I adore Tony Foster.

After beating back the horrifying, albeit cheesily named Shadowlord, Tony Foster is ready to stay as far away as he can from the idea of being a potential wizard and get back to his normal life. Well, as normal as it gets when you are the Production Assistant (i.e. gopher) for a straight-to-syndication vampire television show. However, when Darkest Night begins shooting on location at a haunted house and the thing in the basement decides to it wants eat the crew it is up to Tony to use any means available to him to try and get them out before they all go insane or worse. A task made more difficult when people start accusing him of getting them into the mess and when the man of his dreams, actor Lee Nicholas, starts acting way out of character.

This second book of the "Smoke" series was just as fun as the first. There were many moments where the dry humor had me laughing out loud. I also loved the X-Files comments which were scattered throughout. Tony is quite the character and I really enjoyed him. I kind of wish we had seen a little more of Henry, I really loved his whole possessive vibe going on in "Smoke and Shadows", but we did see just enough of him to keep me happy. CB's precocious daughters were well done and superbly annoying and the way the entire crew rationalized the circumstances in their own warped, television weird ways was amusing as well.

There are issues in the book which may bother some, such as the grisly descriptions of various murders, the allusion to incest and Tony's homosexuality. But, if you enjoy dark and humorous urban fantasy I'd still say give this series a shot. I’ve certainly found it very entertaining so far. This story left off with a definitive end to the story but with many hooks to look into in the next book which I am highly looking forward to. ( )

he second book in the series featuring Tony Foster. I really like the way Tony's developing as a character. He's just a tad easier to relate to than Vicki or Henry (Henry does make a cameo once again, but this really is Tony's show). The TV series Tony works for, Darkest Night, about a vampire detective (go fig!) is shooting an episode about a haunted house. In a haunted house. Mind you, the cast and crew don't know it's haunted--not until Tony sees two ghosts as they really are (and it's not pretty). Then of course, stuff happens, and Tony has to fight the big bad (yes, he even uses that term--Tony's of an age to be affected by Buffy). There are other people who end up being able to see the ghosts, due to things that happen in Smoke and Shadows, so I would recommend starting there. However, I thought this book much better, but that may be because I prefer ghosts to shadowlords. ( )

Sadly this book didn't grab me at all. I love Henry as a character but somehow his relationship with Tony just doesn't work for me. ( )

It turns out that I am totally in love with these books. I actually like them more than the Blood books. I think this is probably because I really adore Tony. I know, at least in the case of my sister, she really missed Mike and Vicki when she started reading them -- I didn't. I had forgotten that they weren't featured in these books (except in passing) and for a moment I was kind of annoyed. But only for a moment. I got over that pretty quickly and fell in love. Smoke and Mirrors was fantastic, creepy and awesome. I love all the plot developments regarding Tony as what he's turning into. I also like his interactions with all the characters, but especially Lee, Zev, CB, Amy and that male cop (I say that, but you have to realize I've already started Smoke and Ashes). I also loved the humor in the book, especially the mentions of kiwi lube (I have no idea why this is so funny) and Amy saying she owns all of Charmed. I cannot wait to finish Smoke and Ashes. ( )