Bloodsucking Vampires!
Janice is the new sergeant in the freshly formed diversity division in LA. She's just getting to know the attractive young detectives when a string of unexplained murders start ripping through Hollywood Hills. The killer leaves victims fully drained of blood, and white as sheets. Janice is determined to solve this mystery, but with what looks like a vampire on the loose, can she really win?**Due to the sexual nature of the content, I don't believe this book is intended for audiences under 18.**
The story is certainly interesting, as the author gives readers a glimpse into the unusual killings for the first half of the book. I was curious how it would unfold, given the unusual circumstances and killer, and I found it to be fairly engaging and believable throughout.
I have a few gripes, however. First, when we're introduced to the diversity division, I found it to be a bit offensive. The portrayal of the detectives was dismal, each being incredibly flawed and likely undesirable for the division if not for their race. It was a frustrating overview, to say the least (seriously, they couldn't find a few good men in the potential pool of candidates?), especially given today's cultural climate.
Second, I found the sexuality of the female characters to be rather overstated, and the perceived attractiveness of the entire division of detectives to be a bit odd (and it seemed rather unprofessional the way Janice mentally evaluated all the men in her crew). The whole sexual dynamic felt a little put on, and I would have categorized this book as an erotic novel (somehow Amazon has it listed as young adult?).
About the halfway point, the author begins skipping over the details of the killings, which nearly eliminates the sexual aspect of the book, but moves the story along. We start getting closer to the truth and answers, which I found satisfying and intriguing.
But my final gripe was in the ending. Although I have no problem with the way the final battle went down, the book ends abruptly with nothing but a one sentence summary of that battle. There's no time to tie up loose ends (what happened to the volunteer and her family? How was the enemy impacted?), and we never explore how everyone feels about things afterward - although feelings aren't very thoroughly explored as characters form relationships and are lost with no real impact to the mood of those they leave behind. It felt like the book was missing a scene or two, which was frustrating considering all that I'd been through with those characters.
So while I think the author had an excellent idea, and executed it fairly well, there were just a few things that eroded the overall story. I'd rate it at a 3.5 stars, but just couldn't justify a fourth, considering the story errors.
