I loved this 2nd book of the Pitt series even more than the first -- perhaps I feel so saturated by Joe's world now, that I can happily sit back and just enjoy the voice more fully. Because that is really what gets me: the great, great voice Huston's got going on Joe. So funny, so sad, so harshly real...and just slow enough that you only know what's up when Huston wants you to know.

I don't usually enjoy crime fiction and I don't usually go for things this violent, but for Joe I make a big exception and revel in it! I used to have a big soft-spot for hardboiled noir films, maybe that's where this is coming from.

A friend who rec'd these books just asked me if it wasn't too dark for me. No, darkness is never a problem, unto itself. Usually, it makes things...more interesting...

I've read the first two books in this series by Charlie Huston: "Already Dead" and "No Dominion", and found them both enjoyable reads -- enough so that I'm continuing with the series.

This is not the first noirvampire fiction I've read; P.N. Elrod's “Vampire Files” series (which begins with “Bloodlist”) is an excellent read as well. I’d rate Huston’s “Joe Pitt” series a little below that, but still quite good, and feel that readers of Elrod’s books would like Huston’s series too.

I like the “Joe Pitt” series for many of the same reasons I liked the “Vampire Files”: the humor, the stark realities the heroes dealt with, the grittiness of the worlds they are in and the efforts both men took to enjoy what those worlds held for them. Both have their not-so-pleasant sides (that they try to keep in check) and both of them have their softer sides (in which threats against those they value bring out every ounce of violence they possess. The lesson here – do NOT motivate a vampire!). They both pay attention to the morality of their actions, even when it isn’t in their best interests. They both are curious as cats, and won’t stop until they get to the bottom (the real bottom) of whatever it is they’re looking into.

So yes, I’d say give the “Joe Pitt” series a try, whether you like noir fiction and couldn't care less about the vampire part, or whether you like vampires and haven’t tried noir fiction before. Huston made it a very good blend.

Go. Read. Enjoy!

Joe Pitt, low on cash and blood, reluctantly takes on a job with Terry Bird, leader of the Hippie Dippy Society Clan. He has to find the source of a "drug" used by the new fish. A drug that is making them crazy. This search will take Joe across turf he does not belong on and could get him killed. Vampire clans are very territorial. And Joe won't join a clan, too many rules. But Joe has a few of his own. Don't tell his girlfriend Evie that he is a vampire. Evie is human with HIV and it is getting worst. Joe could infect her with his vyrus and cure her but he does not want to do that. He does not want to lose her. Evie is the only person alive who cares about Joe.

It is not long before Pitt realizes he is being pimped for a bigger purpose. But who is pulling the strings and why is another question. But he is being played like a Strad. Fantastic dialog between characters as always. Wonderfully dark and gritty.

The novel was enjoyable and moved along at a good pace. I am not going to begin to try to explain the plot because it is too convoluted. The basic premise is that a new drug of infected vampire blood is in town and Joe Pitt has to figure out who is supplying it. The full plot gets pretty complicated with this person trying to manipulate that person and so on. Frankly, it was much too contrived, and the end job that our protagonist takes annoyed me. Also, I was turned off by Joe's lying to his girlfriend and it made me dislike him a bit.

I read the first in the series, Already Dead, a while back. I read the sample for this and got the book from the library, made it maybe 60% of the way in, lost interest, then the library took it back. It’s a solid vampire noir story (gangs and blackjacks, no capes or glitter) so I blame me not the book.

Vampire PI is such a cool concept for a series, but this novel is more concerned with exploring its fantasy world and vampire mythos than giving a bloody spin to the PI novel. And where it does try to explore its hardboiled roots, it often confuses "obnoxiously obstinate" with "snappy tough-guy patter."

I gave the first Joe Pitt book three stars, to be honest with myself because I got so damn fed up with Charlie Huston's apparent inability to use speech marks. It is irritating, the books are tightly plotted enough to prove he's clever, so failing to use punctuation, presumably to be cool, is just annoying.

That having been said, I was probably unfair, the books are cool, noir to the point of inky black, did I metion cool in the extreme? With a heart, albeit one that beats to a dead man's metronome.

With the second book I'll admit I began to get over my annoyance with the punctuation and really enjoyed the ride, close to a five stars, but my prejudice just hangs on enough to flick it back to four, nevertheless, I'll be seeking out the next one and seeing if I can be further convinced.

The second entry is Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt series, in which the Joe Pitt is a Rogue vampire living on the Lower East Side who serves as a investigator, enforcer, etc. for the local clan of vampires. Though a distinct minority in present-day Manhattan, the action takes place primarily within the various subcultures of vampire clans who have staked claims in various parts of the city.

It's an imaginative reworking of the various vampire myths within the hard-boiled crime genre and the writing is pretty good, but it's still just empty calories, so to speak. However, after reading Savage Continent, I wasn't in the mood for anything thought provoking right away.

Joe Pitts has it rough; he keeps secrets from his girlfriend, has enemies he can't explain to her, can't have sex with her. Of course, SHE has it rough too: she's HIV positive. What she doesn't know s that he has the Vyrus, which is worse than HIV-- it makes him a Vampyre.

He's also an occasional PI and general all-around "fix-it" guy. But he hasn't had a job in a while and his "stash" is getting low. He NEEDS a job.

In this second book of the series, there's a new drug going around. For Vampyres only. Drugs don't get Vampyres high, at least not for long because the Vyrus keeps all toxins cleansed out of their blood. But, once a junkie, always a junkie, and this new drug WORKS.

The Society, one of the NYC Vampyre collectives, doesn't like the drug, as it would expose their existence to the world at large.

So, Joe Pitt gets a job after all. Which means his stash of blood will become more in the comfortable zone, if the job works according to plan.

Which, of course, it doesn't...

“Crossing the street, trotting between the cars so I don’t have to stand on the corner and wait for the light to change, I remember something. I remember being a sixteen-year-old runaway, how I spent that summer, every day in Tompkins Square. I remember sprawling drunk and shirtless on the brown grass and waking, my skin so deeply burned it radiated heat. The girl I was with that night, holding her hand an inch from my stomach, warming her fingers. I poured ice-cold beer over my chest. For days the skin flaked and peeled. I picked at it, teasing off leafs of it and burning holes in them with the tip of my cigarette to gross out my friends with the smell. When the burned skin was dead and gone, I was browner than the grass in the park. That winter I was infected.”

Book 2 of Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt books was an excellent read with one caveat. You have to have read the first book, Already Dead, otherwise the players and intrigue make little to no sense. If you HAVE read Already Dead, then this is a must read. The hard nosed Joe Pitt continues to have troubles with the Society, the Coalition and now the boys up above 110th as well. We learn a little more about everything and everyone as well as the political dynamics of the vampire clans of NY. I am enamored of Charlie Huston's first person writing style. It almost flows chain of thought and makes it really easy to get into the story. The author is also very bold and already in the second book is taking out major players and shaking up the very structure of the world he has created. The characters are evolving and it makes for a very dynamic and 'living' world. Many authors find something that works and are afraid to change the status quo. That is definitely not the case here. If you like vampires, crime, or noir then this is definitely a series for you.

Typical of the Joe Pitt series. A good, indulgent, fast read about a 'fictonal' NYC where the vampire underground is making trouble for itself again. If you are into vampire noir/manhattancentric books, you'll enjoy this. The prose is tight, the characters just believable enough. The references to very real bars and shops in and around downtown nyc make it especially enjoyable if you get the references. i can't wait for the next one: Half the Blood in Brooklyn. I can't wait to see what holes Pitt ends up in that i've been in also. This book is perfect for a plane ride or a long bus ride.