Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
New York : Ballantine Books, c2009.
Description
"Nobody lives forever. Not even a vampyre. Just ask Joe Pitt. After exposing the secret source of blood for half of Manhattan's Vampyres, he's definitely a dead man walking. He's been a punching bag and a bullet magnet for every Vampyre Clan in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, not to mention a private eye, an enforcer, an exile, and a vigilante, but now he's just a target with legs. For a year he's sloshed around the subway tunnels and sewers, tapping the veins of the lost, while above ground a Vampyre civil war threatens to drag the Clans into the sunlight once and for all. What's it gonna take to dig him up? Just the search for a missing girl who's carrying a baby that just might be the destiny of Vampyre-kind. Not that Joe cares all that much about destiny and such. What he cares about is that his ex-girl Evie wants him to take the gig. What's the risk? Another turn playing pigeon in a shooting gallery. What's the reward? Maybe one shot of his own. What's he aiming for? Nothing much. Just all the evil at the heart of his world."--p. [4] of cover.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member TadAD
If you're looking for another Twilight, this isn't it. If we call Meyer's books Vampire YA, full of angst and...well...more angst, and we call Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books Vampire Lite, full of romance, sex and some sanitized violence, then Huston's books are Vampire Grit...Philip Marlowe
I really liked them for this. In a world where (to use Huston's term) sanguivores exist, it isn't all going to be tall, dark, erotic and handsome. If you think of the Irish gang wars in New York in the 19th century, or the Mob battles during Prohibition, you'll have a good idea of the tone of these books.
This picks up the second half of the story begun in Every Last Drop with Joe Pitt, ever more beaten and battered, dealing with the chaos he started in that volume. Huston pulls this all together very nicely, satisfactorily resolving not only the immediate events, but the larger story line, as well.
Huston's novels are generally rather raw and these are no exception. If you want a very different perspective on how "vampires among us" would play out, I recommend this series.
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encounters the dark side and then some. There's very little sex, not much more romance, but people get hurt in this quintet of books. Yet, they aren't really part of the horror genre like Dracula and its progeny; these read exactly like hard-boiled crime novels.I really liked them for this. In a world where (to use Huston's term) sanguivores exist, it isn't all going to be tall, dark, erotic and handsome. If you think of the Irish gang wars in New York in the 19th century, or the Mob battles during Prohibition, you'll have a good idea of the tone of these books.
This picks up the second half of the story begun in Every Last Drop with Joe Pitt, ever more beaten and battered, dealing with the chaos he started in that volume. Huston pulls this all together very nicely, satisfactorily resolving not only the immediate events, but the larger story line, as well.
Huston's novels are generally rather raw and these are no exception. If you want a very different perspective on how "vampires among us" would play out, I recommend this series.
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LibraryThing member Penforhire
I still can't get enough of Huston's sparse writing. It feels lean and clean even when the topic is oily and gritty. I can't be certain this is the last Joe Pitt book. Huston leaves the door open for at least one more semi-apocalyptic novel. But I suppose I do doubt it because, to tell that story,
I rate My Dead Body a bit lower than any of the others in the series. It felt like Huston was forcing the resolution of his many threads and also gratuitously cutting off Joe's body parts. I know Joe getting himself beat up is part of who he is but this story takes it too far. Sure he's a wiseass but would he really stick his head that far into the noose and encourage his physical destruction that much?
There are moments of greatness, just as in the other novels, but I felt more of a let-down. Maybe my expectations were high as some of the earlier stories are magnificent. But what happens to Predo, Terry, and Hurley here is packaged in too big a lump for me to swallow and still enjoy.
All in all, I haven't read anyone else who captures this noir tone in a supernatural thriller quite like Charlie Huston. I give a tip of the hat to a master at his craft!
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it would not be as tightly personal as all the earlier stories were. Who knows. Maybe he would find a plot that still has us riding on Joe's shoulder.I rate My Dead Body a bit lower than any of the others in the series. It felt like Huston was forcing the resolution of his many threads and also gratuitously cutting off Joe's body parts. I know Joe getting himself beat up is part of who he is but this story takes it too far. Sure he's a wiseass but would he really stick his head that far into the noose and encourage his physical destruction that much?
There are moments of greatness, just as in the other novels, but I felt more of a let-down. Maybe my expectations were high as some of the earlier stories are magnificent. But what happens to Predo, Terry, and Hurley here is packaged in too big a lump for me to swallow and still enjoy.
All in all, I haven't read anyone else who captures this noir tone in a supernatural thriller quite like Charlie Huston. I give a tip of the hat to a master at his craft!
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LibraryThing member FicusFan
This is the last book in the Joe Pitt series. The series was quite amazing at the start but for me it has been limping along. The last book, and this one too are sub par. This book is better than book 4, but only just.
The problem for me is that the books have become repetitive. Nothing new
Its like watching a bunch of drunken teenage males who are in a pissing contest to see who is biggest, baddest, and toughest. Or like watching someone banging their head against the wall, Eventually you are over the fascinating horror and just wonder when the light will dawn and the banger will try something different - only he never does. Then it becomes boring.
The premise is that vampires are real, and caused by a disease. They live secretly among us. They are very territorial and you must be one of their group to be a vampire and live on their turf. The vampire clans have a specific philosophy or ethos and you have to buy in to belong. Joe is a loner and can't fake allegiance very well. He is used by the gangs to solve problems and investigate issues. In doing so he makes enemies and so everyone is after Joe.
This book actually starts out and if I had to describe it, I would say it was tedious. Joe is living underground, in the sewers of NYC, and stalking a human. He is actually boring as he brings us up to date on what he has been doing since the last book ended.
Eventually the book picks up, and he is again asked to do a job for one of the vampire gangs. He is conned into it. It is to find and save a young woman who is pregnant with a vampire's child. The child may be the key to curing the vampires. The different clans are at war, and Joe is wanted by all of the participants.
The usual Pitt book ensues. Lots of violence, action, bad attitude and snark, twists, double crosses and so on. Its like the verbal representation of a pin ball - he bounces here, is shot off to there, and ricochets off X and Y on the way. All very predictable, all practically scripted.
I say this is the last book because the ending is the start of something new, and anymore books in this series would no longer belong. Not sad to see the last of Joe.
The problem for me is that the books have become repetitive. Nothing new
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happens. Joe is a tough guy who is a loner and only operates under his own rules. The situation is the same, he can't survive on his own, so he has to kowtow to one faction or another. The other factions are led by the same people and Joe has the same snarling, nasty, often violent interactions with them. They try use him, he tries to use them. Its like watching a bunch of drunken teenage males who are in a pissing contest to see who is biggest, baddest, and toughest. Or like watching someone banging their head against the wall, Eventually you are over the fascinating horror and just wonder when the light will dawn and the banger will try something different - only he never does. Then it becomes boring.
The premise is that vampires are real, and caused by a disease. They live secretly among us. They are very territorial and you must be one of their group to be a vampire and live on their turf. The vampire clans have a specific philosophy or ethos and you have to buy in to belong. Joe is a loner and can't fake allegiance very well. He is used by the gangs to solve problems and investigate issues. In doing so he makes enemies and so everyone is after Joe.
This book actually starts out and if I had to describe it, I would say it was tedious. Joe is living underground, in the sewers of NYC, and stalking a human. He is actually boring as he brings us up to date on what he has been doing since the last book ended.
Eventually the book picks up, and he is again asked to do a job for one of the vampire gangs. He is conned into it. It is to find and save a young woman who is pregnant with a vampire's child. The child may be the key to curing the vampires. The different clans are at war, and Joe is wanted by all of the participants.
The usual Pitt book ensues. Lots of violence, action, bad attitude and snark, twists, double crosses and so on. Its like the verbal representation of a pin ball - he bounces here, is shot off to there, and ricochets off X and Y on the way. All very predictable, all practically scripted.
I say this is the last book because the ending is the start of something new, and anymore books in this series would no longer belong. Not sad to see the last of Joe.
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LibraryThing member Meggo
Another book in Huston's series about the down on his luck vampire, Joe Pitt. Caught in the middle of a vampire civil war involving a missing girl who may be carrying an infant who may be the future destiny of vampires everywhere, Pitt struggles to survive. And gets increasingly battered along the
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way. An enjoyable story for those who like this sort of thing, it is almost entirely unmemorable a year or so after reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member pjh1984
I noted as I went on that each book seemed to drop a star. This one barely got 2 stars. It would have been 1 1/2 if they gave that option because my reaction was "So do I care? " and the answer was no.
I can easily list what I didn't like about such as dialogue that went on and on and on until I
Joe's series simply did not wear well which is sad because I wanted to like it.
I can easily list what I didn't like about such as dialogue that went on and on and on until I
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wanted to say "OH SHUT UP AND GET TO THE POINT." Lots of emotional masturbation but not much forward motion in the plot. Joe's series simply did not wear well which is sad because I wanted to like it.
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LibraryThing member crazybatcow
I had this book for several years but, because I disliked book 4 so much, I didn't plan to read this one. But then I decided I wanted to clear up my to-read list a bit, so ... I dug it out. It was actually not too bad. Not as preachy as the last couple ended up being and kinda wrapped up the
Overall, I guess I enjoyed it. There is some violence, moderate swearing, no sex.
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series. Glad I finished it. Glad I finished the series. Don't read this book if you haven't read the rest in the series, though, it won't really mean very much - the point of this book is just to close out all the other story characters that lingered from the previous books. Overall, I guess I enjoyed it. There is some violence, moderate swearing, no sex.
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Subjects
Language
Original publication date
2009-10-13
Physical description
355 p.; 21 inches
ISBN
0345495896 / 9780345495891
Other editions
My dead body : a novel by Charlie Huston (Paper Book)