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kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
First in the urban fantasy series, Joe Pitt, set in contemporary New York City.
My Take
I love it! I love it! Definitely Mickey Spillane-ish with Joe as the hard-boiled vamp with a soft heart getting pulled into a conspiracy of life-threatening proportions even as he learns about his own strengths.
The Story
Joe is such a sleaze. He does enforcement, collects on bad debts, hangs out in bars, and is trying to maintain his independence while living on one Clan's turf and doing contract jobs for yet another.
It's a tough balancing act for Joe and gets worse when Predo forces him into two tight spots: Finding a zombie carrier who is infecting people on the streets and finding the runaway daughter of a major corporate tycoon.
Then another clan steps in to complicate Joe's life setting him up for revelations as they attempt to entice him in to their belief group.
Slowly, slowly, slowly the truth unravels for Joe as he finds how all these odds and ends tie up together with two parents at odds over their daughter, an unknown entity entering locked, hidden spaces leaving blank holes instead of smells, street kids getting punked, and how sex ties it all together.
The Characters
Joe Pitt is a fairly young vampire who had run away from the various foster homes he had been placed in when social workers put his parents in jail. Turning tricks in a men's room at a concert brought him the wrong kind of customer. The kind who drank his blood and left him for dead on a bathroom floor where Terry Bird found him and brought him over.
Dexter Predo, chief of the Coalition's secret police, is a cold-hearted bastard who will happily plan three different ways to ensure your life is screwed. The Coalition is a traditionalist vampire group. If he shows up at your door . . . be afraid, be very afraid.
Terry Bird, a passive-aggressive hippie-type, started up the Society in a slow-moving bid to gather all vampire groups under one umbrella and then come out to the world. Joe spent three years with the Society as Terry's muscle until he realized that was how Terry saw him and would use him so Joe left. Tom Nolan and Lydia Miles are Terry's lieutenants. Tom is the kind of guy/vamp who flies off the handle and wants to kill Joe every other second while Lydia is their PC-obsessed feminist.
The Enclave is another vampire Clan led by Daniel.
Evie tends bar and hangs with Joe. Infected with HIV, she refuses to have sex with Joe, and they spend a lot of time watching horror movies together with Joe sneaking in the occasional Treasure of the Sierra Madre or Miller's Crossing. She doesn't know about Joe's "affliction" and he doesn't want to tell her.
Phillip is a weaselly little Renfield spying for the Coalition.
The Cover and Title
The cover is hysterical! The top half is a nighttime view of New York City covering Joe's head from the nose up leaving us a view of his mouth. Oh yeah, Joe's mouth . . . with its lit cigarette jutting from one corner of his mouth and a glistening fang overhanging his lower lip. A tough guy with attitude!
The title is too true, for Joe is Already Dead.
My Take
I love it! I love it! Definitely Mickey Spillane-ish with Joe as the hard-boiled vamp with a soft heart getting pulled into a conspiracy of life-threatening proportions even as he learns about his own strengths.
The Story
Joe is such a sleaze. He does enforcement, collects on bad debts, hangs out in bars, and is trying to maintain his independence while living on one Clan's turf and doing contract jobs for yet another.
It's a tough balancing act for Joe and gets worse when Predo forces him into two tight spots: Finding a zombie carrier who is infecting people on the streets and finding the runaway daughter of a major corporate tycoon.
Then another clan steps in to complicate Joe's life setting him up for revelations as they attempt to entice him in to their belief group.
Slowly, slowly, slowly the truth unravels for Joe as he finds how all these odds and ends tie up together with two parents at odds over their daughter, an unknown entity entering locked, hidden spaces leaving blank holes instead of smells, street kids getting punked, and how sex ties it all together.
The Characters
Joe Pitt is a fairly young vampire who had run away from the various foster homes he had been placed in when social workers put his parents in jail. Turning tricks in a men's room at a concert brought him the wrong kind of customer. The kind who drank his blood and left him for dead on a bathroom floor where Terry Bird found him and brought him over.
Dexter Predo, chief of the Coalition's secret police, is a cold-hearted bastard who will happily plan three different ways to ensure your life is screwed. The Coalition is a traditionalist vampire group. If he shows up at your door . . . be afraid, be very afraid.
Terry Bird, a passive-aggressive hippie-type, started up the Society in a slow-moving bid to gather all vampire groups under one umbrella and then come out to the world. Joe spent three years with the Society as Terry's muscle until he realized that was how Terry saw him and would use him so Joe left. Tom Nolan and Lydia Miles are Terry's lieutenants. Tom is the kind of guy/vamp who flies off the handle and wants to kill Joe every other second while Lydia is their PC-obsessed feminist.
The Enclave is another vampire Clan led by Daniel.
Evie tends bar and hangs with Joe. Infected with HIV, she refuses to have sex with Joe, and they spend a lot of time watching horror movies together with Joe sneaking in the occasional Treasure of the Sierra Madre or Miller's Crossing. She doesn't know about Joe's "affliction" and he doesn't want to tell her.
Phillip is a weaselly little Renfield spying for the Coalition.
The Cover and Title
The cover is hysterical! The top half is a nighttime view of New York City covering Joe's head from the nose up leaving us a view of his mouth. Oh yeah, Joe's mouth . . . with its lit cigarette jutting from one corner of his mouth and a glistening fang overhanging his lower lip. A tough guy with attitude!
The title is too true, for Joe is Already Dead.
anyajulchen's review against another edition
4.0
" --A word a day, that's my rule. What did you think, that I would spend the rest of my life calling people mah nigga? Self-improvement is one of the few strategies a black man can use to advance in America. And I am advancing, Joe."
Man, oh man. This book. What I thought it would be a disaster, turn out to be one of the most originals, fun stories I had read. I will continue to read this series, for as long as it goes.
The life of Joe Pitt is a mess, he's a vampire in the middle of territory tensions and troubles. Now, he has to deal with zombies, a missing girl and lots pf crazy problems. The way we start to know, and care for him, is quite amazing. The mistery is simple but logical, and the end of the book only makes you to want more.
Such a great reading.
Man, oh man. This book. What I thought it would be a disaster, turn out to be one of the most originals, fun stories I had read. I will continue to read this series, for as long as it goes.
The life of Joe Pitt is a mess, he's a vampire in the middle of territory tensions and troubles. Now, he has to deal with zombies, a missing girl and lots pf crazy problems. The way we start to know, and care for him, is quite amazing. The mistery is simple but logical, and the end of the book only makes you to want more.
Such a great reading.
songwind's review against another edition
2.0
It's too bad when an interesting setting and characters get mauled by really bad writing.
shawniebooks's review against another edition
4.0
Dark and gritty. I'll definitely continue the series.
chelsea_shire's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
woody1881's review against another edition
4.0
Charlie Huston is one of my favorite writers. Fun escape reading.
spitzig's review against another edition
3.0
Eh. I liked the ideas presented-vampire politics and so forth. The problem was the main character(only one main character) seemed like they were almost entirely made of grit. No room left for much other personality.
mdstepp1998's review against another edition
5.0
Raw, grimy, and excessive are the best adjectives I can come up with to describe the amazing first book detailing the world of urban vampire Joe Pitt. This isn't anything like the mediocre vampire science fiction dramas that are currently saturating the market, but instead a super sonic roller coaster ride that I dare you not to finish in one sitting.
To put it succinctly, the story takes place in a very similar, current day New York City where vampyres exist. By being bled into by another that is infected by a "vyres", author Charlie Huston's vampyres must drink blood to keep the infection from eating themselves. Of course, some of the traditional vampire lore holds true: no sun (UV rays cause death by an explosion of cancerous tumors) and wounds heal quickly. On the contrary, garlic, holy water, and crosses are nothing but a myth.
The core of the Joe Pitt saga involves numerous "clans" of vampyres, each with their own goals, such as staying hidden from the human population, or revolutionary determination, such as uniting all vampyres and revealing themselves to humans. In the middle of all of these clans and the politics that surrounds them is rogue Joe Pitt, who acts as a hand for hire of sorts by doing odd jobs for money and blood. He cares about no one (except his human, HIV infected girlfriend), curses like a sailor, and has a knack for staying alive (usually through the death of countless others).
'Already Dead', as well as the succeeding books, center on Pitt undertaking a job and the havoc that seems to occur whenever he is involved. The story is fast paced, the dialogue is harsh and often times funny, and there is a lot of blood (being consumed or otherwise). While being more Grindhouse than Stoker, what makes me want to read the rest of the series are the multiple levels of clan history, secrets, and plots that make for some great twists, reveals, and surprises. Therefore, the story never gets stale and Huston's characters are each unique and interesting, which led me to tear through the pages to find out how they fair.
All in all, great first book that isn't for the narrow minded or queasy. Enjoy.
To put it succinctly, the story takes place in a very similar, current day New York City where vampyres exist. By being bled into by another that is infected by a "vyres", author Charlie Huston's vampyres must drink blood to keep the infection from eating themselves. Of course, some of the traditional vampire lore holds true: no sun (UV rays cause death by an explosion of cancerous tumors) and wounds heal quickly. On the contrary, garlic, holy water, and crosses are nothing but a myth.
The core of the Joe Pitt saga involves numerous "clans" of vampyres, each with their own goals, such as staying hidden from the human population, or revolutionary determination, such as uniting all vampyres and revealing themselves to humans. In the middle of all of these clans and the politics that surrounds them is rogue Joe Pitt, who acts as a hand for hire of sorts by doing odd jobs for money and blood. He cares about no one (except his human, HIV infected girlfriend), curses like a sailor, and has a knack for staying alive (usually through the death of countless others).
'Already Dead', as well as the succeeding books, center on Pitt undertaking a job and the havoc that seems to occur whenever he is involved. The story is fast paced, the dialogue is harsh and often times funny, and there is a lot of blood (being consumed or otherwise). While being more Grindhouse than Stoker, what makes me want to read the rest of the series are the multiple levels of clan history, secrets, and plots that make for some great twists, reveals, and surprises. Therefore, the story never gets stale and Huston's characters are each unique and interesting, which led me to tear through the pages to find out how they fair.
All in all, great first book that isn't for the narrow minded or queasy. Enjoy.
ogreart's review against another edition
3.0
I would say more 3.5. I liked it, but not enough to make it a 4. Although the origins of vampirism and zombie-ism are explained more scientifically, it is still basically and urban-fantasy. Maybe even a bit on the noir-ish side. I liked the main charactr well enough, but--I don't know, it just didn't light me up. The plot was pretty well put together. There were some fun twists and turns. I wish I had liked it better.
newfylady's review against another edition
4.0
Thrilled by this series. Can't wait to start the next. I love a gritty lone wolf PI with a twist