β Scribed by Huston, Charlie
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
In this fascinatingly flawed fourth episode in the bloody horror-noir chronicles of New York vampire PI Joe Pitt (after 2007's Half the Blood Of Brooklyn), relations between the city's vampire clans are unraveling. The Cure is researching antidotes to the ravenous vampire-creating Vyrus, while the better-nourished Coalition seeks the Cure's downfall and the Society plays both sides. Dodging death threats and brokering shaky deals, Pitt shuttles among all three until he learns the Coalition's secret, a revelation so volatile that it may lead to all-out war. Huston supplies terse dialogue and convincing gore in expertly pitched prose, but the beautifully cinematic nastiness doesn't quite mask a key difficulty: Pitt's enemies set their hate aside too easily at his appearance, and their rational behavior is at odds with the emotional intensity (and sheer implausibility) of the climax. Newcomers may find the relationships difficult to parse, but those familiar with the series should be enthralled. (Sept.)
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In his fourth outing, rakish New York vampire Joe Pitt leaves the seriesβ βcasebooksβ nomenclature in the dust. This toothsome tale is no variation on the P.I. genre; instead, Huston imaginatively, logically explores the limits of the world heβs created for Pitt to haunt. If a virus that forced its hosts to seek blood for sustenance gave rise to competing secret clans that kept members fed in exchange for allegiance, wouldnβt a rising population of infected require development of a secure supply chain lest the drained bodies of victims started piling up on the Manhattan streets? Wouldnβt a threat to that supply destabilize the entire clan structure? And how would the established clans react to an upstart group promising to find a cureβthus stripping the old guard of its power? The answers to these questions might pierce even Pittβs leather-tough heart as he takes readers on another darkly entertaining ride. Meanwhile, his nights of acting as unofficial clan go-between might be drawing to a close as the saber-rattling and brinksmanship escalates toward an all-out vampire war. We can hardly wait. --Frank Sennett
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### From Publishers Weekly In this fascinatingly flawed fourth episode in the bloody horror-noir chronicles of New York vampire PI Joe Pitt (after 2007's *Half the Blood Of Brooklyn*), relations between the city's vampire clans are unraveling. The Cure is researching antidotes to the ravenous vampi
β[Charlie Hustonβs] action scenes are unparalleled in crime fiction and his dialogue is so hip and dead-on that Elmore Leonard should be getting nervous.β βPublishers Weekly (starred review), on Half the Blood of Brooklyn Itβs like this: a series of bullet-riddled bad breaks has seen rogue Vampy
"[Charlie Huston's] action scenes are unparalleled in crime fiction and his dialogue is so hip and dead-on that Elmore Leonard should be getting nervous." \--Publishers Weekly (starred review), on Half the Blood of Brooklyn It's like this: a series of bullet-riddled bad breaks has seen rogue