everyone because the plot and its references to the previous tale SHOOTING ELVIS loses some of its off the wall edge as it will remind much of the audience of 9/11.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Loved This Book!, January 14, 2002

By 

jblackman (new york, ny United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killing Paparazzi (Hardcover)

I found this book to be a real page-turner. I honestly could not put it down. I just got it a few days ago, and I'm back on this site looking for more from this author. The book was a gift, and I didn't know that the protagonist was developed in an eariler novel. It didn't matter that I hadn't (yet) read the first one though. In fact, maybe it's better because it made me want to go back and find out more about this sassy woman!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read, Nina Zero rocks, April 2, 2002

By 

David G. Isaacs - See all my reviews

This review is from: Killing Paparazzi (Hardcover)

Robert Eversz's heroine, Nina Zero, rates at the top of tough, ass kicking females. A detective by default in this one Nina works her way through a taughtly drawn plot written by an expert. "KP" is a very satisfying read for anyone looking for fresh air in a detective novel. LA never looked seedier (or more interesting) from the standpoint of movie stars, politicians and their slimy paparazzi counterparts. Nina Zero (and Mr. Eversz) deserves a long series of successful novels. Read this one, its an excellent book.