Laura Resnick
Disappearing Nightly (2005)
This book was a disappointment. About halfway through I started reading as fast as I could so I could get the whole thing over with. The frustrating thing was that the story was good, the mystery portion of good. I just hated the main character. She struck me as incredibly annoying, and I found myself hoping that she would go head and perform the magic trick and disappear.
In New York, magician's assistants are disappearing for real in the middle of their acts, and as Esther Diamond is the understudy who is supposed to perform next, she's more than a little worried when she starts receiving notes warning her that if she performs she may be next to disappear.
As I said, the book wasn't a complete lost. I did like some of the supporting characters, the mystery was good, and the story telling was interesting. But I couldn't get past the fact that I found Esther painfully annoying. But someone who didn't find Esther annoying would probably enjoy the book.
Rating: 5/10
Doppelgangster (2010)
Considering that I disliked Disappearing Nightly, I hesitated to pick up Doppelgangster, however, the premise intrigued me so much I decided to give it a chance. (OK, the cover also helped. I really liked the cover.)
Esther Diamond is working at Bella Stella as a singing waitress while waiting for her next big role. She’s also hoping things will work out with Detective Lopez, who has asked her out several times, and is very clearly interested. Unfortunately for Esther, the fact that Bella Stella is an infamous gangster hangout is just one thing putting a crimp in her relationship with Lopez.
The Doppelgangsters that start appearing just make matters worse.
Esther was far less annoying in this book than I found her in the previous. Yes, she’s still headstrong, however, she’s a bit less self-centered, which makes her over-the-top behavior easier to tolerate.
Plus, I really liked the supporting characters.
You should easily be able to read Doppelgangster even if you have not read Disappearing Nightly (in fact, I’d completely forgotten the events in Disappearing Nightly.) It was a fun romp, and I have to admit that I liked that things kept not working out for Esther and Lopez–a nice change of pace from most of the paranormal/supernatural books out there.
Rating: 7/10
In Legend Born (1998)
Michael liked In Legend Born and the following books. I got to about page 52 and got bored. Miribar is a magic user, in a land where mages are killed. She lives in a hidden commune, where she is feared, but tolerated. Tansen is an assassin who has come back to his homeland, only to be immediately arrested for carrying weapons. Jorasin has rebelled against the oppressive regime, and now has a price on his head.
This was strange, because I should have liked this book from the start. The action started pretty quickly, which I usually like.
The problem, I think, is that just as I started to get interested into a character, the point of view jumped to someone else, and I'd have to start all over again. So I'd get a ten page introduction, and then we'd move on. I found it frustrating more than enticing.
I think that if I can get past all the introductions then I might like this book. But that's probably going to require a wait at the dentist office or something, where I have to sit still and don't have anything else to do, so I'm forced to go through the first 100 pages to meet everyone and get into the heart of the story.
Books by Laura Resnick:
In Legend Born (1998), Disappearing Nightly (2005), Doppelgangster (2010)
