I've read "first novels" and "early effort books" who's author's poor grammatical skills are ammended by their ability to tell a good story and produce characterization strong enough to involve the reader in spite of the book's faults. For such promising novels, I can excuse sentence structure like "I knew your reaction would be worth coming out in this miserable rain for" and I can forgive an occasional lazy redundancy of word choice found in a sentence like " Her hips ground in to my face as she rode my face..."

Unfortunately, In my opinion, the Fixer by Jon F. Merz is not such a novel. The character "Lawson" is presented to the reader as a seasoned covert operative. He is a vampire born of a race of vampires who coexist in the shadow of humanity as a separate and hidden species. Lawson's task as a fixer for the ( Vampire) council, is to police the activities of vampires who may reveal their species existence to mankind with the usual consequences - The much higher numbered human population would seek to "destroy all monsters" and upset the "Balance" between vampire predator and human prey.
I don't consider this premise to be terribly original. The Fixer was published in 2002, and as an avid reader and film fan, I'd come across this underground vampire society concept well before it was popularized by the novels of Ann Rice in the 1980s. ( Even the Blade franchise follows a similar vein)
But even a less than original premise can be excused if the story works and the characters are strong. Frankly, I've read along happily as well defined characters surmount the duel obstacles of poor plotting and flimsy world building to conclude a novel that shouldn't work technically, but does evoke empathy in the reader.

My dissatisfaction with the FIXER is rooted in my view that the protagonist is not believable. ( And let's face it a readers of vampire novels have well flexed suspension- of- disbelief muscles ) I cannot accept Lawson as a centenarian, vampire with a human's life-time as a black Ops veteran in the face his sloppy detective work, poor operative decisions,( He readily tells love interest Talya, a human, that their mutual quarry is a vampire) and well... his constant whining. On several occasion during the first person narrative, Lawson describes himself as reacting "like a fourteen year old boy" to Talya. I find this to be an apt description of Lawson's behavior in general. Lawson's background and training is given as lengthy, Marine/special forces tough, dangerous and intensive. But for all of his training Lawson doesn't seem to know what to do in a tight spot and allows situations to worsen through his own failure to deliver. He repeatedly allows himself to be distracted and taken unawares by Talya and others. His approaches to his suspects are conducted with an admitted lack of skill, and little viable reason is given for these outrages breaches of form in so highly trained an operative.

As the book continues and the missteps mount, Lawson's descriptions of his training and career come across as mere braggadocio, rather than expository character development.
Of course, as in any novel, the protagonist can't succeed in his mission at this first attempts. ( that is if the book is to exceed 43 pages). However, in my opinion, ineptitude on the part of the main protagonist as a plot driver is a cop-out on the part of the author. It reveals a lack of skill and imagination. Which are essential attributes to a horror/ fantasy novelist.

It's possible that the author wished to give Lawson and air of vulnerability. Perhaps even an element of humanity, by making him fallible. As Lawson repeatedly admits his fear of Cosgrove, I surmise, that this main antagonist character was meant to seem that much more menacing. He, Cosgrove, must be truly dangerous if a bad-ass such as Lawson could be frightened by him. Again, this might work if Lawson was convincingly bad-ass. Or if Cosgrove were less of a standard "trying to take over the (vampire) world" megalomaniac so common to comic books and daytime soap operas. Ultimately, I found that in the Fixer the author, through the character Lawson, talks a good game, but fails to deliver convincing characterization and good plotting.

There are several more books in this series and I see very good Amazon reviews for these as well as the Fixer. I troubled myself to find and purchase The Fixer, which is currently out of print, hoping to find a gem and read the entire series. I Will not now purchase the remaining books.

Although it is possible that, in later books, the author mended the mistakes of the first novel I find too little promise in the Fixer to drive my actions forward to purchase the next books. ( )

This book has a nice "old school" vibe to it, hailing back to times when vampires were more the monster than the supermodel. Not that the vampires in The Fixer don't have the same powers- speed, able to control minds and strength. I like that the main character doesn't try to explain what he is, he just IS what he is. And what he does is catch those who step out of line and try to destroy the balance between humans and vampires.

If you don't like a lot of pretty werewolves in your vampire stories, you might give this one a try. ( )

I couldn't finish the book although I tried; it's just too slow and too dull, although the idea should work really well. Bu it doesn't. I'm really sorry about it, besides the way the main character was talking about women was really bugging me. Not disrespectful but down his nose. It's just my opinion and I might be mistaken, but here it is. ( )

This is a story with the works- a KGB trained assassin, an arch nemesis hell-bent on resurrecting ancient evil in a bid for total world domination, love, betrayal, and a healthy dose of fighting. And did I mention vampires?
Lawson is a vampire, and his job as a fixer is all about preserving the balance between human and vampire. Of course, the vampires don’t want the humans to know about their existence. So when the psychotic Cosgrove shows up in Boston, Lawson tries to take him out. Things go sideways, as these things are wont to do, with all the betrayal and ancient evil a reader could possibly want.
I found that Merz’s writing style was not only highly descriptive, but also very readable. The way some things were described were just too clever; I didn’t want to put this book down. Lawson is an interesting character- he’s been around the block, but he’s not fearless- and that’s part of what makes this story work. Cosgrove makes a truly worthy nemesis, not a watered down villain, with all the crazy you could possibly cram into a character. The plot, while not unique, was handled in such a way as to keep the pages turning, just to find out what happens next.
An excellent start to the series! ( )

I really liked this book, and I'm quite surprised this series never garnered more interest. Probably bad promotion on the part of the publishers or something. The first two books in the series, The Fixer (this one) and The Invoker, both only published in 2002, are already out of print. I managed to procure this copy through my library's participation in the Merrimack Valley Consortium system, and it was only at one library of the 35 in the system.

It was only when Michele (caseyw) added a copy of The Invoker to the Paranormal Virtual Bookbox on BookRelay that I was first alerted to this author, and then a few of us got to discussing the Lawson Vampire Novels. She mentioned how she still hasn't been able to find a copy of this first book in the series, and the prices for the first two books on eBay are outrageous since they're out of print. I guess I was just lucky to find this one at the Lowell library via the Consortium website, but they don't have books 2, 3, or 4 unfortunately. So Mr. Merz, if you come across this review on the web, know that there are quite a few of us out here that'd like to see these first books in the series back in print, so push your publisher for us, will ya? ;-) I really think these books could make a bigger splash now, particularly since paranormals have become so hot, but also because, like Jim Butcher's Dresden series, these are more action-oriented than so many of the paranormal romances available now which are just like romance authors trying to throw in a vampire to make it a paranormal and it truly reminds me why I *don't* like romances!!

The author, Jon Merz, lives in Boston, somewhat near me, and is active on his Lawson Vampire MySpace account. He's written a sort of short story about Lawson that he published in his blog out there, but I've been leery to read it in case it would give away stuff I haven't yet read in books 2-4. As I was reading this book, I liked coming across the many Boston landmarks and I recognized most of the locations and nightclubs, particularly Manray, the Goth club in Cambridge, which was a favorite of mine. (Many good memories of that place, which shut down sometime last year.)

So anyway, back to the book itself...
Lawson is a Fixer, a Vampire whose job it is to help maintain the delicate balance between Vampire and Human. In his duties, he's often called upon by the Vampire Council to bring down one of his own, often a rogue vampire who has become a threat to the race, either by blatant human killings, or threatening to expose the race in other bad or illegal ways. In the world drawn by Mr. Merz, vampires live among us, just as they do in most fantasy and paranormal novels, and most of them live a normal life, passing for human. He debunks some of the myths, saying that although vampires aren't particularly fond of the sun, they don't have to avoid it, and they won't go up in flames by being exposed to it. Though the fact remains that most vamps are more comfortable in the darkness and at night. Also, like in other novels, these vamps are able to get by without killing and often with the assistance of bottled blood to help sustain them.

Lawson is now charged with the destroying his arch-nemesis, Cosgrove, who has been a thorn in his side his entire life. And yes, these Vampires grew up as Vampires, in a Vampire community, to Vampire parents, etc. So both Lawson and Cosgrove were Vamps when they were younger and actually grew up together, though they were enemies back then too.

The writing style is quick and snappy—no long drawn-out descriptions here—and it all adds to action-oriented feeling of the book. I had a tough time putting it down! I loved Lawson's character; though a vampire, the author adds just enough human characteristics and feeling to him to endear him to the reader. And it left me anxiously looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of The Invoker. Thanks to my BR pals for introducing me to this author in the first place! ( )