jpskewedthrone | Book Review: "The Radioactive Redhead" by John Zakour and Lawrence Ganem

I just finished this book, the third in the Zachary Nixon Johnson series. He's the last private investigator in the year 2060 . . . and he's rather cool.

The first two books were good. Good enough that I kept buying the series. And I have to say that the writing is just gotten better. In this third installment, the plotting is exceptional. I felt the second book in the series was a little rocky and not as clear as it could have been, but this one was easy to follow and yet was still convoluted. There were at least three separate plot threads going on: bodyguard to Sexy Sprocketts, unwilling participant in a reality TV show called Let's Kill Zack, and clueless man in a relationship. And the three wove together seamlessly in this book. The authors have gotten much better with this type of thing.

And it rocks. I will definitely be moving on to the other 3 books already out in this series. The writing was smooth, the characters were fun and great, and the interplay between them--even the ones that aren't human--is spectacular. I laughed at moments, and the authors balance the humor with the serious moments perfectly. I STRONGLY recommend reading this book if you're remotely interested in humorous SF.

Not to say there weren't a few problems, but all of my problems were with cosmetic things. The first book in the series had a ton of typos in it that should have been found and corrected before publication. This one didn't have as many . . . but they were still there. I don't mind a couple in a book, because I've been there and done that and no matter how many people read a book there will always be typos. But there were enough that it became noticeable and reached the "touch annoying" line in my head.

In addition, the tag line on the book is . . . misleading. In a big way. It states: "How do you stop a superhuman villain who knows what you're going to do before you do?" Now, this isn't technically inaccurate . . . but the book isn't really about the superhuman villain. In fact, that superhuman villain only gets found and dealt with in the last few chapters of the book. What grabs you and holds you in this book is all of the other characters and their relationships and plot threads.

Again, notice that those two quibbles have NOTHING to do with the actual writing in the book. One is just cosmetic and the other has to do with marketing. So, if those are the only things I can find to complain about, you see how good the book is. I gave it 5 stars after all. *grin*

So go get this book! Get all of the books in this series. The first four are now offered in two omnibus editions, so they're even cheaper than when I bought them!