Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready
I snagged the last copy of this book at my Borders a couple of weeks ago. Wicked Game was released recently in trade paperback format. It centers on the life of Ciara Griffin, an older (26) college student who is majoring in marketing and has just found herself a job at a local radio station.
Being an urban fantasy, nothing is as it first seems - the DJs at the radio station are all vampires, and Ciara is a reformed (sort of) grifter. The author puts a nice spin on the conventional vampire myth - each of the vampires is stuck in the timeperiod they were turned, unable to move forward with the rest of the world into the present time. this means they all play music from their era only and develop a half-amusing, half-tragic case of OCD. This is the least of their problems. The radio station is threatened to be swallowed up by a huge media conglomerate, which would mean all the DJs would have to play what the Man tell them to, which is just not possible because of their natures. Ciara decides to help out by marketing the radio station as it is: run by vampires. This doesn't sit well with everyone, including other vampires in the area.
I really enjoyed this one and I read it everywhere I went. My week has been full with work followed by one appointment after another and I was seriously irritated that I didn't have much time to read it and irritated every time someone talked to me and made me put it down. I think that it's been a long time where I've had that problem. Usually even when I'm enjoying a book I can put it down, but this book made me want to just immerse and enjoy and I didn't feel like there were any places where I wanted to put it down or check how many pages there were till the end - it just flowed well. I was always curious what was going to happen next.
Haven't done this in a while. Bullet time:
- I liked that the vampires were scary sometimes and yet approachable at other times. There were personalities that came out with each of them along with feeling of "other", not human being, that came across in this book better than some other vamp books I've read.
- What happens after you stick a stake in a vampire is explained in disturbing detail. New one for me.
- Ciara has a budding relationship with a younger vampire in this book. THANK GOD there is only a 10 year age difference because I swear, I do sometimes have a hard time with the - "he's 50+ years her senior, what do they have in common?" suspension of disbelief thing.
- Sometimes the radio station was WMMP, sometimes WVMP. I guess I missed the part where they decide to change the name? and then call it by it's old name again? I was a bit confused.
- The book has a definite ending and I felt pleased with it, but there are some loose ties. I think there is the opening for a continuation and a series if they are explored. I'm happy with it as a standalone though.
- I like that this is not just about vampires. There is also a lot of music, Ciara's personal problems and her past, and a sweet romance. It reminded me of that time period between college and "the real world" quite a bit. And Ciara seems real. She really has gone through some tough patches in life and it shows. Plus she reacts more like a real person when a vampire tries to bite her: I won't ruin it for you except to say she did NOT swoon. Also I liked that that Ciara uses her experience grifting to get her through tough situations. Her run ins with her nemisis from school were highly amusing.
- Oh! Almost forgot - the book is in first person present. Don't see that often. Sometimes it was strange, but often I managed to get too into the book to notice.
If you liked the references to music in War for the Oaks by Emma Bull, I think you would like this one too.
My past Jeri Smith-Ready posts
