Night Rising: Vampire Babylon Book One

Green makes an obvious comment on Hollywood's cult of youth and celebrity in her florid debut, in which superstars become vampires to preserve their beauty and prolong their fame. Dawn Madison, a 24-year-old stuntwoman, is drawn into battle with supernatural forces from La-La Land's "Underground" when her PI father, Frank, disappears. She teams up with his associates: psychic "little person" Kiko Daniels; Breisi, a gorgeous Latina techo-geek; and their boss, a seductive, disembodied voice with whom Dawn enjoys some powerful disembodied sex. They search for Frank and answers to the mystery of child star Robby Pennybaker, who hoped to mature into an adult career, but whose dad pimped him out to the vamps, freezing him as a monstrous 12-year-old. Though the plot doesn't quite hang together, Dawn makes a spunky vampire slayer. (Feb.)