Our story starts with a gang buster: A vampire decides to lunch (yes in broad daylight) in a popular Toronto eatery and our hero’s take down of the monster and it’s version of the two drink minimum is brash, brilliant and salivating.
But a vampire attack is not necessarily the shock. This is a time and place where the multicultural City of Toronto casts a broader tent; where the undead and the supernatural are common place. The police even have a squad assigned to these entities and their cases. No, the greater mysteries for our private detective protagonist to deduce are how does a popular movie actor, currently in Toronto filming a project, become one of those vampires and how is it he can practice his craft in daylight?
Spoiler Alert: the double-barreled mystery is really one in the same.
While the book is written tongue-in-cheek in pat ‘witty’ dialogue ; the mystery is shorter and more linear than the proverbial line between two points. And that is my problem. It is too pat. The clues come in a smooth relay without a bobble or a stumble. Never do you feel danger for the protagonist and never do you really get a feel that there is a real mystery to solve.
Perhaps that IS the inside joke and overall aim of this short novelette and I am just not catching on.
Maybe, but even then…I just wanted more!
For a quick read, “Temporary Monsters” can be good fun for a train ride or short car trip, however for the long haul I would look elsewhere; I would look for something less ‘temporary’.
I still recommend that you BUY THIS BOOK.
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