Once Bitten, Twice Shy – Jennifer Rardin
Hachette Livre Orbit, 2008
312 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 978-1-84149-637-5

Another One Bites the Dust – Jennifer Rardin
Hachette Livre Orbit, 2008
318 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 978-184-149639-9

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

Once Bitten, Twice Shy is the first in a series by Jennifer Rardin, about a CIA operative Jaz Parks, whose partner/boss Vayl, happens to be a vampire. It’s paranormal action chick-lit, with butt-kicking left, right and centre. Imagine Buffy crossed with Alias and you’d be pretty close.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy shows Jaz trying to save the world from a malignant virus which first seems to be spread by vampires, but then appears to be connected to bigger (and more corrupt) things.

The second instalment, Another One Bites the Dust, sees Jaz undercover again, this time as a belly dancer at the Corpus Christi Winter Festival, while tracking down a piece of biotechnology. Enter the bad guys: a seemingly omnipotent vampire and some pesky reavers, just to add to the fun.

The novels introduce us quite quickly to the demons in Jaz’s past, which simultaneously help us to feel for her, yet she is unbelievably tough. She survives even more than James Bond would! Jaz has the occasional foible which makes her seem slightly more real – the passages describing her relating to driving in slow traffic are pretty blue – and she succumbs to very human confusion. The only jarring point in her character is her superhuman resilience – she recovers unbelievably quickly from her ordeals.

Both novels have an enticing mix of action and lust, generally between Jaz and her vampire boss, Vayl. They’re both rollicking good reads, with fast-paced plots and enough twists to keep you reading until the last page. The good news is that when you’ve finished these two, there is a third in the series, Biting The Bullet, also out in 2008 from Orbit.