The Fangs of Freelance is the fourth book in the Fred, the Vampire Accountant series written by Drew Hayes. The book was first published 2017 by REUTS Publications, LLC and the audiobook were narrated by Kirby Heyborne. This is the continuation of the story about the vampire Fred and his life among the dangerous life of paranormal creatures.
The story is hard to summarize as it is divided into parts and unlike the third one, this one doesn’t have a connecting read thread but each part has its own incident that seem to have no real connection to each other, outside that of Fred learning to be a leader of his new clan. Each part give him a word of advice on the matter and then the climax introduces and old villain, coming back for vengeance.
We get a few new side characters, but none that seem to be sticking around. The story focuses more on Fred’s job than on him as a character. One part, the most boring part according to me, is just them walking around in a amusement park evaluating it while info dumping. Needless to say, this book was not even close to as good as the third book and it lacked the vague red thread of the first and second book, which were mostly about introducing new characters to create a new clan later on.
This book felt like the author wasn’t sure what to do so he threw together a bunch of side missions that won’t lead anywhere. To be fair though, it has happened before that this author does this only to make something about it in later books but for now, I feel like this was a book that mostly could be skipped. If I were to read the series again, then this one is one that I wouldn’t need to read, or just read the last part which is by far the most interesting.
There are some emotional scenes though, Albert and Fred are having some sad or bittersweet moments that made sense for those characters. I’m not sure if Albert and Neill have been written out entirely but I do think that removing some of the vast cast is a good thing, especially since there is barely any time for them. They are mentioned but never explored.
I also mention in the last book, the third one, that I liked that they introduced a threat which I can bind all the parts into. Here, each adventure has its own “threat”, in some cases it is just politics, but they are often introduced later in the parts which means that the entire part goes by with me wondering what this is about, only to end with a piece of advice that I feel is just a repeat of one given before. For example, the story about Albert is about listening to what he wants and allowing him to do it. The story about Amy is about listening to what she wants and helping her do it. It is the same message; it just repeats a lot making it feel the author ran out of ideas.
It even repeats certain info dumping, such as we once again take up Gideon and his engagement with the child who is the only one who can give birth to full-blooded dragons and save his race from extinction. Why is this taken up again despite going over it in previous books? I guess the author felt like it wasn’t explored enough. It doesn’t seem to add anything so I have a hard time defending it.
It isn’t a overall bad book, it is just a bit thin compared to the two first book that was filled with new information and worldbuilding, or the great storyline of the third book. This one is just riding on the wind of the previous ones, which will wear this series down if it isn’t fixed to the next book. I will give it a 6 out of 10, being a bit harder on it because the third book was so great, earning a 10 out 10 from me. This one did not impress me and as I mentioned, it is one to skip if you aren’t too curious about this book.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
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