Product Description
Joe Pitt’s life sucks. He hasn’t had a case or a job in God knows how long and his stashes are running on empty. What stashes? The only ones that count to a guy like Joe: blood and money. The money he uses to buy blood; the blood he drinks. Hey, buddy, it’s that or your neck–you want to choose? The only way to lay his hands on both is to take a gig with the local Vampyre Clan. See, something new is on the streets, a new high, a high so strong it can send a Vampyre spazzing through Joe’s local watering hole. Till Joe sends him through a plate-glass window, that is.
So it’s time for Joe to gut up and swallow that pride and follow the leads wherever they go. It won’t be long before he’s sla… More >>
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I so enjoyed this book. I read it in one sitting. You really need to read the first book, IMHO to be really able to follow the sory line. It is worth reading the first book, tho. What a great story. This is not my usual type of vamp reading. But, I sorta stumbled onto it and I am so glad I did. Joe Pitt is a hard guy and this is not easiest book to read if you want things that are not bloody or dark. But, if you like somehing different in the vamp genre, this series is for you. These are on my keeper shelf.
Rating: 5 / 5
The Joe Pitt series, for those unfamiliar, is a modern reworking of the vampire novel. Huston’s “vampyres” are victims of a “vyrus”, an infection that gives them an irresistible craving for blood, while at the same time cleansing the blood of all impurities, preventing them from aging, healing non-fatal injuries and illnesses, and giving them a heightened sense of smell and greater strength. Unlike traditional supernatural vampires, Huston’s vampyres are fang-free, can eat garlic (if so inclined), see themselves in mirrors, and surround themselves with as many holy crosses as they like. But they must consume human blood to survive and are extremely sensitive to light (in an `accelerated skin cancer’ kind of way).
Joe Pitt is a rouge vampyre who refuses to join one of the competing clans that control the vampyre world in Manhattan. He is a free agent of sorts who is hired from time to time by the clans to solve problems. In No Dominion, Joe is strapped for cash, low on blood, and looking for work, when he is given a covert assignment by the leader of his former Clan “The Society”. The assignment involves finding the source of a dangerous new drug that is becoming popular with some of the vampyres.
This is the second novel in the series. The first novel, Already Dead was great, but No Dominion is even better. Where Already Dead did a great job of reimagining both the vampire legend and the hard-boiled detective novel, No Dominion adds an additional level, infusing elements of the spy novel.
Like a spy novel, not everything in No Dominion is as it seems. The power brokers of the big Clans have hidden motives. Joe’s strings are being pulled and every move that is made is followed by a countermove.
This novel isn’t for everyone. Huston sets his novels in the seamy underbelly of New York. There is sex, violence, drug-abuse, and worse on these city streets. The violence in the novel is gruesome and ruthless (not in an overblown sadistic serial killer kind of way though – more of the bone crunching violence of a street-fight). At one point in the novel Pitt interrupts a woman who is holding him captive mid-sentence by biting her eye out. There is also a scene that involves dog fighting that some people will find disturbing.
Huston’s lean prose is edgy, darlkly funny, irreverent, and uncompromisingly brutal. The world the author creates is complete and brilliantly imagined. Joe is the perfect anti-hero. I especially like that Huston hasn’t `soften up his edges’ in an effort to make Joe more likeable. If Joe has to kill a few innocent people, sometimes that’s necessary. He makes no apologies for doing what needs to be done.
The bottom line: I haven’t flat-out enjoyed a novel this much since…well….since I read Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell. No Dominion is an absolute blast to read – provided you like fiction that is smart, lean, darkly funny, and brutally violent.
Rating: 5 / 5
I love these books! Charlie Huston is one great writer! His writing just rocks — the beat of the verse, the use of NO quotation marks, the dialogues, all makes for good reading. The plot and story line pick up right where they left off in the first book of this series, ALREADY DEAD.
Joe Pitt, no-nonesense, street-smart, wise-guy, smart-aleck, detective, and yes, Vampyre, is back. And he is bad. Down on his luck, low on cash, low on his blood supply, Joe has no choice but to look for work from his former boss, Terry, which is exactly what Joe DOES NOT want to do.
It is the clash of the vampire clans — we meet all types of new clans and new characters, all looking for ways to rule and to get Joe out of their faces. The character names are great — from DJ Grave Digga, who is the head of the all black clan called the Hood, to Count Chocula, a rich, spoiled bratty kid, the names are great and so are the characters.
The plot — Joe is hired to find out who is the source of a drug that is messing up vampires. This new drug can be an awesome high or can kill you. Like the sun can kill you or the virus can kill you if you are not careful. What happens with Joe trying to find this source will keep you flipping pages late into the night.
This book does not disappoint. It is action packed, funny, witty, full of surprises, and hope. Hope for Joe Pitt, who you will constantly be rooting for. Hope for the love of his life, the HIV-infected Evie. How Joe’s blood could cure her from HIV but bring her into another blood-infected diseased hell, that of becoming a Vampyre.
This is good. If you haven’t read ALREADY DEAD, please do read it before you read NO DOMINION. And then read the Henry Thompson trilogy — Caught Stealing, Six Bad Things, A Dangerous Man.
Mr. Huston has class and a nasty, biting way with words that adds up to entertainment and success. I know there will be future Joe Pitt books; how could there not be? Because we all know that the sun will come up tomorrow — too bad Joe Pitt can’t enjoy.
YOU enjoy — read this wonderful, fun book! Also, between books, check out Charlie Huston’s website. It’s really good! Thanks again, Mr. Huston!!
Thank you!
Pam
Rating: 5 / 5
Love this book – Love all Charlie’s Books!! Read , Read, Read!!
Rating: 5 / 5
An excellent read, adds much texture to the world of the Joe Pitt. Can not wait to see more from this writer.
Rating: 5 / 5