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Dopplegangster (Esther Diamond #2)

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 487 ratings · 90 reviews

"In Laura Resnick's "Doppelgangster," the New York actress is 'resting' between roles by working as a singing waitress at a Manhattan mob restaurant because wiseguys tip well. Then duplicated gangsters appear, bullets start flying, and it's up to Esther and her friend Max the Magician to fight Evil by stopping the gang war before it starts killing the wrong people. And if...more

ebook, 400 pages

Published January 5th 2010 by Daw Books (first published December 1st 2006)

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Aug 05, 2009 Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress added it · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of urban fantasy using folklore

Shelves: urban-fantasy, folklore, humor, occult-detective, owned-copy, part-of-a-series

I read this story in Murder by Magic: Twenty Tales of Crime and the Supernatural , and I loved it. It takes a fresh look at Made Men (aka Mafiosos). This time they are the victims of supernatural hits. Each victim appears to his cronies and performs his normal behavior minutes before he dies. Only it's not the victim. It's his doppleganger. This story managed to do something that I did not feel was possible. To feel sorry for mobsters. I am not a fan of mafioso types. But these guys died in awfu...more

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Jun 07, 2011 Kellie Sheridan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Alright, I'll start off by saying I LOVED this book and then continue on by going right into complaining about it. My complaint isn't about the book itself, just a really irritating mishap by I assume, the publisher. This is not the first book in this series! When you open to the list of books in this series, this is the first one listed, followed by two with little *'s to indicate they hadn't been published yet. The whole reason I read this book was I liked the look of book number three in this...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this because my roommate read it and liked it. The urban fantasy I have read previous to this was the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher. Doppelganster is much lighter than the Dresden books.

Esther Diamond is a struggling actress who gets involved with an old mage named Max who is protecting New York city from Evil. She is involved with a NYPD detective in a relationship that is complicated. Esther has no powers of her own but she gets involved anyway in this story when a mobster is kille...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Dangerous Romance Book Reviews rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I first saw the cover of Doppleganster, I was intrigued. I quickly learned I'd be circumnavigating the world Laura Resnick created without the context of book one to walk me through. Preceding Dopplegangster, the first book in the Esther Diamond series, “Disappearing Nightly”’ which at the time was published by Luna, unfortunately disappeared almost overnight, likely because back in 2005 the publisher didn’t know what to do with it, and it was soon out of print.

It appears that DAW recognize...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Leslee rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

3.5 stars. Second novel in the Esther Diamond Series. This one was stronger than the first. Resnick has cleared up some of the annoying ticks that I thought stood out in the first, she's calmed down on the cutesy dialogue, it feels more natural, and I thought that the secondary characters were altogether more interesting and well written in this follow up installment.

In this mystery, Esther has unfortunately found herself without a paying gig when her off broadway show is finally cancelled. She...more

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Apr 06, 2012 OpenBookSociety.com rated it 4 of 5 stars

by OBS Staff Member Verushka

Beware of spoilers

If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be ‘fun’.

Esther Diamond is a struggling actress in New York, who just happens to be friends with a 350-year old mage, Max. She has no powers; she is simply drawn along in Max’s wake from book 1 into the world of the supernatural in New York. That is what makes this book so unique for me – it’s the first I’ve read where the main character is in fact just like the book’s audience, pretty normal (save...more by OBS Staff Member Verushka

Beware of spoilers

If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be ‘fun’.

Esther Diamond is a struggling actress in New York, who just happens to be friends with a 350-year old mage, Max. She has no powers; she is simply drawn along in Max’s wake from book 1 into the world of the supernatural in New York. That is what makes this book so unique for me – it’s the first I’ve read where the main character is in fact just like the book’s audience, pretty normal (save for a sharp tongue and New York instincts that stand her in good stead through the book).

It helps that the writing is sharp and funny, with laugh-out-loud one liners that bring Esther to life in technicolor. I don’t actually think I’ve ever giggled and enjoyed an urban fantasy like I did with this book in, ever come to think of it. Esther is engaging, funny, opinionated and of course, has troubles in the romance department, continuing on from book 1 (other than Esther’s introduction to Max in book 1 of this series, I don’t think you need to start this series in order to understand the story in this book).

Her romantic troubles come in the form of Connor Lopez, a good cop, albeit frustrated with the company Esther keeps in Max, is, for most of the book, used merely as a love interest for Esther, while providing some clues in the investigation Esther seems to be
involved in. He adores Esther, but she recognizes, as do the readers, that Connor is a straight-arrow good guy, and being involved with Esther means compromises she does not want him to make. From a fairly straightforward introduction in this book, Connor grows into much more, though never quite stepping out of the love-interest category until the very end (which makes me eager to get my hands on the next book to see where a very unexpected twist with Lopez takes them).

I am really not sure what I expected with a name like “Doppelgangster”, but I know I didn’t expect the book to be so funny. When the book opens, Esther is in-between acting jobs, so she approaches Stella, the owner of a restaurant that just happens to be frequented by New York’s finest gangsters. There, Esther meets the first of the doppelgangsters, doubles created by someone out for revenge and attempting to set the mafia families against one another. She joins forces with Lucky, an aging gangster himself (but no less lethal) for one of the mafia families and together with Max they attempt to solve the case, while trying to protect Lopez, who gets his own double along the way (a doppelgangster usually precedes someone’s death in this book).

While all the characters are incredible fun, Lucky stands out to me. He is the one that is introduced to the supernatural here, and his learning curve is hilarious. His dialogue is fabulously smart and fast and his lessons to Max in how to speak like a gangster left me sniggering in the middle of my train home. I can only hope he continues to be a presence in Esther’s life and future books.

If you want a good read, with sharp humour, this is the book for you.

http://openbooksociety.com/article/bo...

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Mar 06, 2012 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

This is the type of urban fantasy with enough of a comedic touch to keep it light, in the vein of Tanya Huff or Janet Evanovich. Despite being the second in the series, it works well as a standalone, probably at least in part because it switched publishers after book 1, which was put out by Mira. Very few of the characters have returned, which gives me mixed feelings. I really liked some of the characters in Disappearing Nightly, but given that this is an entirely different case, it makes sense...more This is the type of urban fantasy with enough of a comedic touch to keep it light, in the vein of Tanya Huff or Janet Evanovich. Despite being the second in the series, it works well as a standalone, probably at least in part because it switched publishers after book 1, which was put out by Mira. Very few of the characters have returned, which gives me mixed feelings. I really liked some of the characters in Disappearing Nightly, but given that this is an entirely different case, it makes sense that the gang from the first book wouldn't be involved and it's nice that Resnick didn't try to force them in.

As is the norm in urban fantasy, the voice of the book is the voice of the protagonist, as the thing is written in first person. Esther's observations and smart remarks are fun to read, and it's very nice to read a heroine who's smart enough to know when it's ok to voice these comments out loud and when it's best to keep her thoughts to herself. She doesn't try to endanger herself or others by irritating the wrong people with her wit. She did, however, occasionally drive me nuts with her inability to "get" something. It's an author's tool, using the protagonist's ignorance as an excuse to explain things to her readers, but there were a few points I felt we could have skipped the explanation or, at the very least, Esther should have been quicker on the uptake, especially considering this isn't her first foray into the paranormal. I mean, does the term "doppelgänger" really need to be explained? I'm pretty sure it's term mainstream enough even a newcomer to the fantasy genre would have heard it before.

In general, the mobster characters are full of stereotypes, but they're colourful stereotypes, and aging hitman Lucky is a welcome addition to the cast. A friend of Esther's, he adds some wonderful shades of grey to the story, a morally ambiguous character who is (this time) on the side of good. This arguably gives him more depth than Esther or Max, and I'd love to see him around again, although if the series follows the pattern it's shown between the first two books, I doubt he'll become a series regular.

As usual, Resnick's dialogue is great. She has a knack for banter, and given the different lingos spoken by different characters, there are some wonderful moments of confusion and misunderstanding.

I picked the book up hoping for something fun and entertaining, and Doppelgangster delivered exactly what I was looking for. There are at least two more in the series, and I do believe I'll have to add them to my collection.(less)

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Oct 27, 2011 Edward Branley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Laura Resnick is a friend of a friend. Specifically, my friend is the wife of a fraternity brother of mine, so we go back a long way. When you see friends of friends commenting on stuff on Facebook, naturally you get curious about that person. I asked my friend Cindy if the thought Laura would mind me "friending" her on Facebook. She said no, so I did. When Laura announced the release of her latest novel, I learned it was the fourth of her "Esther Diammond" books. Not wanting to jump into charac...more Laura Resnick is a friend of a friend. Specifically, my friend is the wife of a fraternity brother of mine, so we go back a long way. When you see friends of friends commenting on stuff on Facebook, naturally you get curious about that person. I asked my friend Cindy if the thought Laura would mind me "friending" her on Facebook. She said no, so I did. When Laura announced the release of her latest novel, I learned it was the fourth of her "Esther Diammond" books. Not wanting to jump into characters developed over three previous novels, I decided to follow the canon.

Unfortunately, Laura's first novel, Disappearing Nightly, is out of print, so I picked up the second, Doppelgangster, for my Nook. Laura said she put a lot of backstory from the first novel into the second to catch everyone up. She was right, I got what was going on pretty quickly.

The main character of Doppelgangster is Esther Diamond, an aspiring actress living in New York who waits tables more than she acts. Esther got mixed up in some heavy-duty occult goings-on in the first novel, and naturally they continue to follow her around Manhattan. She's in between acting gigs, working at an Italian restaurant that is, well, to not sugar-coat it, mobbed-up. While working one night, she encounters a Doppelgänger, or perfect double, of a mobster who is a regular at the restaurant. The mobsters believe that, if one sees his perfect double, death is imminent, and this guy ends up dying while Esther's serving him.

Esther immediately picks up a tabloid characterisation of a mobbed-up "chorus girl," who witnesses what may be the beginning of a war between two crime families. Enlisting the help of Dr. Max Zodak, a mage/wizard of the "Magnum Collegium" (an organisation whose charter is fighting Evil with a capital "E"), she investigates the doppelgänger sighting. Naturally, since this involves a Mafia family, one of the older hitmen who knows Esther joins in. He doesn't get "doppelgängers" calling them "doppelgangsters." A few more deaths, a few more doppelgängers, and some solid plot work, and the case is solved.

When I started reading Doppelgangster, my first thought was, this is like Misty Lackey's Diana Tregarde novels, and I forgot how much fun a series like that is. Esther's not a paladin-level heroine; she's trying to make ends meet while getting an acting career off the ground. High-level paladins don't often sit around in sweats, consuming pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, but Esther does that when she's depressed. She's managed to get caught up into some weird stuff that complicates a love life, and Resnick's descriptions of a worked-up, horny Esther are at once exciting and humorous. Throw in social/business interactions with mobsters, and Esther Diamond's world just gets more interesting.

Doppelgangster is a fun read. Resnick does her homework on the occult/esoteric side of things, so it's easy to slip into the world in which Esther and Max are fighting Evil. You look at some elements, such as Max Zodak's bookstore and see connections used by countless other authors (think Ray's Occult Bookstore from "Ghostbusters" for this particular location), but you don't care. It's like role-playing game material that often starts in the common room of a local tavern. Yeah, it's a standard setting, but who cares, the story's good!

My instincts were solid here, and I've moved on to the next Esther Diamond story, Unsympathetic Magic(less)

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Feb 20, 2011 Bookmom rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Detective Lopez, who has just transferred to Organized Crime, isn't at all happy when Esther Diamond, the woman he's trying to date, goes to her fall back job as a singing waitress at an Italian restaurant the mob uses, when in between acting jobs. And his supervisor isn't at all thrilled when Esther is up close and personal at a mob hit that defies all logic.

Esther and Lucky, a semi-retired hitman, had seen the victim's double and team up with Max, a sorcerer who fights evil in the New York are...more

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Aug 22, 2010 Cheryl rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read and liked the first book, Disappearing Nightly, when it came out, but the date for the sequel kept getting pushed back, so I started thinking it was never actually going to be released. Turns out it was well worth the wait, I liked this one even more than the first. Don’t worry if you didn’t read the first book; Laura Resnick references it enough to pretty much catch you up for the sequel.

Esther Diamond is working as a singing waitress, at a restaurant frequented by mobsters, between acti...more

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Mar 20, 2010 Fiendishly Bookish rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urbanfantasy, paranormalromance

All Esther Diamond wants is a decent acting role that she can be proud of (and her typically Jewish mother can be proud of as well!) she'll do anything to get her to stop nagging. Plus, it would be nice to get a regular paycheck. And finally go on a hot sexy date with her police detective boyfriend. But it looks as if that's not in the cards for Esther. At least not while Mercury is in retrograde and her proverbial job as a singing waitress at Bella Stella's (the mob version of Casablanca) is so...more All Esther Diamond wants is a decent acting role that she can be proud of (and her typically Jewish mother can be proud of as well!) she'll do anything to get her to stop nagging. Plus, it would be nice to get a regular paycheck. And finally go on a hot sexy date with her police detective boyfriend. But it looks as if that's not in the cards for Esther. At least not while Mercury is in retrograde and her proverbial job as a singing waitress at Bella Stella's (the mob version of Casablanca) is soon to hit the skids.

When Esther's favorite wiseguy customer Chubby Charlie Chiccante is gunned down in front of her after seeing his mystical doppelganger, she's drawn deeply into a web of magical intrigue and the mobster underworld. Who is creating the magical doppelganger assassins that threaten to start an all out mob war between New York's notorious crime families? And can she stop it before she ends up sleeping with the fishes too?

Doppelgangster is an energetic gangster tale with elements of the paranormal that is both witty and hilarious. At first, I didn't know what to expect when starting it. Was it a paranormal? Was it a mystery? Was it a thriller? Was it a romance? I was so pleasantly surprised to find that it was all of these things and more. Diving into Doppelgangster was like getting the best piece of the pie and slowly savoring each bite.

Resnick is in her element with Doppelgangster's dialogue. She's a powerhouse with it. The funny and engaging mobsterisms are rampant, clever, and her character interactions are simply gut busting. In fact the two most important aspects of Resnick's tale are the originality of her idea and the brilliant character interactions. Esther, paired with Lucky, Max, and Nelli at the behest of the Gambello's shy don makes this one of the funniest books I've read this year. I laughed non-stop throughout this book.

There is a small thread of romance between Esther and her slurpalicious detective Lopez. But so far, the mobster shenanigans ensuing have firmly placed the lovers on opposite camps: Lopez on the side of the law and Esther helping the "family". While this tenuous thread between the two of them was smoking hot, I suspect that we'll be seeing more of sexy Detective Lopez in Resnick's next novel. Especially the barest hint that he might not be what he seems, and could be psychically gifted.

If you want to truly be entertained, (and laugh out loud frequently) and enjoy storytelling at its best, give Doppelgangster a whirl! And don’t forget Esther’s first story in “Disappearing Nightly”. Resnick’s next installment is out August 2010 entitled “Unsympathetic Magic”. Yippee!

A Fiendishly Bookish Review
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Sep 07, 2011 Lindsey Duncan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: funny-fantasy, urban-fantasy

Esther Diamond is a struggling actress in New York City ... and sometimes the only job you have to help you through is that of a singing waitress at the friendly neighborhood mob hangout. This leads her headlong into murder, mayhem and the tabloids as a doppelganger curse dogs (... and speaking of dogs ...) the gangsters. If this isn't complicated enough, she has to avoid the suspicion of her hunky cop would-be boyfriend long enough ... to actually *become* his girlfriend.

Fast paced, witty, clev...more

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May 23, 2010 faeriemyst rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal, urban-fantasy, magical-hocus-pocus, library-loan

Wow, this was a real disappointment. The title was great, and I'll probably never use the term doppelganger ever again, but the story didn't live up to it. As opposed to the first book, Disappearing Nightly, the humor was nearly nonexistent, the energy and zip lost, the new characters didn't add much and weren't very interesting - heck, even Esther and Max were boring, and the plot just wasn't that good. A hundred pages could have easily been shaved off and they wouldn't have been missed, especi...more

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Oct 08, 2010 Sylvia Sybil rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Even though this is technically the second book in the series, the first is out of print and this was written with the expectation that readers would not have had a chance to read it. There's a 4 page prologue recapping what backstory is relevant to the characters and most other history is explained when it becomes relevant.

Esther Diamond is a struggling actress who pays the bills by waiting tables at a mob-owned restaurant (wiseguys tip well). While most people "know" that magic is the domain o...more Even though this is technically the second book in the series, the first is out of print and this was written with the expectation that readers would not have had a chance to read it. There's a 4 page prologue recapping what backstory is relevant to the characters and most other history is explained when it becomes relevant.

Esther Diamond is a struggling actress who pays the bills by waiting tables at a mob-owned restaurant (wiseguys tip well). While most people "know" that magic is the domain of fairy tales and lunatics, Esther has crossed paths with it before. So when a mobster claims to have seen his perfect double and then is shot by an invisible killer, she believes. She soon learns that someone is making doppelgangers - exact copies that foretell doom - of the city's prominent Mafiosi. With the help of her sorcerer friend Max and a semi-retired mobster Lucky, and with the hindrance of her almost-boyfriend Detective Lopez, Esther races to find the killer before a war breaks out between the crime families.

First, let's be honest about why I picked it up. The cover. A sexy woman in a little black dress, utterly self-confident while decapitating her enemies? I'm all over that. And really, did we expect anything less from Dan Dos Santos? When I reached the part of the book where Esther is smeared with blue goop, I flipped back to the cover and gave a little fangirl squeal. The title's pretty clever too. You know right away it's about evil twins and criminals.

The book gets off to a slow start. The first two chapters establish background information on Esther: her play gets canceled, she goes back to work at the Mafia restaurant, her almost-boyfriend gets promoted to the organized crime department. It's boring and I found myself wondering when the story would get good. The answer is, at the end of chapter 2. A panicking mobster tells Esther that he has seen his own perfect double and is marked for death, then is shot in front of her. The police, including Detective Lopez, think she's lying about not seeing the killer to protect herself from the mob. From then on, the action escalates.

One of the things that makes this novel different, that makes it stand out in a rack of urban fantasies, is that Esther is not magic herself. As accustomed as I am to kickass chicks who fling fireballs or grow claws and fangs, finding one who is entirely mundane is a novel experience. This means Esther's kickassitude has to come from her personality. She's not exceptionally smart; she's not stupid either, but about average intelligence. What makes her good at this is her take-charge attitude. She's competent; she gets things done. She takes longer to notice clues than I thought she should, but when she does notice the discrepancies she goes after them right away.

Esther's characterization is shown well, especially her ethnicity. She's Jewish, but this point isn't made heavy-handedly or preachily. It's an aspect of her character, like being an actress or being attracted to men. When it comes up, it's always natural. She avoids telling her mother her date isn't a nice Jewish boy and when she needs an excuse to be in a Christian church she chokes on the lie that she's thinking of converting.

The relationship between Esther and Lopez is comfortable and one of the better romantic relationships I've seen in a non-romance book. While there's plenty of heat between them, it's not the heat of a one-night-stand or animals in rut. It's the passion between two people who know each other well enough and want to know each other Biblically. And I got the impression that Lopez was hot for Esther and not just hot in general (and vice versa Esther for Lopez) which is a plus. Lopez isn't pushy or sulky, either. He thinks working in mob territory is dangerous and isn't happy when Esther takes a job there, but once he's given his advice he backs off and lets Esther make up her own mind. And when she has to turn down or cancel his plans, he's mature about it and reschedules instead of demanding that she put him first.

Max and Lucky are Esther's sidekicks for most of the book. Max is a highly educated and long-lived sorcerer dedicated to protecting the city from Evil. He also serves as the magical expert during Esther's investigation. Lucky is an aging gentleman who has semi-retired from a long career as a hitter for the mob. He is, obviously, Esther's mafia expert. The three of them and Max's dog familiar make an excellent team.

The narrative is awkward in places. At one point Esther says, "Little did I know how wrong I was" which jerked me out of the story. The bulk of the novel is told in normal past tense, as if she were relating the story immediately after it had happened. But "little did I know" means the narrator has knowledge that Esther doesn't, which doesn't match the rest of the book. Later Esther says, "I thought I knew who I had seen" and dances around talking about "the person I thought I had seen". The verbal gymnastics make it glaringly obvious she's hiding something. Since the mystery is revealed three pages later, it's also pointless.

As far as the ending goes...let's just say that when the next book arrives I'll be moving it to the top of my TBR pile, because I need to know what happens next. Although I will add that the ending brought the book up half a letter grade.

The next book in the Esther Diamond series is Unsympathetic Magic, available now.

While this was an exciting read once it got going and I'm rushing online to purchase the next book, the slow start and the awkward narrative prevent it from an A. I give Doppelgangster a B. (less)

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May 17, 2013 Teresa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: witches-or-spellcasters, mystery, less-than-legal-or-spies

3.5 stars.

This is the second Esther Diamond book, and Esther and Max get involved in another mystery that seems to be impossible. Gangsters see their perfect double and then die a short time later. Of course no one believes them but when Esther sees both the double and the original and they have the exact same conversation with her, and then said mobster ends up getting shot in front of her with no visible shooter, she goes to Max for help along with a semiretired hitman for one of the families,...more

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Nov 02, 2012 Krycek rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: series-out-of-order, urban-fantasy-paranormal-whatever

Esther Diamond isn't your typical urban fantasy/paranormal romance heroine (and by typical, I mean compared to what is currently popular in that genre). She doesn't carry around a samurai sword and doesn't have tattoos in provocative locations. She doesn't have an arcane and mysterious background. She's not tough-girl sassy. She's just a single woman trying to make ends meet while pursuing a career as an actress and a romance with a good looking detective she knows.

Thank goodness for all that....more

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Oct 07, 2010 Vickie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: booksthatmakemegowow

Esther Diamond is an actor between jobs, though she calls it resting. She finds out about a job at a restaurant she's used before as a fallback place of employment, a restaurant known to be visited by 'family' of the wiseguy persuasion. They love to hear Esther sing and she can crack wise with the best of them.
The doppelgangers, aka doppelgangsters (love this), start appearing and causing havoc as well as murder. Esther needs to find out how they are appearing since she witnessed a hit and migh...more

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Jan 06, 2010 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Esther Diamond is between acting jobs. To make ends meet, she takes a job waiting tables at Bella Stella. Connor Lopez, the cop who may or may not be Esther's boyfriend, is concerned because Bella Stella is frequented by the Gambello crime family, but hey, a girl's gotta make a living!

Before long, though, Esther lands in deep trouble. One of Bella Stella's regulars, Chubby Charlie, sees a perfect double of himself and then is murdered right in front of her. She's traumatized by the event, the ta...more

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Sep 04, 2011 Shelley aka Gizmo's Reviews rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-release, genre-urban-fantasy

*Rating* 3.0
*Genre* Science Fiction

*Review*

Struggling actress Esther Diamond suddenly finds herself unemployed after the musical Sorcerer!, shuts its doors because of monetary cost overruns due largely to the events of Disappearing Nightly. On a whim, she asks and is granted her job back as a singing waitress at Bella Stella’s a NYC hangout and tourist attraction for the Italian Mafia.

In the meantime, her fledgling relationship with Irish-Cuban Detective Connor Lopez is having some growing issue...more

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May 28, 2012 Eillo rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: pwnd

Decent series. The funny thing is, it's the second book and the way the whole thing comes together it might as well be the first book. Esther is likeable as your first person accidental heroine in the same way Mercy Thompson is likeable; you could be friends with them and dismayed with their choices to hang with a bunch of weirdos. The only downside I found with this title was that I had figured much of the culprits out before the characters so there are areas that get repetitive if you've read...more

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Jun 22, 2011 Ami rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy-paranormal-futuristic

The second book of Esther Diamond series totally reminds me of the crazy old days of Stephani Plum books! This time, Esther gets entangled with crazy Italian gangs, while being the first witness of a murder. I enjoy the whole doppelgangster plot. I think the story is still hilarious ... especially when Max learning to "talk" like Wiseguys. ZOMG!!! I can't imagine a 350-year mage (who looks like a 70-year old man) swears like it he is supposed to, you know? *lol*

I'm a bit sad of what happens betw...more

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Feb 20, 2010 Katy-Del rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My brother passed this one to me with the comment that they read like a paranormal Stephanie Plum novel.

A) just reading the name cracked me up. My husband asked me what I was reading just to hear me say the name out loud.

B) Esther, through no fault of her own, finds herself in weird situations with people trying to kill her.

C) She spends most of the book hanging out with a semi-retired elderly mob hitter named Lucky, a 350 year old magician who I pictured as Jerry Garcia, and a large, intellig...more

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Oct 02, 2011 MarsianMan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While working at a singing restaurant between acting gigs, Esther sees a gangster killed in front of her. She does not see the killer and how the killer got away in a restaurant is a bit of a mystery. It isn't until duplicated gangsters start appearing that she thinks the crime might be supernatural (even though her magician friend, Max, would say there is no such thing is supernatural).

I liked the main characters. Max the Magician was amusingly academic while Esther is smart and amusing to read...more

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May 20, 2012 Chandra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For whatever reason, I have never gotten into urban fantasy in novel form, although in theory I should like it. It seems it has to be a world far removed from mine. At least until I read this book. I picked this book purely for the title. If more urban fantasy could be like this, I'd read more. Resnick's writing is snappy and funny, moving along at the pace of a good movie. The gangsters may be stereotypes, but they are fun in the way that the pirates of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies are f...more

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Oct 08, 2010 Gail rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: purchased-obtained, e-book, mystery, urban-fantasy

Esther is working in a Broadway show, looking forward to a hot date with her cop maybe-boyfriend when she gets word that the show is closing. This sends her into a panicky tailspin, desperate to find a job to tide her over. And when her cop-date shows up, it's the first of a number of messed-up dates.

She goes to work at an Italian restaurant frequented by real mob types, to the unhappiness of her maybe-boyfriend. (She claims him as her boyfriend to keep the mobsters from hitting on her, though...more

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Jan 13, 2010 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormalfiction

Oh, have I been looking forward to this book for a long time! When the Esther Diamond series changed publishers (from Harlequin/Luna to DAW), publication of Doppelgangster was delayed, much to my dismay. But now it's finally out, and it's just what I hoped for: a combination of supernatural mystery and screwball comedy with a heroine I'd love to meet for lunch and a movie. Perfect escapism for a long flight home!

Esther Diamond is a struggling young actress in New York. When the musical spectacul...more

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Dec 03, 2011 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: humorous, paranormal, wizards, paranormal-mystery, magic, magicians, nyc-setting, urban-fantasy

4 1/2 stars. Esther is between acting jobs and working as a server at a notorious mobster restaurant (hey, wiseguys are good tippers). When Esther encounters the same wiseguy twice in one night, she is concerned because she knows she has seen him twice, but he does not. Things get complicated when the same wiseguy ends up dead at her table a few nights later. Then more duplicate mobsters start showing up. Looks like something only her good friend and wizard, Max, can handle. Drawn into the myste...more

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Apr 02, 2010 Heather Tisdale rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Stephanie Plum meets the Soprano's with a little magic thrown in to make it even more interesting. I loved it. I wish the ending was a little different, but I think that Resnick is just creating some tension to lead you into the next book. Not that the ending was bad. I just didn't get my way. =) I hope I can find book 1 somewhere. It's supposed to be reprinted soon. I loved the mystery and the the mobsters. I'll definitely stick with the series.

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Apr 08, 2012 Unwisely rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, 2012

I liked this book quite a bit less than the first one. I have almost zero interest in the whole mafia thing (and, shockingly, given the title, it's a mafia-centric book). Also I was frustrated at several points in the book, and had to put it down. I also figured out the culprit long before the protagonists (I was wrong about the accomplice), and that was also annoying. Still pleasant overall, but not as good as the last one.

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May 10, 2010 Meredith rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is a light-hearted take on both the mob and supernatural misadventures, and while I'm normally up for fun, fluffy fiction, I just wasn't feeling this one. I don't know if it was the ongoing tension between Esther and her almost-maybe boyfriend, or the fact that occasionally I felt that Esther's own understanding of the events was way behind the actual plot, but I got a little impatient with this book.

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Fantasy

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Mystery

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Fantasy > Paranormal

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Fantasy > Magic

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Mystery > Detective

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Contemporary

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Mystery > Crime

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About Laura Resnick

Laura Resnick is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author, the daughter of prolific science fiction author Mike Resnick. She was the winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in Science Fiction for 1993. She also writes romance novels under the pseudonym Laura Leone

More about Laura Resnick...

Books by Laura Resnick

Disappearing Nightly (Esther Diamond, #1)

In Legend Born (Chronicles of Sirkara, #1)

Unsympathetic Magic (Esther Diamond, #3)

The White Dragon (Chronicles of Sirkara, #2)

The Destroyer Goddess (Chronicles of Sirkara, #3)

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Trivia About Doppelgangster

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Quotes from Doppelgangster

“I pictured myself saying in a court of law, "Well, Your Honor, there was
this evil sorcerer's apprentice and a flesh-eating, power-granting demon
he summoned from a primordial dimension . . ."
Even I couldn't see a way to make that script work.” — 5 people liked it

“Stella's?"
"It's a restaurant called Bella Stella in Little Italy."
He frowned. "On Mulberry Street."
"You know it?" That didn't surprise me. It was a pretty famous place.
"Of course I know it, Esther. There've been two mob hits there in the
past five years, and Stella Butera launders money for the Gambello crime
family."
Okay, so it was notorious as well as famous.” — 5 people liked it

More quotes…

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Dopplegangster (Esther Diamond #2)

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