The Nymphos of Rocky Flats

January 23, 2006
This debut novel succeeds largely because Acevedo gleefully acknowledges that it takes a lot to make a vampire story interesting anymore. PI Felix Gomez, an ex-soldier who became a vampire while serving in Iraq, uses his supernatural powers to solve mysteries that befuddle mere mortals. When a friend in the Department of Energy asks him to look into an outbreak of nymphomania among female guards at a plutonium processing plant in Colorado, things get really weird: hypnotized personnel talk cryptically about Roswell and something called Project Redlight, trained assassins start decimating the local vampire community and an amorous dryad shows up to assist in the detective work. As though this weren't enough, Felix refuses to drink human blood, an ethical stand that attenuates his uncanny powers and results in intriguing plot complications. Not everything adds up by the book's dizzying finale, but most readers will be too charmed by the crisp style to notice the loose ends. Acevedo doesn't add anything new to the modern vampire tale, but he has a lot of fun sounding its bells and whistles.

February 1, 2006
In Acevedo's debut, vampire P.I. Felix Gomez is asked by old college chum Gilbert Odin, a bureaucrat at Colorado's Rock Flats nuclear facility, to investigate an outbreak of nymphomania among some of the female employees. While interviewing the three ladies first affected by the nymphomania, Felix discovers that the Prozac used to treat their symptoms is no cure-all. Each of them comes on strong to Felix, who cannot easily dissuade them -even with his vaunted vampire powers. Further, the information he manages to glean from them is only partially helpful. Adding to his troubles, and that of other undead in the area, is a gang of Romanian vampire hunters. Time after time, Felix proves to be quite inept at almost any task, and the other nosferatu, including vampire patriarch Bob, are not much better. It is obvious from the title that this is intended to be a humorous treatment of the vampire legend, but while parts of the novel are mildly amusing, most attempts at humor bomb. [This is the first book in a new vampire series. -Ed.]" -Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Columbia, MD"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2006
Acevedo's first novel opens in Iraq, where Felix Gomez is a sergeant in the U.S. Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the midst of a shoot-out, Felix is horrified to discover his team has accidentally shot and mortally wounded a young Iraqi girl. Guilt ridden, Felix stumbles off on his own and runs into a man who finds a way to extend his suffering by turning him into a vampire. Now working as a private investigator, Felix is called to a Department of Energy site by his old college roommate, Gilbert, to look into a sudden outbreak of nymphomania among female workers. Adding to Felix's troubles is the appearance of a deadly group of vampire hunters who have started slaughtering locals and now seem to have set their sights on Felix. Although not as laugh-out-loud funny as Andrew Fox's " The Fat White Vampire Blues " (2003), Acevedo's vampire comedy provides plenty of chuckles, particularly in its exciting final wrap-up, which leaves an opening for further Felix adventures. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)