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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Deserved a better title, July 9, 2007
"The Nymphos of Rocky Flats," Mario Acevedo's first novel, is a pretty good vampire yarn with a few exceptional highlights. The beginning, for instance, places protagonist Felix Gomez, still mortal, doing his bit for Operation Iraqi Freedom. But when the mission goes wrong and Iraqi civilians are killed, Felix is overcome with guilt -- easy prey for a vampire who happens by.
Back home, Felix works as a private investigator, retaining his mobility in daylight with a cocktail of sunscreens and cosmetics. He's called to Rocky Flats, Colorado, to investigate an outbreak of nymphomania at a federal Department of Energy facility -- hence the title.
But the nymphomania, along with the handful of of nymphomaniacs we meet, are really extraneous to the story. Much more interesting is the vampire society Acevedo has created, as well as the small army of vampire hunters that invades the greater Denver area with crosses, stakes and silver pellets in their shotguns. The dryad is pretty cool, too.
I'm afraid the "nymphos" in the title, coupled with the leering face on the cover, my harm more than help Acevedo's sales. That's too bad, because "Rocky Flats" -- which had to be declassified by the Department of Energy before its release -- is a pretty good first novel and a solid addition to modern vampire lore.
by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(n e t) editor
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Yea...I Know, the Title...But it IS Good!!, September 22, 2006
Oh...it's a man goes to war, man kills innocent civilians, man suffers from the guilt and anguish of killing said civilians and what happens....why he is bitten by a vampire as the ultimate punishment, of course! Now that man is back in the US, having been discharged from the army for "medical reasons" and he is, naturally, working as a private investigator. He's been lured to Rocky Flats with a retainer of 20,000 dollars to investigate a rather interesting little problem...an "outbreak" of nymphomania amount the facilities women employees.
What starts out as a seemingly simple task...discover the cause of the nymphomania turns into a whirlwind adventure that runs the gambit of every thing in this genre and throws in a few from others...we've got government conspiracy theory and cover-ups, the tedium of bureaucracy, vampires, vampire hunters (naturally), a dryad, Roswell, Area 51, Aliens...Acevedo threw in practically everything but the kitchen sink into the plot, stirred liberally and viola! We get a strikingly funny novel about a vet turned vampire (who refuses to drink human blood by the way) who is assisted by a local group of vampires and a dryad in his investigation of nymphomania...yea, it's a hoot. If this had not been written in such a humorous and entertaining way, there is no way that Acevedo could have made this even remotely believable.
It's enjoyable for it's over the top story and elements told in an over the top humorous manner! I almost passed this up because of the title and I'm glad I didn't, while this is certainly not destined to be a classic, it is funny and charming in its own way! In the end, I give it a B- because all the pieces of the puzzle don't fit quite right at the very end...but this is certainly forgivable given how entertaining the story is! I'll definitely be picking up the follow up book!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting premise doesn't quite deliver., July 25, 2008
"I was intrigued with the premise of this book: a soldier gets turned into a vampire and then comes back as a private detective who is now investigating a case of nymphomania.
This premise is interesting, but I feel the book fails to deliver a whole package. Acevedo's descriptions are weak, and at no point did I feel myself drawn into the story, like I was feeling what it was like to be a vampire detective. The narrator was very nonchalant about his powers and there was little, if any, description about the way his vampire powers felt to him. He just says things like "I used my vampire power to hypnotise them." Very plain, not visceral at all. Lots of telling without showing. The most memorable character trait of Felix, the narrator, is that he refuses to drink human blood because he accidentally killed a young girl in Iraq. This is supposedly why he "chose" to become a vampire, though it really wasn't a choice at all and, thematically, doesn't fit with the rest of the story.
Despite the sensory deprivation of the narrative, Acevedo does add some interesting new twists on the vampire legend. Now vampires can turn into wolves, hypnotize, hover, wear sunblock, and cause memory loss in people. At the same time, some of these new powers made the narrator's quest a bit too easy at times. Need to get out of a jam? Make them lose their memory!
Aside from having vampires and vampire hunters, this is a standard mystery novel. Given, the plotline is funny it involves government conspiracies and nyphomania, but it offers nothing new from your typical dime-a-dozen mainstream mystery plotline. The ending comes as no surprise.
In summary:
With more sensory details and concentration on making characters come alive (instead of flimsy plot devices) this could have been a better story. As is, it's your standard mystery with two-dimensional vampires as characters that never strike home."
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