I've been rereading the Joe Pitt Casebooks. These are a series of 5 books released in about as many years by Charlie Huston, this being the second of them and upon recollection was the best of the series.

That's not to say the books that followed were bad, I found them highly enjoyable, brisk, fast reads, in the noir tradition, with the one speculative fiction twist being that Joe is a vampire in a world and city (NYC) where vampires do exist.

I want to repeat something I said in my first review and say I'm neither specifically a fan of noir or vampire fiction in general but this combo worked really well for me. Not only are all of these novels fairly short but Huston's writing is direct, but not in the sense of being mechanical or without style, they definitely have their own flavor but in the sense of things happen, Joe Pitt gets things done, and this novel adds some new characters and is more Pitt investigating a vampire situation in the midst of different clans, turfs, and personal relationships.

Huston is chiefly a crime writer, with strong pulp sensibilities, and the novel is written in that way with the added element of horror or fantasy of the vampires in a honed voice, not someone who is still trying to find one.

I'd also add, there is sneaky worldbuidling here. Usually when we discuss worldbuilding we are talking about fantasy or science fiction and it's usually a bunch of places on a map that each have a singular characteristic and we call it world building. This takes place in New York City, which on its own is a world of its own, sprawling, with life built on top of each other as it is. It's a spectacular diverse mecha of culture w/o the various supernatural gangs, organizations, operators, a living and at times running it within.

If I ever get reincarnated as a fictional character, I do not want to end up in a Charlie Huston novel. Joe Pitt is a good example. In this second installment of the Joe Pitt Casebook, much like the first, Joe goes to a New York hell and back; gets beat up, burned up, tortured, passed around evil vampire clans like a ping pong ball and, unlike any other private investigator, still never gets to have sex with his girl. Joe is a vampire too and rather low on the social register. Yet what makes Joe Pitt so much fun is that he knows it. He's a survivor and we root for him to survive. The ultimate underdog. Throw in a dark and seedy New York loaded with vampires with agendas and double-crosses (not that kind of cross) and you might discover why this is my favorite adult series second only to Joe R. Lansdale's Hap and Leonard, another pair of underdogs. Not much else to say but on to book 3.

There's a new addictive drug in town that only affects vampires. It shouldn't be possible, but Pitt sees the effects himself.
So he goes on a hunt for where it's coming from and who's responsible. The Coalition is already after him so what are a few more enemies?
A good enough story, but I don't think I will be continuing

This was really something. Joe is one cool sob.

This is the 2nd book of the series Joe Pitt. It was still dark, noir, with action and engaging. I liked the plot. It was fast paced and not stretchd. I enjoyed it. I can recommendiy. Can't wait to read the 3rd book.

Liked this a lot! Joe goes to the Hood, the gang I felt was least developed in the first book. The gangsters in the hood are hip hop vampires. It's hard to do this delicately, so the book kinda just digs in. It's clearly written by a white dude who likes hip hop, but the goofy African-American vernacular is coming out of the mouth of a super-vampire named Grave Digga.

This second book was, in my opinion, a better detective story than the first novel was, which felt like more of a horror novel in retrospect (there were zombies; wraiths). The main mystery Joe's tasked with figuring out is, who's pushing Anathema, the addictive heroin-esque blood onto vampires around the city. I thought the book had a cool noir ending, that sets up the third book to be significantly different (almost done with it--it's v. different).

Already Dead was Big Sleep with vampires; No Dominion is Hammet's Red Harvest, or maybe Polanski's Chinatown with vampires. Already reading #3 and it's insane I love it.

A new take in crime fiction.

I can't tell if this book is a 5 star, that includes topics I just don't get or don't like, or if it's a 4 star that has a couple of finer points than don't jive with me. Guess I'll keep trying to figure it out as I read more of the series. Regardless, of which it is, I devoured this book, so my sensibilities aside, it is well worth reading.

This is the second book in the Joe Pitt series following n  Already Dead n (my review). It remains a dark, engaging and gritty, noir detective/urban fantasy mashup. The major players, their relationship to each other and Pitt are defined. I think you can start to see the light at the end of the story-arc tunnel for this five-book series from here.

Note this book was a rather thin 275-pages. The author’s writing-style is rather terse. In addition, not a lot of prose is dedicated to backstory—its best to read the series’ books in sequence.

Prose is no different from the first book. The author is writing in the noir/hardboiled style of Hammett and Chandler, with Hammett winning-out. The Pitt protagonist’s POV is used throughout. Pitt is laconic in dialog and internal monologue. While I like the story’s dialog, for some reason the American, Black lingua franca that makes-up a good part of the story felt like it was written by a white guy. Descriptive prose was not as lovingly crafted as in the first book, which amounted to description porn, but I get it—I’ve been down those mean streets with Joe already. Action sequences are well done. As before the story can be wryly funny, if you have a macabre sense of humor.

This story includes very little sex, vampiric drug usage, and ultra-violence. Pitt makes a point of declining all offers of sex. Drug use and abuse is more muted than in the previous story. That includes alcohol. However, drug usage amongst vampires is a major plot element. There is graphic violence. Physical, edged-weapons, and firearms violence appear in some detail. Body count is moderately high. Note that violence against animals is included. I wouldn’t call this a YA read, particularly if you’re the least bit squeamish.

The main characters include: Pitt, Evie (no last name), Terry Bird, Daniel (no last name), DJ Grave Digga and Mrs. Vandewater. Pitt, Evie, Bird, and Daniel are carried over from the first book. They receive no real development. Grave Digga is the leader of the Harlem vampires in northern Manhattan. They’re the vampires-of-colour. They’re aptly called “The Hood”. Mrs. Vandewater is a Coalition vampire chieftain and a rival of Pitt’s Coalition nemesis Predo. She’s the nominal antagonist.

The territoriality of vampires plays an important part in the series. It’s further developed in this story. Manhattan vampire politics consume a large part of this story’s narrative.

Also important in the story is that very few vampires continue to live to a ripe-old age after being converted. (“New-fish” die young.) Bird, Daniel, Vandewater and Predo are old vampires. They're playing a very long-game. Pitt having died 30-years ago is a young buck, although he’s learning fast. Grave Digga is likewise young. The tension between the young and the old vampires as well as the black and the white is an important plot point in the story.

Plotting is good, although the double-cross at the end was predictable. In addition for such a slim book, the plot stays in low-gear for longer than I'd have wished. In a nutshell, an addictive heroin-like drug is introduced to the younger vampire population. Vampires can’t get high, but with this drug—they can. Bird sends Pitt out to look for the source of this “destabilizing” influence, which leads him into The Hood. Yet another Coalition conspiracy is found. (Coalition conspiracies are the bread ‘n butter of the series.) There is a moderately long expositional reveal at the end that could have easily been trimmed.

The NYC geography lesson is an edu-tainment plus with this series. World building was good, although with this book its mostly uptown geography. The story begins and ends in Pitt’s stomping grounds of the East Village. I ❤ NY.

This story did not leave me as excited as the first—it’s more of the same. Like its predecessor, it’s dark, gritty, but also not-too-deep. Unlike its predecessor, I didn’t find the story to be as funny. This story is about gaining momentum for the story arc. However, I liked it. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the n  Half the Blood of Brooklynn.

It's okay.

Joe Pitt returns for his second adventure, and author Huston continues to build his hard-boiled Manhattan vampire mythos. This time Joe is on the hunt for the origins of a volatile drug derived from the vampire Vyrus and the trail points uptown to Harlem. As a rogue who refuses to ally with any of the battling vampire clans, Joe runs the gauntlet as he crosses town on the A train.

Huston does a great job of continuing to develop the antagonisms and history between the clans he introduced in the first novel while introducing some truly creepy new groups, particularly the white Coalition enclave located around Morningside Heights near Columbia.

Joe Pitt is a marvelously ornery lead, a fixer who can't fix himself, who can't stop himself from yanking the chain of dangerous people if he doesn't like them. His relationship with HIV positive but not Vyrus-infected girlfriend Evie is in trouble in this book too. And the reader is left wondering how long he can go without explaining his nature to her. A great series so far. On to Half the Blood in Brooklyn.

These are ok.

This entry follows Joe, unaffiliated with any of the vampire clans (a rogue) tracking down a drug that seems to have the ability to get vampires high, where nothing else will.


Problematic language aside, the stories are fun, the characters can be very deep, and the plots can be clever without having to think too much about deeper meaning.