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| X-Rated Bloodsuckers |
I read X-Rated Bloodsuckers because I needed to read something that I didn’t have to think about too hard, since I had spent the previous week reading Anathem. Avecedo’s book is his second novel to feature soldier turned vampire turned PI, Felix Gomex. And, in spite of the title, this book was not packed with sex. (Nor was the last book, The Nymphos of Rocky Flats.)
Not much to say about this book actually. What I like about them, though, is that Acevedo does different things with the vampire legend, while staying true to the old myths. Vampires can go out in the day, but they have to wear a lot of sun block. They can hypnotize people with their gaze, but they wear contacts to hide the tapetum lucidum in their eyes. (Tapetum lucidum is the name for the reflection you see in the eyes of predators, like cats and wolves.)
I think what I liked best about this book was a new character, a mestizo named Coyote. Just like the trickster, Coyote is irreverant, exasperating, and hilarious. He claims to be the son of La Malinche, and attempts to make rat chorizo among other things. The scenes with him were dazzlingly funny and interesting, and I wished that Acevedo featured him more.