Silver Zombie (Delilah Street #4) Carole Nelson Douglas
Urban Fantasy
November 30, 2010
Paperback
Pocket

Reviewed by Tori

Delilah Street has found herself in a bit of trouble as Sin City’s vampire and werewolf mobs are ready to cash out her chips once and for all. So Delilah, along with her lover Ric Montoya and her werehound Quicksilver, decides that a trip back home to Kansas is just what she needs. But following the yellow brick road leads Delilah into more then she bargained for as she encounters zombie cowboys, witchy weather girls, and her mirror image who holds the key to Delilah’s unknown past.

This is my first time reading the Delilah Street series. I read a novella, Bogieman, in the anthology Unusual Suspects. I found it to be engaging and well written so I decided to try my hand at a full length Delilah Street novel. I will offer the warning that these are NOT stand alones. The characters and situations carry from one book to the other with hardly any background information to allow you to catch up. I found myself having to read spoiler reviews of earlier books to understand certain parts of the story. Once I understood the basics, I found myself able to follow along.

Silver Zombie revolves around Delilah Street and Ric Montoya and their relationship. You do not get a lot of interaction with the paranormal shysters of Sin City. The first half of this story was confusing and slow starting. The dialogue between Delilah and Ric is full of hidden innuendos and abstract in it’s delivery so it’s hard to understand what they are getting at. Their road trip was is long and since we aren’t given many clues to what we are doing, it dragged the story line down.

Plus, I do not understand the constant references to Delilah being black Irish. We are forever hearing she has pale skin, blue eyes, and black hair. While I enjoy the use of a good adjective as much as anyone else, I got a narcissistic feeling from Delilah as she assures me over and over that her luminous pale skin, luscious ruby red lips, and black radiant hair attracted everyone to her and resulted in her bad childhood. Ok. I got it.

Once we stop hearing so much about Delilah’s awesome physical attributes, I began to enjoy her sassy wit and snarky dialogue. Intelligent and courageous, I was surprised at how young and vulnerable she sounded in here. When I read the novella, her voice and actions gave rise to someone much older.

Ric Montoya, Delilah’s lover, is a Latin heartthrob (author’s words not mine) that seems perfect for Delilah. Too perfect. In the last book, Delilah saves Ric’s life and has indebted herself to paranormal Vegas rock star and major power player Christopher Snow.

Delilah and Ric blend well together and while I felt some chemistry between them; I sensed deeper passion and sexual tension between her and Snow. I also found it strange that the small sexual interaction between Delilah and Snow was more descriptive then any of the ones between her and Ric.

In the second half of the book everything seems to settle down a bit and we get a better organized storyline to follow. Multiple sub plots led us on a merry and interesting journey but I did feel that Delilah’s personal story (in which she finally discovers the secret of her past) over whelms the the other story lines.

The history and references to the old classic movies and stars of Hollywood is interesting. I found the the CinSims, zombies reanimated into old stars from the past, to be quite ingenious but I would like to know the mechanics behind it.

The ending was rushed and anti climatic. I liked the Wizard of Oz play, but based on previous books, I expected a little more action and arse kicking. The most exciting part of the book for me was Delilah’s and Snow’s scenes. We are given a few interesting insights to Ric and Delilah’s paranormal powers that if explored and presented right could really take this series to a new level.

All in all an ok read, but the erratic storyline and the overplaying of Delilah’s attributes didn’t endear the book to me.

Rating: C-

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