“The sultry night air of Oakland stung my face like the wet morning breath of a a lover from a seedy bar the night before: rank and unwelcome with a heavy undertone of shame. The downtown neighborhood was no doubt nearly silent at the late hour but I couldn’t be certain because my ears were overwhelmed by the terrified scream of the redhead as she clung to me.” (p. 21)

Zachary Nixon Johnson is the last Private Eye on Earth. The Radioactive Redhead kicks off with an attack on our hero by Kabuki droid assassins. Great action scene! Zach is hired to protect dazzling redhead, Sexy Sprockets, the pop-rock superstar, threatened by terrorists. Zach enlists the help of his psi assistant, Carol (also a redhead), when the case gets more complicated.

The Radioactive Redhead is a mashup of a screwball comedy, Robert Leslie Bellum’s pulp shenanigans, with some Isaac Asimov science fiction thrown into the mix. The result is a fun SF adventure novel full of fluff. GRADE: B
THE ZACHERY NIXON JOHNSON SERIES:
The Plutonium Blonde (Daw 2001, with Larry Ganem)
The Doomsday Brunette (Daw 2004, with Larry Ganem)
The Radioactive Redhead (Daw 2005, with Larry Ganem)
The Frost Haired Vixen (Daw 2006)
The Blue Haired Bombshell (Daw 2007)
The Flaxen Femme Fatale (Daw 2008)
“The Sapphire Sirens” (Daw 2009)