Doppelgangster is the second book in the Esther Diamond by Laura Resnick. It was first published 2006, and was rereleased 2010 by DAW. I listened to the audiobook by Graphic Audio, narrated by a full cast with music and sound effects. I love Graphic Audio but isn’t sure about some of the sound effects, straight out of cartoons, in this book, but I guess they could enhance the comedy in this paranormal mystery.
Esther Diamond is once again back and just fired from her last acting job leading to her taking the job as a server at a gangster hangout. She works there for two weeks when a gangster dies before her eyes, and now she has to find the murderer, together with Max and a mobster named Lucky. A task made difficult as more dies and all seem to say the same thing. They dies straight after meeting their perfect copy.
There was far less characters in this one, making it easier to keep the story straight. Esther is back as the main character. She is active, but a bit more stupid in this one. In the first book, she was clearly the one who pushed and lead the mystery forward. In this, she runs around but the two other characters Lucky and Max are taking the lead, being more active with fighting and searching.
The book is filled with stereotypes, and it was consciously made so. These Italian mobsters won’t surprise you and for comedy sakes, I don’t think they were meant to. It was made as a joke towards the stereotype but I frankly found this book far less funny than the last one. Maybe I just didn’t get the jokes, that said, I also think this book didn’t lean on the comedy as much as the first book.
This book has better structured mystery than the first book, it is still rather simple. Some parts of the mystery, such as how the Doppelgangers were created, I figured out early on while Esther and her gang didn’t realize until the end. This book at least tried to put in some diversions, ensuring that if you aren’t paying attention, you won’t know who the culprit is.
So, less humor but better mystery. The characters were structured mostly the same as the first book, in that they are made to be funny stereotypes, not to be deep and developed characters. I’m also not sure about the romance between Esther and Lopez. They hardly seem to know each other and I’m waiting for Lopez to join the gang but the author really like him to act the fool through this book. Also, did anyone else notice Lopez calling Esther his fiancée… They haven’t really dated yet from what I can tell. The “romance” is really going too fast forward for my taste.
Overall, it was a decent book, not a great one. I would rate it a 6 out of 10, mostly because I didn’t find it as entertaining as before. The writing felt a bit awkward, like the author wasn’t sure how to write this story. For example, in order to give us information about the crime family, Esther loses her shawl in a crypt and tries to convince a widow to follow her down to search for it. Then the attention goes from the shawl to the widow telling her about the crime family. The dialog just didn’t seem natural, and pressed in there to give us a infodump and later on distract us. The diversions always stuck out like a sore thumb, making it rather obvious that they where there to distract you from the real culprit. Well, if you want an easy to read book, then this might be for you. But if you are looking for the next head scratching mystery, then skip this one.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
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