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Esther Diamond #7
Abracadaver
R.I.P. = Reanimated, Infernal, and Pretty damn dangerous
After struggling actress Esther Diamond gets cast in a guest role on The Dirty Thirty, a TV crime drama about depravity and corruption in the New York Police Department, her ex-almost/sometime boyfriend, NYPD’s Detective Connor Lopez, vows he’ll never forgive Esther for convincing her narcissistic co-star to add verisimilitude to his performance as a morally bankrupt cop by shadowing Lopez on the job.
But Esther’s fellow thespian is her best bet for keeping an eye on Lopez 24/7—and, more to the point, on Lopez’s new partner, Detective Quinn. Esther and her friend Max, a 350-year-old mage whose day job is protecting New York City from Evil, suspect Quinn of being involved in the latest mystical mayhem to menace Manhattan—where corpses suddenly aren’t staying quite as dead as they should.
While Max and Esther try to determine what Quinn’s role is in the supernatural reanimation of the deceased downtown, a part-time mortician courts Esther, and a dangerous foe with deadly intent changes everyone’s dinner plans one cold winter night…
After struggling actress Esther Diamond gets cast in a guest role on The Dirty Thirty, a TV crime drama about depravity and corruption in the New York Police Department, her ex-almost/sometime boyfriend, NYPD’s Detective Connor Lopez, vows he’ll never forgive Esther for convincing her narcissistic co-star to add verisimilitude to his performance as a morally bankrupt cop by shadowing Lopez on the job.
But Esther’s fellow thespian is her best bet for keeping an eye on Lopez 24/7—and, more to the point, on Lopez’s new partner, Detective Quinn. Esther and her friend Max, a 350-year-old mage whose day job is protecting New York City from Evil, suspect Quinn of being involved in the latest mystical mayhem to menace Manhattan—where corpses suddenly aren’t staying quite as dead as they should.
While Max and Esther try to determine what Quinn’s role is in the supernatural reanimation of the deceased downtown, a part-time mortician courts Esther, and a dangerous foe with deadly intent changes everyone’s dinner plans one cold winter night…
328 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 25, 2014
8 people are currently reading
330 people want to read
About the author
Laura Resnick
109 books275 followersLaura Resnick is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author, the daughter of prolific science fiction author Mike Resnick. She was the winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction for 1993. She also writes romance novels under the pseudonym Laura Leone
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
December 10, 2014
While I'm a big fan of the Esther Diamond series, this volume was a bit akward - it felt like an in-between-book where nothing really new happens and we actually wait for the next book in the series.
The first half is basically a re-telling of the previous story, "The Misfortune Cookie", and therefore not that interesting and comparatively slow-paced. Luckily, after that the pace picks up, things start happening, the Action and hilarious slapstick humour are back and it reads again like an Esther Diamond novel.
In retrospect, this book splits down in the middle between rather lame at the beginning and pretty good at the end. I'm looking forward to the next one and hope that Resnick has found back to her usual form by then. Because I really love Esther and her chaotic life and Laura Resnick has created a wonderful supporting cast of crazy characters that I want to read more about.
The first half is basically a re-telling of the previous story, "The Misfortune Cookie", and therefore not that interesting and comparatively slow-paced. Luckily, after that the pace picks up, things start happening, the Action and hilarious slapstick humour are back and it reads again like an Esther Diamond novel.
In retrospect, this book splits down in the middle between rather lame at the beginning and pretty good at the end. I'm looking forward to the next one and hope that Resnick has found back to her usual form by then. Because I really love Esther and her chaotic life and Laura Resnick has created a wonderful supporting cast of crazy characters that I want to read more about.
June 27, 2021
This entry in the Esther Diamond series is better than the last one, and it picks up right off the end of Misfortune Cookie. It is a little, quick, and overall fun read. Simply because of how Resnick plays with the city of New York as well as the popularity of cop shows.
I do wish that Esther had more female friends. The series started out well with this, but it has fallen off. In the last two books, Esther has been the sole good woman, and it makes the series the same as most other urban fantasy novels. ( Like really, this trope is used far, far too often. I love women and men as friends, but UF does a get job of that and a lousy job of women and women as friends).
The conflict over Quinn, Lopez's new partner was nicely done. I do wish, however, that instead of the constant on and off again relationship between Lopez and Esther, Resnick either would just really end it or make them a couple. It is getting far too repetitive in terms of the relationship. The character of John, introduced in the last book, returns in this one and there is a chance at a relationship. I find myself wishing Resnick would go in the John and Esther direction.
A quick word about the series so far as a whole - the series, overall, is a fun read. It is not high minded or overly serious. It is not deep. I found simply fun overall (there were a couple of books that didn't quite work). Too often, people simply judge works and genre on the idea of literary merit. Look, there is nothing wrong with reading a book or a series that is simply fun. You like to read romance. Read romance. Don't let any idiot on twitter (or me for that matter) tell you that romance isn't worth reading (or that Rebecca is a romance). Every genre has books that are "literature" and books that are simply fun. Everyone needs to remember this.
I do wish that Esther had more female friends. The series started out well with this, but it has fallen off. In the last two books, Esther has been the sole good woman, and it makes the series the same as most other urban fantasy novels. ( Like really, this trope is used far, far too often. I love women and men as friends, but UF does a get job of that and a lousy job of women and women as friends).
The conflict over Quinn, Lopez's new partner was nicely done. I do wish, however, that instead of the constant on and off again relationship between Lopez and Esther, Resnick either would just really end it or make them a couple. It is getting far too repetitive in terms of the relationship. The character of John, introduced in the last book, returns in this one and there is a chance at a relationship. I find myself wishing Resnick would go in the John and Esther direction.
A quick word about the series so far as a whole - the series, overall, is a fun read. It is not high minded or overly serious. It is not deep. I found simply fun overall (there were a couple of books that didn't quite work). Too often, people simply judge works and genre on the idea of literary merit. Look, there is nothing wrong with reading a book or a series that is simply fun. You like to read romance. Read romance. Don't let any idiot on twitter (or me for that matter) tell you that romance isn't worth reading (or that Rebecca is a romance). Every genre has books that are "literature" and books that are simply fun. Everyone needs to remember this.
February 11, 2015
This is the latest volume in Resnick's Esther Diamond series. It starts in Chinatown right where the previous volume, The Misfortune Cookie, ended. Esther continues to pursue her acting career, surrounded by the zany support characters she's accumulated in the previous books, opposing the forces of evil in her spare time. The only drawback is that there's so much back-story and explanation that needs to filled-in that the pace is slowed considerably in spots. Still, it's a fast, fun, and light-hearted read, and left me wondering if Esther and Lopez will ever finally get together; they deserve it by now.
September 16, 2018
A fun continuation and that end...argh.
World: The world building is solid, this one is really tied into the last book which I did not expect. It's pretty much a continuation immediately and kind of feels like one story but wow that's interesting. Therefore the world building is small and contained and follows a lot of the pieces from the previous book. It's solid.
Story: A solid continuation of the last book with the angle changing towards the police which is nice. We've not really had a lot of development in terms of the police in this series and this new angle is fun. I also enjoyed that the relationship of Esther and Lopez takes center stage with this book, as messed up and conflicted it is, it's good drama and good reading. The villain is cliche genre fluff but that's fine, it's been like this since the start of the series. The end of this book was a cliffhanger and because there has not been a book in a while I'm worried but oh well.
Characters: Esther is fun, I like her personal voice and this time around her luck changing was fun to see. I also liked how we had time to deal with her non magical life this time around it was interesting how she interacts with others. Lopez is erratic with his relationship with Esther but that has always been the case, the story is starting to run long in the teeth so Resnick needs to do something here and not spin her wheels. The villain was meh but it was fine, it was expected and the pieces were all there. I like the Nelly stuff and I want more, also wish there was more Max.
A good book, the end leaves me hanging and I don't know when the next will be out.
Onward to the next book!
World: The world building is solid, this one is really tied into the last book which I did not expect. It's pretty much a continuation immediately and kind of feels like one story but wow that's interesting. Therefore the world building is small and contained and follows a lot of the pieces from the previous book. It's solid.
Story: A solid continuation of the last book with the angle changing towards the police which is nice. We've not really had a lot of development in terms of the police in this series and this new angle is fun. I also enjoyed that the relationship of Esther and Lopez takes center stage with this book, as messed up and conflicted it is, it's good drama and good reading. The villain is cliche genre fluff but that's fine, it's been like this since the start of the series. The end of this book was a cliffhanger and because there has not been a book in a while I'm worried but oh well.
Characters: Esther is fun, I like her personal voice and this time around her luck changing was fun to see. I also liked how we had time to deal with her non magical life this time around it was interesting how she interacts with others. Lopez is erratic with his relationship with Esther but that has always been the case, the story is starting to run long in the teeth so Resnick needs to do something here and not spin her wheels. The villain was meh but it was fine, it was expected and the pieces were all there. I like the Nelly stuff and I want more, also wish there was more Max.
A good book, the end leaves me hanging and I don't know when the next will be out.
Onward to the next book!
November 26, 2024
7/21/22
Book 7 of the Esther Diamond paranormal mystery series is very likely its final entry
Esther Diamond is a 27-year-old, struggling actress in New York City. This story begins only a few hours after the events within the final scene of Book 6 in this series, The Misfortune Cookie. Susan Yee, the main villain of TMC, has been arrested for the attempted murder of both Esther and John Chen, a 25-year-old, Chinese-American, graduate student, who works part-time prepping corpses for viewing at his family’s mortuary (which figures heavily in Book 6). The inciting incident for this novel occurs when John calls Esther and begs her to come immediately to the Chen mortuary and bring Dr. Max Zadok (a 350-year-old wizard), and Nelli (Max’s dog-like, inter-dimensional familiar). A little while ago, John was interviewed at the mortuary about Susan Yee’s murder attempt by Officer Quinn, who is Detective Connor Lopez’s brand new partner of only a few weeks. In TMC, Nelli displayed a strong, negative reaction to Quinn, and Max and Esther have been suspicious of him ever since, because Nelli’s magical talent is sniffing out evil paranormal forces. When John informs Ester that, shortly after Quinn departed from the mortuary, the corpse John was working on climbed out of its casket and walked away, Max’s worst suspicions are confirmed. He believes that Quinn is “oppressed” by a demon. He is not “possessed,” because this entity is a death demon, who can only possess dead bodies, not living ones—unless a person is temporarily dead, the demon jumps in, and then the person is resuscitated and brought back to life. Which is not the case with the corpse that the demon could only manage to temporarily occupy.
As is the case for all the books in this series, for the most part, this novel is a fast-paced, entertaining read. Though this series is billed as humorous, there are only a few light moments in this novel and, overall, it is quite dark. Mainly because, in my opinion, a demonic villain is much more creepy than a human villain, no matter how evil that human might be.
After the author broke up Esther and Lopez (as always) in TMC, they are (sort of) back together again, for a little while, at the very beginning of this book. Unfortunately, it isn’t very long before Lopez breaks up with Esther yet again. This is the pattern for their relationship throughout this series, on-again and off-again, rinse and repeat. What is different this time around is that Lopez’s dumping of Esther seems much more final and hopeless to her, and in the throes of her anguish immediately after Lopez’s rejection, LR introduces a romantic triangle. Esther briefly rebounds into the arms of John Chen. Though she only goes so far as to make out a bit with him on her couch before pulling back, when she suddenly realizes she is using a very nice man, who truly cares about her, as a selfish means to dampen her abandonment despair over losing the man she actually loves.
The problem with romantic triangles, especially this one, is that John seems to be a far more appropriate match for Esther than Lopez. First and foremost, John accepts all the paranormal elements that are so much a part of Esther’s life over the course of her adventurous previous year since meeting Max, up to and including the reanimated-corpse-riddled present. John is every bit as gorgeous as Lopez and just as intelligent. And where Lopez has as his macho, romantic-hero feature that he is a cop, John’s macho element is that he is outstanding at martial arts. Best of all, unlike Lopez, John does not think Esther is mentally unstable, truly likes and admires her, and is more than happy to openly date her. Because the author refuses to allow Lopez to either accept the magic created by other people, or acknowledge and accept his own innate magical powers of light and fire, his frustratingly redundant denial is the entire reason that he keeps running away from a relationship with Esther—he keeps insisting to her that anyone who believes in the paranormal is nuts.
This novel was published eight years ago in 2014 and, as of today’s date in 2022, unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that the author will ever write another book in this series. This means that she will never finish Lopez’s extremely dragged-out story arc, both in terms of accepting his own magic and the magic of others, and from there having the possibility of accepting Esther, which is an absolute prerequisite to a believable HEA romance for the two of them.
In 2017, this entire series became available in audio format, in the form of multicast productions performed by the extremely talented actors of GraphicAudio. This is how I experienced all seven of the ED books over the course of the past two weeks, after I borrowed them from Hoopla. I doubt that I would have continued reading this entire series if it weren’t for GA. They have the ability to take whatever story material they are given to work with and hugely elevate its entertainment value through their marvelous acting performances. In addition, given that GA creates a script that the actors work from, similar to what happens when a novel is made into a movie (their motto is, “a movie in your mind”), a GA production is only about 60-70% as long as an audiobook version of a novel would be, if a narrator had read the entire book straight through. Thus, the audio production of this novel is only 5 hours long, rather than the approximately 8 hours long that a regular audiobook reading of this novel would have been. Since I tend to get bored with all the clue-sleuthing involved in the mystery genre, as well as the periodic long, boring, explanatory rambles about esoteric aspects of magic by Max or other characters throughout the ED series, I consider this script abridgment of the ED books all to the good. The tedious parts have been reduced, and the action and romance brought to the forefront.
Below is a list of the complete ED series with the dates they were initially published:
1 Disappearing Nightly 2005
2 Doppelgangster 2007
3 Unsympathetic Magic 2010
4 Vamparazzi 2011
5 Polterheist 2012
6 Misfortune Cookie 2013
7 Abracadaver 2014
I rate this audio-drama as follows:
Heroine: 3.5 stars
Romantic Interest: 3 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Mystery Plot: 4 stars
Romance Plot: 2 stars
Paranormal Elements: 4 stars
Setting: 4 stars
Writing: 3.5 stars
GraphicAudio Performances: 5 stars
Overall: 3.7 rounded to 4 stars
Book 7 of the Esther Diamond paranormal mystery series is very likely its final entry
Esther Diamond is a 27-year-old, struggling actress in New York City. This story begins only a few hours after the events within the final scene of Book 6 in this series, The Misfortune Cookie. Susan Yee, the main villain of TMC, has been arrested for the attempted murder of both Esther and John Chen, a 25-year-old, Chinese-American, graduate student, who works part-time prepping corpses for viewing at his family’s mortuary (which figures heavily in Book 6). The inciting incident for this novel occurs when John calls Esther and begs her to come immediately to the Chen mortuary and bring Dr. Max Zadok (a 350-year-old wizard), and Nelli (Max’s dog-like, inter-dimensional familiar). A little while ago, John was interviewed at the mortuary about Susan Yee’s murder attempt by Officer Quinn, who is Detective Connor Lopez’s brand new partner of only a few weeks. In TMC, Nelli displayed a strong, negative reaction to Quinn, and Max and Esther have been suspicious of him ever since, because Nelli’s magical talent is sniffing out evil paranormal forces. When John informs Ester that, shortly after Quinn departed from the mortuary, the corpse John was working on climbed out of its casket and walked away, Max’s worst suspicions are confirmed. He believes that Quinn is “oppressed” by a demon. He is not “possessed,” because this entity is a death demon, who can only possess dead bodies, not living ones—unless a person is temporarily dead, the demon jumps in, and then the person is resuscitated and brought back to life. Which is not the case with the corpse that the demon could only manage to temporarily occupy.
As is the case for all the books in this series, for the most part, this novel is a fast-paced, entertaining read. Though this series is billed as humorous, there are only a few light moments in this novel and, overall, it is quite dark. Mainly because, in my opinion, a demonic villain is much more creepy than a human villain, no matter how evil that human might be.
After the author broke up Esther and Lopez (as always) in TMC, they are (sort of) back together again, for a little while, at the very beginning of this book. Unfortunately, it isn’t very long before Lopez breaks up with Esther yet again. This is the pattern for their relationship throughout this series, on-again and off-again, rinse and repeat. What is different this time around is that Lopez’s dumping of Esther seems much more final and hopeless to her, and in the throes of her anguish immediately after Lopez’s rejection, LR introduces a romantic triangle. Esther briefly rebounds into the arms of John Chen. Though she only goes so far as to make out a bit with him on her couch before pulling back, when she suddenly realizes she is using a very nice man, who truly cares about her, as a selfish means to dampen her abandonment despair over losing the man she actually loves.
The problem with romantic triangles, especially this one, is that John seems to be a far more appropriate match for Esther than Lopez. First and foremost, John accepts all the paranormal elements that are so much a part of Esther’s life over the course of her adventurous previous year since meeting Max, up to and including the reanimated-corpse-riddled present. John is every bit as gorgeous as Lopez and just as intelligent. And where Lopez has as his macho, romantic-hero feature that he is a cop, John’s macho element is that he is outstanding at martial arts. Best of all, unlike Lopez, John does not think Esther is mentally unstable, truly likes and admires her, and is more than happy to openly date her. Because the author refuses to allow Lopez to either accept the magic created by other people, or acknowledge and accept his own innate magical powers of light and fire, his frustratingly redundant denial is the entire reason that he keeps running away from a relationship with Esther—he keeps insisting to her that anyone who believes in the paranormal is nuts.
This novel was published eight years ago in 2014 and, as of today’s date in 2022, unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that the author will ever write another book in this series. This means that she will never finish Lopez’s extremely dragged-out story arc, both in terms of accepting his own magic and the magic of others, and from there having the possibility of accepting Esther, which is an absolute prerequisite to a believable HEA romance for the two of them.
In 2017, this entire series became available in audio format, in the form of multicast productions performed by the extremely talented actors of GraphicAudio. This is how I experienced all seven of the ED books over the course of the past two weeks, after I borrowed them from Hoopla. I doubt that I would have continued reading this entire series if it weren’t for GA. They have the ability to take whatever story material they are given to work with and hugely elevate its entertainment value through their marvelous acting performances. In addition, given that GA creates a script that the actors work from, similar to what happens when a novel is made into a movie (their motto is, “a movie in your mind”), a GA production is only about 60-70% as long as an audiobook version of a novel would be, if a narrator had read the entire book straight through. Thus, the audio production of this novel is only 5 hours long, rather than the approximately 8 hours long that a regular audiobook reading of this novel would have been. Since I tend to get bored with all the clue-sleuthing involved in the mystery genre, as well as the periodic long, boring, explanatory rambles about esoteric aspects of magic by Max or other characters throughout the ED series, I consider this script abridgment of the ED books all to the good. The tedious parts have been reduced, and the action and romance brought to the forefront.
Below is a list of the complete ED series with the dates they were initially published:
1 Disappearing Nightly 2005
2 Doppelgangster 2007
3 Unsympathetic Magic 2010
4 Vamparazzi 2011
5 Polterheist 2012
6 Misfortune Cookie 2013
7 Abracadaver 2014
I rate this audio-drama as follows:
Heroine: 3.5 stars
Romantic Interest: 3 stars
Subcharacters: 4 stars
Mystery Plot: 4 stars
Romance Plot: 2 stars
Paranormal Elements: 4 stars
Setting: 4 stars
Writing: 3.5 stars
GraphicAudio Performances: 5 stars
Overall: 3.7 rounded to 4 stars
June 16, 2021
Esther Diamond is a struggling actress in New York with an on again off again police detective boyfriend. By now, in the seventh book, Esther is all too familiar with mystical mayhem. Esther, Max and Lucky know something is up with Quinn when several incidents happen in his vicinity. Nelli barks at him, phones and cars fail in his presence, and the clincher a dead body gets out of its coffin. Esther is especially worried because Quinn is the partner of Lopez.
Fast fun read. More depth is added to the characters, such as an alternate love interest. 4.5 stars. You probably want to read The Misfortune Cookie first. There are several characters that make reappearances, and in the other order you'd have big spoilers. The other four Esther Diamond novels I've read were [mystical] whodunits this was more suspense.
Fast fun read. More depth is added to the characters, such as an alternate love interest. 4.5 stars. You probably want to read The Misfortune Cookie first. There are several characters that make reappearances, and in the other order you'd have big spoilers. The other four Esther Diamond novels I've read were [mystical] whodunits this was more suspense.
November 21, 2023
2023 bk 285 The most recent of the Esther Diamond series and I believe it to be my new favorite. Laura Resnick does the smoothest job of rolling over a small incident at the end of the previous story into the kickoff for this book. The characters continue to have their joys and angst and share their love (friendship) for each other in many ways. Even when there is someone Laura cannot tolerate for long, she finds a way to help. A good supernatural mystery that ended all too soon. When will the next one appear? I need more.
April 11, 2015
I like the character of struggling actress Esther Diamond just fine--she's your typical paranormal-involved heroine trying to keep New York City safe from all manner of evil paranormal beings while retaining her sense of humor and keeping her boyfriend happy. And yes, this is a paranormal romance series, no matter what the author may say. You really hope Esther gets together with her unbelieving cop boyfriend by the series' end.
The one problem I had with this particular installment was that the first 50 pages were all back story "catch up" from the title before it (The Misfortune Cookie). Since I started reading the books out of order, I now feel like I don't need to read The Misfortune Cookie at all since the complete plot is given away in this book. That's probably one reason why e-books are taking the world by storm in recent years. E-book authors don't worry about "padding" out the manuscript to get it up to a certain number of words in print. They're free to tell the current story in the series in as many or as few words necessary to keep the reader's interest. If I hadn't been told by another reader that the story's pacing would pick up after the first 50 pages, I would have put the book down on page twenty, more than likely.
Life is short, and so is my free time. This is a drawback of being an editor: I expect a lot from NYC published books, so my patience can wear thin when I catch typos, other gaffes, and just general plot-related things that could have been improved through competent editorial input. Maybe NYC publishers think all readers are illiterate, so why should they bother hiring editors?
The one problem I had with this particular installment was that the first 50 pages were all back story "catch up" from the title before it (The Misfortune Cookie). Since I started reading the books out of order, I now feel like I don't need to read The Misfortune Cookie at all since the complete plot is given away in this book. That's probably one reason why e-books are taking the world by storm in recent years. E-book authors don't worry about "padding" out the manuscript to get it up to a certain number of words in print. They're free to tell the current story in the series in as many or as few words necessary to keep the reader's interest. If I hadn't been told by another reader that the story's pacing would pick up after the first 50 pages, I would have put the book down on page twenty, more than likely.
Life is short, and so is my free time. This is a drawback of being an editor: I expect a lot from NYC published books, so my patience can wear thin when I catch typos, other gaffes, and just general plot-related things that could have been improved through competent editorial input. Maybe NYC publishers think all readers are illiterate, so why should they bother hiring editors?
September 17, 2015
An Esther Diamond Novel, I love Easter and Connor her sometimes boyfriend. This time they are off to another unusual adventure and again Connor just cannot accept what is going on right in front of him. Great addition to the series.
March 14, 2018
Abracadaver: Esther Diamond 7
Read in chronological order
3 🌟
In A Nutshell:Esther's adventures have not finished in Chinatown. The dead are coming back to life so her work continues on from book six. It's a light, easy fun read although slow in the beginning.
The Plot:Does Detective Lopez's new partner Quinn have a hand in the reanimation of the corpses? Strange things happen around him.
The Protagonist:Esther Diamond is our protagonist, and she is the antithesis of the urban fantasy hero. Esther saves the world on the down low and without magic. It's her competence that makes Esther a winner. She does not possess killer looks although she has gorgeous cheekbones! With her wonderful sense of humour and winning personality you just have to love this crazy lady.
This book was a bitter sweet affair for me, the next book is not due out for some time. So, once read there is nowhere to go to get this level of joy and mayhem. The first part of the book was a rehash of book six but then the pace picked up. There is a rather interesting position developing between Esther and Quinn but you'll just have to read all about it yourself.
Recommended.
Connect with me on Twitter and FB
See all my reviews
Check out my blog on imjussayin
Book Rating
Sexual Content: 15
Language: 18
Violent: 12
Would I read the next oneor reread ?: Can't wait.
My rating system (* = star)
0* Could not finish this book (waste of time)
1* Finished the book but didn't like it.
2* Finished the book it was okay.
3* A good read worth your time.
4* An excellent read often with a novel concept or unusual plot.
5* A magnificent read. A prominent example of the genre.
Read in chronological order
3 🌟
In A Nutshell:Esther's adventures have not finished in Chinatown. The dead are coming back to life so her work continues on from book six. It's a light, easy fun read although slow in the beginning.
The Plot:Does Detective Lopez's new partner Quinn have a hand in the reanimation of the corpses? Strange things happen around him.
The Protagonist:Esther Diamond is our protagonist, and she is the antithesis of the urban fantasy hero. Esther saves the world on the down low and without magic. It's her competence that makes Esther a winner. She does not possess killer looks although she has gorgeous cheekbones! With her wonderful sense of humour and winning personality you just have to love this crazy lady.
This book was a bitter sweet affair for me, the next book is not due out for some time. So, once read there is nowhere to go to get this level of joy and mayhem. The first part of the book was a rehash of book six but then the pace picked up. There is a rather interesting position developing between Esther and Quinn but you'll just have to read all about it yourself.
Recommended.
Connect with me on Twitter and FB
See all my reviews
Check out my blog on imjussayin
Book Rating
Sexual Content: 15
Language: 18
Violent: 12
Would I read the next one
My rating system (* = star)
0* Could not finish this book (waste of time)
1* Finished the book but didn't like it.
2* Finished the book it was okay.
3* A good read worth your time.
4* An excellent read often with a novel concept or unusual plot.
5* A magnificent read. A prominent example of the genre.
May 13, 2022
I interrupted my mainlining of the Soulwood series, because book #4 annoyed me and I put it down to pick this one back up (...which I had put down because it annoyed me).
Previously I had gotten fed up with Esther for throwing herself into things without thinking. I felt like there was a lot less of that in this book. There was also a completely good option, better IMO thanEric Estrada Connor, but Esther still makes stupid choices. (Like, don't go out with your rebound the day after you break up??)
So I got through it and didn't hate it, but TBH I am not that excited about reading more.
Previously I had gotten fed up with Esther for throwing herself into things without thinking. I felt like there was a lot less of that in this book. There was also a completely good option, better IMO than
So I got through it and didn't hate it, but TBH I am not that excited about reading more.
September 10, 2022
This was another fast and easy addition to the series. I love that Lucky has just inserted himself into everything. It's great for me. I'm happy Esther has a new romantic interest and I hope she goes with him. Not that I don't like Lopez but he doesn't really seem to listen to or respect Esther's point of view. Granted, I'd find it a little hard to swallow some of these scenarios myself.
All in all, I'm happy with Esther for wanting to move on from Lopez but I don't see it as an overnight process. I would love more of Nelli and Lucky and I also really want Esther to get a female friend that lasts more than one book.
All in all, I'm happy with Esther for wanting to move on from Lopez but I don't see it as an overnight process. I would love more of Nelli and Lucky and I also really want Esther to get a female friend that lasts more than one book.
May 28, 2017
I am slightly conflicted because on the one hand, Resnick gave us one of the strongest offerings building on the momentum of the past two offerings especially. On the other hand, I'm not sure it felt like a complete book.
March 19, 2018
It's probably a bad sign I wish Lopez had died in this book. He neither needs to become a believer, or get out of the story all together. I'm EXTREMELY sick and tired of reading such an unhealthy relationship.
It's such a pity that I cannot stand the main love interest, or the fact that Esther is so hung up on someone who thinks she's demented. Physical attraction does not explain the depth of depravity these two are willing to suffer for a relationship that mostly involves being angry at each other. If it weren't for that, these books would be excellent.
It's such a pity that I cannot stand the main love interest, or the fact that Esther is so hung up on someone who thinks she's demented. Physical attraction does not explain the depth of depravity these two are willing to suffer for a relationship that mostly involves being angry at each other. If it weren't for that, these books would be excellent.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 3, 2022
2 1/2 stars. Pretty standard. There were some quirky characters that were interesting. There was a lot of the book retelling the previous book that slowed down the action. But because of that it was understandable because I hadn't read any others in the series. This is the type of book where it really does help to have read the book before and because I didn't I didn't like it as much.
September 29, 2024
Worst book in the series. We are just going around in circles with Esther and Connor. I'm over Lopez, Ester needs someone new. This story was rushed and ended in a cliffhanger. This is a great series with lots of fun and potential. Since this was the last one released and that was in 2014, I don't think we are getting any more Esther Diamond books. 2.75 stars.
October 25, 2024
The last released entry in Esther's story only disappoints in that I want to know what happens next and there is no next story (and it definitely ends in a way suggesting there would be more books). Unwrapping the story of Lopez's partner pushes Esther and Conner's potential relationship to the limit. Add in hijinks with Lucky, Max and a ferocious familiar and you have a recipe for disaster.
January 28, 2020
Not a great it might be goodish but perhaps that's because it was short. This may be the end of my listening to this series of Esther Diamond audio books. Generally they were pretty good, perhaps this was just my mood at the time or the story wasn't what I was after.
February 13, 2021
There are a few places where you see promises of more. On her site; in the book itself . And yet a few years have gone by with no more.
Life has obviously gotten in the. Way. I will miss Esther—- she was a wacky ride.
Life has obviously gotten in the. Way. I will miss Esther—- she was a wacky ride.
March 11, 2024
Love this series! The graphic audio version is absolutely hilarious! If there was any wrap of of Esther’s relationship or lack there of with Lopez for 7 books, I’d had given 5 stars. The back and forth has become irritating!
August 15, 2017
Another enjoyable book in the series - get rid of Lopez!!!
November 15, 2017
next ...
August 22, 2018
3.5 stars.
August 23, 2018
Another good addition to this series - more focused on the Esther/Lopez situation, alongside reanimating corpses and demon possession, Typical Esther Diamond. But cliffhanger much.....grrr
August 11, 2019
Okay. Quick read, but a little too predictable.
October 9, 2021
I don't know why it took me so long to read this. Still love Esther and Max, but I'm ready for Lopez to get with the program.
February 1, 2022
rounded up to a 4. Wish they had 3.5
June 16, 2022
This was a somewhat interesting book. For the first time, it continued where the last book 1 left off. It's far from my favorite in the series though.
January 19, 2023
Esther Diamond is my FAVOURITE series. So well written and the chemistry between the characters is amazing. The Graphic Audio version knocks it out of the park!
Can't wait for #8.
Can't wait for #8.
October 13, 2016
Another rollicking adventure in the mystical underworld of Esther Diamond and company. I think I set a new personal record for fastest read. But I just can't put these books down. They're all fun, engaging, and enticing. I wish I made this world. This is the most recent Diamond book, but the 8th book is nearing completion. I'm sad for two reasons: I have to wait for it, and I'll probably read it too fast.
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