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Nina Zero #2
Killing Paparazzi
Nina Zero is a girl who attracts trouble. Serious trouble of the guns-a-blazing, knife in the back variety. After serving a prison sentence for single-handedly blowing up LAX airport - by mistake - she finds on her release that the world just won't allow her to lead a simple life. The "electrifying" demise of heavy metal group Death Row in a hotel hot-tub gives Nina the opportunity to launch a new career as a paparazza - but all too soon the shine of her glamorous job begins to tarnish with the chilling realization that someone is killing Los Angeles' paparazzi.
While the corpses of her competition pile up around L.A. Nina takes it upon herself to track down the killer, becoming prey for both the police and the murderer. While searching for the killer she manages to squeeze in an off-the-wall green card wedding, a guest appearance on the docu-soap, Meat Wagon, and a walk-on part in a longstanding family feud. At turns hilarious and thrilling, with a pace as fast as the paparazzi's flashbulb, Killing Paparrazi is no normal trip down the red carpet.
While the corpses of her competition pile up around L.A. Nina takes it upon herself to track down the killer, becoming prey for both the police and the murderer. While searching for the killer she manages to squeeze in an off-the-wall green card wedding, a guest appearance on the docu-soap, Meat Wagon, and a walk-on part in a longstanding family feud. At turns hilarious and thrilling, with a pace as fast as the paparazzi's flashbulb, Killing Paparrazi is no normal trip down the red carpet.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
1 person is currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Robert Eversz
15 books12 followersA graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz and UCLA's MFA Program in Film, Television, and Digital Media, ROBERT EVERSZ pounded the mean streets of Hollywood for a decade before fleeing to Europe to write Gypsy Hearts, an expatriate novel set in Prague and Budapest, and his five novels about Nina Zero and the American Obsession with celebrity culture.
Among other distinctions, his novels have been translated into 15 languages and have appeared on the critical best-of-year lists of The Washington Post, Oslo Aftenposten, Bookpage, the Manchester Guardian, and January Magazine.
At least a part-time resident of Prague since 1992, he helped found the Prague Summer Writer's Workshop, now the Prague Summer Program, and serves on its permanent faculty. He has also lived, at various times, in San Pol de Mar, Spain, Morelia, Mexico, and Silvi Marina, Italy. In 2007, he judged the Association of Writers and Writing Programs' Award Series In the Novel, and is currently Writer in Residence at Western Michigan University.
Among other distinctions, his novels have been translated into 15 languages and have appeared on the critical best-of-year lists of The Washington Post, Oslo Aftenposten, Bookpage, the Manchester Guardian, and January Magazine.
At least a part-time resident of Prague since 1992, he helped found the Prague Summer Writer's Workshop, now the Prague Summer Program, and serves on its permanent faculty. He has also lived, at various times, in San Pol de Mar, Spain, Morelia, Mexico, and Silvi Marina, Italy. In 2007, he judged the Association of Writers and Writing Programs' Award Series In the Novel, and is currently Writer in Residence at Western Michigan University.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 11, 2018
Pretty decent LA Noir, though ultimately for me the execution didn't live up to the idea. Perhaps I was expecting more celebrity sleaze. (I mean, there is some, but it doesn't define the action of the book in the way the blurb suggested it would.) No big complaints; it just didn't grab me for whatever reason, even though the protagonist is compelling and the plot features twists I didn't see coming.
BUT--this is incomprehensible because the author is American, but I guess they made the ebook from the British edition or something because you've got all these British spellings that make no sense in first-person narration by an American character. Every time Nina mentioned a "cheque" (or worse yet, "pay-cheque") or a "tyre," it pulled me out of the story. This is a publisher problem rather than an author problem, and it's a shame nobody cared enough to fix this.
BUT--this is incomprehensible because the author is American, but I guess they made the ebook from the British edition or something because you've got all these British spellings that make no sense in first-person narration by an American character. Every time Nina mentioned a "cheque" (or worse yet, "pay-cheque") or a "tyre," it pulled me out of the story. This is a publisher problem rather than an author problem, and it's a shame nobody cared enough to fix this.
October 26, 2013
RATING: 3.75
What would be the first thing you’d do after spending 5 years in prison? Go buy some new clothes? Get drunk? Go back to life in Smallville, USA? Not Nina Zero, accidental terrorist who earlier blew up part of LAX. No, instead she’s planning her wedding. It’s off to Las Vegas to hook up with Gabriel Burns, a man from the UK who she’s never met before. He gets a green card out of the deal, and she gets $2,000, with which she buys an old Cadillac Eldorado. Against all odds, Gabe and Nina find there is a mutual attraction. Both also have a mutual interest in photography. Gabe is a paparazzo, and Nina used to work for a children’s photographer. Neither of them is prime relationship material, and they end up going their separate ways. Having learned a bit about the paparazzi life, Nina undertakes some assignments on her own. She’s even lucky enough to scoop the competition when a rock group is killed in a hotel hot tub.
The luck stops there. Her “husband” has shot some photos of a wild party which ends up with a woman and a dog having sex. Various luminaries and politicos are not very pleased with the idea of seeing these photos on the front pages of the tabloids, and Gabe ends up murdered as someone attempts to obtain the negatives. Nina surprises even herself by her feelings about Gabe’s death and becomes involved in trying to uncover the perpetrator. A second paparazzo is murdered in a similar way to Gabe, as well as a prostitute Nina has befriended. When Nina is targeted as the next victim, all hell breaks loose. She does not go lightly into that car trunk.
Nina is a great character whose main quality is that she is driven by a deep and abiding rage. At times she is a vulnerable and poignant figure; at others, she is a deeply disturbed and lethal lady. She is definitely a very unique individual. As she says, “My eyes had a naturally honest shine. I fooled everybody, including myself….I’d always been a good liar, even when I thought I was telling the truth.”
The first book in this series, Shooting Elvis, gives an excellent introduction to Nina. I love the humor; I love the attitude; I love the noir elements of both of these books. Eversz really pulls off something different in this series which has a satirical tone heavily laced with doses of reality and clever witticisms.
And the ending, oh my, I can’t decide what it means and if Nina will be around for a third adventure. I will be distraught if is she is not, because I’ve grown to care about this character very much.
What would be the first thing you’d do after spending 5 years in prison? Go buy some new clothes? Get drunk? Go back to life in Smallville, USA? Not Nina Zero, accidental terrorist who earlier blew up part of LAX. No, instead she’s planning her wedding. It’s off to Las Vegas to hook up with Gabriel Burns, a man from the UK who she’s never met before. He gets a green card out of the deal, and she gets $2,000, with which she buys an old Cadillac Eldorado. Against all odds, Gabe and Nina find there is a mutual attraction. Both also have a mutual interest in photography. Gabe is a paparazzo, and Nina used to work for a children’s photographer. Neither of them is prime relationship material, and they end up going their separate ways. Having learned a bit about the paparazzi life, Nina undertakes some assignments on her own. She’s even lucky enough to scoop the competition when a rock group is killed in a hotel hot tub.
The luck stops there. Her “husband” has shot some photos of a wild party which ends up with a woman and a dog having sex. Various luminaries and politicos are not very pleased with the idea of seeing these photos on the front pages of the tabloids, and Gabe ends up murdered as someone attempts to obtain the negatives. Nina surprises even herself by her feelings about Gabe’s death and becomes involved in trying to uncover the perpetrator. A second paparazzo is murdered in a similar way to Gabe, as well as a prostitute Nina has befriended. When Nina is targeted as the next victim, all hell breaks loose. She does not go lightly into that car trunk.
Nina is a great character whose main quality is that she is driven by a deep and abiding rage. At times she is a vulnerable and poignant figure; at others, she is a deeply disturbed and lethal lady. She is definitely a very unique individual. As she says, “My eyes had a naturally honest shine. I fooled everybody, including myself….I’d always been a good liar, even when I thought I was telling the truth.”
The first book in this series, Shooting Elvis, gives an excellent introduction to Nina. I love the humor; I love the attitude; I love the noir elements of both of these books. Eversz really pulls off something different in this series which has a satirical tone heavily laced with doses of reality and clever witticisms.
And the ending, oh my, I can’t decide what it means and if Nina will be around for a third adventure. I will be distraught if is she is not, because I’ve grown to care about this character very much.
June 27, 2023
Fast and fun peek into the world of the paparazzi through the eyes of the ex con Nina Zero. She's fresh out of prison on parole, newly married and in need of a job. So she finds a job as a celebrity paparazzi just as they start getting killed and she's seen as a good choice to be chief suspect.
January 11, 2019
Not a fun followup to the first book. Won't be continuing the series.
October 10, 2021
Sequel to Shooting Elvis. The adventure continues. Modern L.A. Noir.
September 3, 2007
KILLING PAPARAZZI (Amateur Sleuth-Los Angeles-Cont) – G-
Eversz, Robert – 2nd in series
St. Martin's Minatour, 2001, Hardcover
Newly out of prison, photographer Nina Zero agrees to a green-card marriage for $2,000. The husband is a Brit and paparazzi. Nina joins their ranks but when someone starts killing the paparazzi, including her new "husband," Nina decides to find out why.
*** There's no question that Eversz knows how to convey Los Angeles with a wonderful satirical eye. But the problem I have with this book, as well as the previous book I read of the series, is they start with Nina basically being TSTL (too stupid to live), and spends the rest of the story getting herself out the mess. My second problem is that Nina is the only fully dimensional character. So, while I enjoyed the book, I doubt this is a series with which I shall continue.
Eversz, Robert – 2nd in series
St. Martin's Minatour, 2001, Hardcover
Newly out of prison, photographer Nina Zero agrees to a green-card marriage for $2,000. The husband is a Brit and paparazzi. Nina joins their ranks but when someone starts killing the paparazzi, including her new "husband," Nina decides to find out why.
*** There's no question that Eversz knows how to convey Los Angeles with a wonderful satirical eye. But the problem I have with this book, as well as the previous book I read of the series, is they start with Nina basically being TSTL (too stupid to live), and spends the rest of the story getting herself out the mess. My second problem is that Nina is the only fully dimensional character. So, while I enjoyed the book, I doubt this is a series with which I shall continue.
February 16, 2010
Gotta love Nina Zero
November 21, 2014
Taut, fast paced mystery with a good, strong female protagonist. The story was predictable but the writing was engaging and a sharp spoof of Los Angeles residents.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews