First Grave on the Right by Darynda JonesMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Have you ever watched an old Rodney Dangerfield stand-up routine? At first you really enjoy the snark and one-liners, but about five minutes in you start checking your watch, then at about ten minutes you start thinking that the two drink minimum is not going to be able to cover however long this routine is going to take. Fifteen minutes in you sort of chuckle because the joke about the ghost and his corpse is sort of amusing, but at twenty minute in you really wish you hadn't sat so close to the front because otherwise you could sneak out and maybe just ask the bartender about what the punchline is with the guy in the black cloak? God knows you've been tipping the guy well enough and he owes you at this point.
Yeah.
That's this book.
The overall story is a sort-of uneven mystery, there are mentions of abuse of many kinds throughout the book which makes the overall feeling odd with how Jones has the main character Charley just dig into the one-liners the whole time.
It was nice to have a story happen in Albuquerque, it's not usually a city one gets to hang out in while reading a urban fantasy. Although I would have liked a bit more description besides just driving up Central.
The 'romance'...ugh, I don't know. The end result of who he turned out to be was neat but everything else...I found myself skimming the sexy bits, at the point they showed up I just didn't care and just wanted to get to the next plot point. Your mileage might vary.
However, if you enjoy an endless barrage of jokes along the lines of 'Yeah, I know I'm ugly... I said to a bartender, 'Make me a zombie.' He said 'God beat me to it,' as well as middling PI action then maybe this book will work for you.
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