Charlie Huston

Joe Pitt Casebooks  — (2005-2009) There will be five Joe Pitt books. Publisher: 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.

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Already Dead

Going in, I was super-confident that this series was going to be right up my alley and I wasn’t disappointed in the least. For starters, that same unflinching Tarantino-esque dialogue, urban vernacular and stylized violence that I loved so much from The Shotgun Rule were on display here in all of its explicit glory. Even better, there was a much more pronounced noir influence — Joe’s first-person narrative, crime / mystery subplots, a frequent use of flashbacks, Manhattan’s seedy underworld setting — running in the book and I absolutely love noir! You know what I love even more though… vampires. And that’s the defining gimmick in Already Dead. Joe Pitt, a fairly typical blend of resident fall guy and sardonic bad-ass, is a Vampyre…

Vampirism remains one of the more popular concepts in the world of fiction, be it film, literature, television or videogames. Unfortunately the novelty has somewhat worn off over the years because more times than not, the same ideas are just being recycled over and over. What I like about Charlie Huston’s Vampyres is that they’re a mix of old and new ideas, resulting in a mythology that is at once familiar, yet refreshingly edgy. So, on the one hand you have such recognizable traits as the need to drink human blood — animal blood doesn’t seem to work though; a fatal weakness against sunlight; enhanced senses, strength and speed; rapid healing; and immortality… of a sort. At the same time, these Vampyres are immune to garlic and holy water; they can see their reflection; and as Joe demonstrates throughout the novel, they can eat food; smoke, drink enough to get a buzz; have sex; and get beaten up, knocked out cold, poisoned and even killed much like any normal human — though it is a bit tougher. There’s also the little matter of the Vyrus, which is what turns people into Vampyres in the first place and is a pretty interesting concept though not much is known about it, except starving the Vyrus seems to have some nasty side effects. What I liked best though, was the Vampyres’ differing philosophies.

Basically, in Manhattan there’s about nine million humans compared to four thousand Vampyres. So, with numbers like that stacked up against you, opinions tend to vary about how the Vampyres should be living their lives and as a result, different clans are formed. The largest and most powerful of these Clans is the mafia-like Coalition, which preaches invisibility and are said to control “a vast and secret supply of blood”. Then there’s the more liberal-thinking Society who wants to unite all of the Clans and go public. And then there’s the Buddha-like Enclave who live a life of 'meditation & martial arts', starving them selves in the pursuit of the metaphysical and possess extraordinary abilities. There are other Clans as well along with Rogues who try to make it on their own, but those three are the important ones, at least in this story. You see, Joe is more or less a Rogue who’s been playing the sides of all three Clans. Normally he’s got things under control, but when a routine Zombie problem that needs taking care of in his neighborhood turns ugly, the shit starts hitting the fan. First, he’s got Coalition breathing down his neck to make sure he fixes the problem quietly; then he’s got the Society all up in his face because some of the members think he’s a Coalition spy; and finally he’s being pressured by the Enclave to join their clan. To make matters worse, Joe can’t find the Zombie carrier who’s been infecting people; he’s lied to the Coalition which could mean execution — stakes and sunrise style; and he’s been hired to help a rich, powerful & influential human couple find their runaway Goth girl with the wife & husband each having their own agenda. If that’s not enough, someone’s trying to set him up; his precious blood supply has been stolen; a deadly ghost-like Wraith is on the prowl; and Joe’s relationship with his human girlfriend is on the rocks. No, the future does not look at all bright for Mr. Joe Pitt…

So that’s Already Dead for you. It was all that I was hoping for and then some — great characters, a crazy story, kick-ass dialogue, a vivid setting. You have to give the author credit. Opening volumes in a series can be tricky, but Charlie Huston handles it with ease. I mean the book grabs you from the very first page; it does an excellent job of establishing the milieu, Joe’s character, his supporting cast and explaining the different clans, Vampyres, etc., without force-feeding the info to you; and while the story is all wrapped up with a neat little bowtie, it definitely leaves you thirsting for more. All in all, just a fantastic way to kick off the series. —Robert Thompson

No Dominion

It’s been a year since the fallout at the end of Already Dead and Joe’s been taking it easy, staying out of trouble. After all, when the Coalition’s spymaster Dexter Predo and the Society’s head of security Tom Nolan are out for your blood, it’s probably best to keep a low profile. Unfortunately, Joe’s blood stash is running low, jobs have been scarce, and he’s just learned from his HIV-positive girlfriend Evie that her disease has taken a turn for the worse. So he does the only thing he can think of — go back to his old pal Terry Bird, the leader of the Society, and ask for a little help. What he gets is a clandestine mission to find out about some new “high” called Anathema that is specifically for Vampyres. As one might expect if you know anything of noir, what starts out as a simple reconnaissance becomes dangerously complicated as Joe finds himself caught in a brewing turf war between the Hood, Coalition and the Society. In short, No Dominion is basically a novel about “setups and betrayals and backstabbing and power plays…”

Charlie Huston’s second Joe Pitt Casebook was a little different from the first one. For starters, it has a little slower beginning, but once Joe hops on that A train watch out! From there, the book really picks up the tempo as Joe finds himself in the middle of a power struggle between the Hood’s DJ Grave Digga & Papa Doc; then he’s ensnared by the vicious Lady Vandewater who’s working on a devious scheme to incite a war between the clans; which leads back to the Society, a Coalition plot and a coup attempt. Personally, I love this kind of storytelling — all of the tangled threads, red herrings, double crosses and unexpected revelations… Highly entertaining.

I will admit though that the book was a bit light in the action department compared to Already Dead, and that it seemed to spend a lot of time at the end explaining what exactly just happened. I guess it was a little complicated, but still. Aside from all of the political maneuvering, there was actually other stuff going on in No Dominion. One was the subplot with Joe’s girlfriend Evie, which I mentioned earlier. Nothing much really happens in the book regarding this, but I think it’ll be a major issue in the next JOE PITT novel. Of more significance was the actual Vyrus. We get to learn a bit more about it like how it only infects certain “straights” (normal people), and how there might be some truth to the Enclave’s belief that the Vyrus is spiritual in nature. It’s definitely an interesting concept and I can’t wait to see where Charlie Huston goes with it… And that about sums up No Dominion. The book was just as enjoyable as the first JOE PITT novel, if for different reasons, and left a little more hanging than its predecessor, but Charlie Huston once again delivers… —Robert Thompson

Half the Blood of Brooklyn

So far Joe Pitt has had some pretty wild adventures and along the way he’s proven time and again to be one tough SOB. Still, even a tough SOB has a breaking point and in Half the Blood of Brooklyn we get to learn first-hand just what that breaking-point is. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Starting back at the beginning, another year has gone by and during that time Joe has firmly resumed his role as enforcer for Terry Bird and the Society. Life should be good right!? I mean, Joe’s got a steady gig now, which means Clan protection, not having to hunt for his own blood, and an income that he can use to pay for his girlfriend’s treatments. Ah, but this is Joe Pitt we’re talking about here, professional shit-magnet. So trouble’s just a stone’s throw away.

First, the Clans discover that the world’s a much larger place than their little island of Manhattan when Vampyres start crossing the bridge from Brooklyn causing all sorts of political turmoil. Then, an apparent Van Helsing — nickname for a “righteous hunter of the undead” — shows up committing a murder that brings Coalition into the picture. Also back on the scene is the soon-to-be-filthy-rich Horde Bio Tech Incorporated heiress Amanda Horde, her transsexual lover/protector Sela, and their noble idea of developing a cure for the Vyrus.

Which brings us to the most important matter in the book, at least to Joe. You see Evie, Joe’s HIV-positive girlfriend, is failing and the only way to save her is by using the Vyrus. Here’s the dilemma though — not only is it morally wrong to essentially trap Evie in a life that is as vicious and bleak as the one Joe lives, but it’s illegal under penalty of death and not everyone can accept the Vyrus in the first place, and those who reject it, well, they die… horribly. Fortunately for Joe, there’s one Vampyre who can actually tell if a straight will be able to accept the Vyrus or not — Daniel, the leader of the Enclave. Unfortunately, time’s running out for Daniel and before Joe can even ask the question to the answer he so desperately seeks, he’s sent on a mission into the heart of Brooklyn where things really get out of hand, all leading to an explosive finale where no one, not the Brooklyn vampyres, not the Society, not the Enclave, not friends nor straights — no one will stand in Joe’s way as he tries to save the girl he loves… even if it means war…

Charlie Huston’s Joe Pitt Casebooks is one of those rare series that just keeps getting better and better, and Half the Blood of Brooklyn was easily the best so far. I mean, if you think about it, the first two books are mainly establishing what kind of a Vampyre Joe is and his various relationships, laying down the groundwork for the Clans’ political structure, deciphering their opposing philosophies, and just basically realizing Charlie Huston’s unique vampyre mythology. Sure, all of that was usually rooted in some great storytelling, but essentially, it was a lot of worldbuilding.

Half the Blood of Brooklyn is the start of the payoff. The world’s basically been established, so characters are evolving, conflicts are coming to a head, and Joe’s finally making a stand for something he truly believes in… and it’s sadistically magnificent.

Plus, how crazy is Charlie Huston’s imagination? Already he’s doing stuff with the vampire mythos that hasn’t been seen before, and then he goes and introduces the Freaks — a group of Vampyres that put their abilities on display as a circus act — and a clan of Jewish Vampyres who believe themselves descended from the lost Tribe of Gibeah! Bloody brilliant!

A couple of notes though. First, I thought readers would have no problem following what was happening in No Dominion even if they hadn’t read the first JOE PITT novel. That’s not the case here. I highly recommend that you read both Already Dead and No Dominion before starting this one, especially since a lot of characters/subplots — Amanda Horde, The Count, Lydia, Daniel, Evie — from those books play such an important role in Half the Blood of Brooklyn.

And secondly, prepare yourself for a cliffhanger. While the first two books were more or less self-contained stories, Half the Blood of Brooklyn is more of a set-up novel, and thus, leaves you dangling. So yeah, next December can’t come fast enough, but fortunately Half the Blood of Brooklyn Was so mind-blowingly good, I’m still trying to catch my breath! —Robert Thompson

My Dead Body

PLOT SUMMARY: 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? How about 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...

CLASSIFICATION: The Joe Pitt novels are a cross between hard-boiled noir, pulp fiction and horror distinguished by Huston’s razor-sharp dialogue, eclectic characters and over-the-top violence, all presented in a harshly unrestrained manner. Imagine I Am Legend without the apocalypse and co-written by Quentin Tarantino and Raymond Chandler...

FORMAT/INFO: My Dead Body is 336 pages long. Like the previous Joe Pitt novels, there are no chapter breaks, although the book does feature Charlie Huston's own version of a Prologue and Epilogue, plus it also includes maps. Narration is in the first-person, exclusively through the protagonist Joe Pitt. Because Joe provides recaps of events from the previous novels, readers could technically pick up My Dead Body without having read the others first , but I would strongly advise against it if you want to understand the whole picture. My Dead Body is the fifth and final book in the Joe Pitt series — after Already Dead, No Dominion, Half the Blood of Brooklyn and Every Last Drop — and does a bang-up job of tying up loose ends, although another sequel or two wouldn’t be impossible to pull off...

October 13, 2009 marks the North American Trade Paperback publication of My Dead Body via Del Rey. The UK edition will be released on December 3, 2009 by Orbit UK.

ANALYSIS: I love the Joe Pitt novels by Charlie Huston, who quickly became one of my favorite authors of all time ever since reading his book The Shotgun Rule. That said, I was disappointed by the last Joe Pitt novel. While Every Last Drop finally reveals the source of the Coalition’s blood supply — quite the gut-churning revelation — and takes Joe and Evie’s relationship to new levels, not to mention sparking a war between the Clans, the book as a whole felt incomplete. That’s because Every Last Drop was basically a setup novel with no resolutions or payoffs. So my disappointment in the book made me wonder if Charlie Huston could pull off a finale worthy of the series. That answer, unequivocally, is a yes...

Like the other sequels, My Dead Body starts out a year after the events of the previous volume. In this case, Joe has basically turned his back on everything and is barely scrounging out an existence in Manhattan’s underworld. Then one day he receives a visit from porn director Chubby Freeze asking Joe to find his daughter, a human who has not only fallen in love with a Vampyre, but is pregnant with a child that some view as The Uniter. Joe reluctantly agrees, not so much for Chubby, but because Evie asked him to and the very slim hope that his former girlfriend might give him another chance ... if he succeeds that is.

From here, Huston weaves a story that is worthy of being the concluding volume in the Joe Pitt series. It features all of the main players up to this point including Terry Bird, Hurley, Lydia and the Society, Dexter Predo and the Coalition, Amanda Horde, Sela and the Cure Clan, DJ Grave Digga, Percy and the Hood, Evie, the Count and Enclave, and Phil Sax. The plot is wickedly dark, twisted and creative. The body count is high with many of the main players perishing in a manner that is unpredictable, spectacular, or sometimes both. Joe — who has already lost an eye, a toe and has a bad knee — suffers even greater physical abuse. And most of the series’ most pressing questions are answered by the end of the book. Like what is the Vyrus? (The answer is a doozy). Can Amanda come up with a cure? Who or what are Wraiths? Will the Coaliton’s blood supply in Queens be taken care of? Are the Enclave just crazy or was Daniel really right about them and Joe? Which Clan comes out on top? Will the Vampyres announce their presence to the rest of the world? And finally, do Joe & Evie get back together? Throw in monsters that hunt infected as well as humans, a doomsday plague, a zombie revelation and more, and it’s no question that My Dead Body ends the series with a bang...

Negatively, there were a number of confusing narrative breaks that required a reread or three to figure out exactly where Huston was coming from, thus interrupting the flow of the novel, but this was a minor complaint. Conversely, My Dead Body once again reminded me what I loved about the series like the dialogue, specifically the distinctive manner of speaking of certain characters (Amanda, Grave Digga, Hurley, Terry, etc) and their relationship with Joe, which really makes up the foundation on which the series turns. I also love the sense of realism the novels contain, so even though the books are about Vampyres and have featured zombies and Wraiths in the past, there’s a scientific explanation for almost everything that happens.

In the end, My Dead Body firmly dismissed any worries that I had about Charlie Huston concluding the series, with a finale that is stylish, powerful, and unforgiving. Just a brilliant finish to a brilliant series... —Robert Thompson