ALREADY DEAD–(A Joe Pitt Novel)–by Charlie Huston.
I’m branching out. Well, sorta. As a writer, I prefer to read in the genre I’m currently writing it. It helps me stay focused and–just how music enhances a writers emotional state while writing certain scenes–reading in the same genre keeps me from floating my characters off to Never, Never Land when they should be lying in the dirt.
Upon doing multiple searches on noir-esk urban fantasies–after bypassing Sandman Slim (one of my Books with Friends choices for my reading buddy) I discovered Joe Pitt and his vampyre underworld in good old New York City.
If I was to do a pros and cons list, my cons would be short. Honestly, I just wasn’t a fan of it being in New York. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE New York. It’s one of my favorite cities in the world. Hell, it’s on the same list as Paris and London–but everything is set in New York (or Los Angeles–the birth place of Noir Fiction. Thank you Raymond Chandler.) Regardless of my jaded opinion, Charlie Huston does a wonderful job of using his New York backdrop to pull you right into the story.
On to things I liked! Before I do that I must explain that I haven’t read any vampire novels in an extremely long time. I didn’t set out to read ALREADY DEAD because there were ‘vampyres’ in it. That said–I enjoyed this world immensely. It is cleverly constructed, putting a new spin on what a vampyre is. (That is how it is spelled in the book, by the way.)
It’s a perfect example of a modern noir with it’s down and out PI who has a drinking problem–in Joe’s case, his drink of choice is blood. The ‘damsels in distress’ have been (thankfully) updated. All of them prove to be very much in control of their own lives and bodies. <- This is something I loved. I’m more willing to accept a story in a ‘sexy’ location than I ever will be of accepting a woman who can’t save herself. There was havoc, destruction, and suspense. All the ‘will he or won’t he’ moments kept me turning the pages. Over all, ALREADY DEAD was a fantastic read, which makes me excited to dive into the other four books in the series.
Check your local library for a copy–I read it on Overdrive as an kindle ebook–or head over to Amazon. And you can learn more about Charlie Huston’s other series on his website.
Happy reading!! xxx-Aryn
Word Junkie 