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Already Dead: A Novel

by Charlie Huston

Already Dead: A Novel Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Those stories you hear? The ones about things that only come out at night? Things that feed on blood, feed on us? Got news for you: they're true. Only it's not like the movies or old man Stoker's storybook. It's worse. Especially if you happen to be one of them. Just ask Joe Pitt.

There's a shambler on the loose. Some fool who got himself infected with a flesh-eating bacteria is lurching around, trying to munch on folks' brains. Joe hates shamblers, but he's still the one who has to deal with them. That's just the kind of life he has. Except afterlife might be better word.

From the Battery to the Bronx, and from river to river, Manhattan is crawling with Vampyres. Joe is one of them, and he's not happy about it. Yeah, he gets to be stronger and faster than you, and he's tough as nails and hard to kill. But spending his nights trying to score a pint of blood to feed the Vyrus that's eating at him isn't his idea of a good time. And Joe doesn't make it any easier on himself. Going his own way, refusing to ally with the Clans that run the undead underside of Manhattan — it ain't easy. It's worse once he gets mixed up with the Coalition — the city's most powerful Clan — and finds himself searching for a poor little rich girl who's gone missing in Alphabet City.

Now the Coalition and the girl's high-society parents are breathing down his neck, anarchist Vampyres are pushing him around, and a crazy Vampyre cult is stalking him. No time to complain, though. Got to find that girl and kill that shambler before the whip comes down...and before the sun comes up.

Review:

"After two hard-boiled hits, Caught Stealing and Six Bad Things, Huston does an irresistible and fiendishly original take on the vampire myth. Manhattan is teeming with the undead, the island divided into often-warring vampire clans such as the Society, the Hood and the Enclave. The most powerful is the Coalition, whose goal is to protect its members from public scrutiny and persecution. Rogue PI Joe Pitt (aka Simon), who like all vampires is infected with a virus that requires him to drink blood regularly, is hired by Marilee Horde, a prominent New York socialite, to locate her runaway teenage daughter, Amanda, who may be slumming with homeless goth kids in the East Village. Meanwhile, a 'carrier' is on the loose, infecting its victims with a bacterium that turns them into brain-eating zombies. The Coalition wants Pitt to find and destroy the carrier, since the carnage the zombies are causing brings unwanted attention to the undead community. Huston has fun playing with the conventions of the genre, creating his own hip update that will appeal to fans of Quentin Tarantino and Buffy the Vampire Slayer alike." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"[B]loody but brilliant....[I]t's probably true that this book's core audience is among the young, the cool, the hip and the unshockable. Of course, it's also suitable for those of any age who have the wit to appreciate clever, hard-edged writing." Washington Post

Review:

"[A] tasty treat for fans of vampire fiction and/or smart-alecky, hard-boiled crime novels." Booklist

Review:

"Huston's intricate, fast-paced, Chandleresque vampire-crime story has plenty of action, violence, and raw language. An excellent story but not for the squeamish..." Library Journal

Review:

"A heady mix of noirish hard-boiled dialogue and East Village scumminess...a refreshing rejiggering of vampire mythology. While the ending is confusing and anticlimactic, the world that Huston creates is both brutal and vividly realized. (Grade: B)" Entertainment Weekly

Review:

"Huston does his best here, but how can you really like a bloodsucker?" Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"[D]elightful....Huston's accomplishment here is considerable. Using plain language, he creates a world that is at once supernatural and totally familiar....He is rapidly establishing himself as the Jonathan Lethem of genre fiction." Philadelphia Inquirer

Review:

"Already Dead is like Spillane for the twenty-first century, and Buffy for grownups. Wise-crackin', edgy stuff." Richard K. Morgan, author of Altered Carbon and Woken Furies

Synopsis:

The daughter of a prominent New York family is missing, and her Vampyre fascination makes Joe Pitt — private detective and Vampyre — the man for this most dangerous job.

About the Author

Charles Huston is a novelist. He currently lives in Manhattan with his wife, the actress Virginia Louise Smith.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
Larry Robinson, January 30, 2008 (view all comments by Larry Robinson)
A vampyre story with a twist. If you like vampire stories, or thrillers, you will love this.
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(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
Larry, August 31, 2006 (view all comments by Larry)
An exciting, fast paced, and violent take on vampire lore. In modern day New York, tribes of vampires have laid claim to areas of Manhattan that they rule in secret. Though not Huston's best book still very entertaining for those that like the genre.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780345478245
Author:
Huston, Charlie
Publisher:
Del Rey Books
Subject:
Thrillers
Subject:
New york (state)
Subject:
Private investigators
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - Hard-Boiled
Subject:
Mystery fiction
Subject:
Private investigators - New York (State) -
Copyright:
Publication Date:
December 2005
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
268
Dimensions:
832x554x65 57

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