A Pleasant Surprise

I bought this audiobook looking for something different. Before starting the book, I scanned through the most recent reviews, which were unflattering, so I began listening with diminished expectations.

I was surpised at how much I liked this book right from the beginning. I know some that some reviewers didn't care at all for the narrator, but I thought Scott Brick did an excellent job. His voice is very distinct, and colors the text, so I can understand how some listeners might disagree with me.

I will definitely be reading the next installment in this series.

17 people found this helpful

A suprisingly good novel

Read a lot of disappointing Vampire novels lately? Me too.. This was received well by critics so I gave the story a shot, and it was Good!! Ok, so the cover art is ugly and not much to look at - but like they say "dont' judge a book by its cover".

It's a gritty story with Noir pop style and a certain masculine flair. This is a far cry from the bodice ripper, fantasy sex, Vampire Stories with lame action and dialogue that grates on the ear. I haven't had this much fun in a different way of looking at supernatural creatures since George R.R. Martin's Lycanthrope story "Skin Trade"

As an added bonus the producer of this audio book got a solid, talented narrator who you've probably heard a lot of. Fire up the sample listen. If you've been listening a long time to novels, you'll recognize him.

So listen up and give it a try - with any luck you'll like it as much as I did. If we're luckier, someday maybe the author will write a few more like this.

18 people found this helpful

A surprisingly wonderful discovery

I downloaded Already Dead on a whim and I was happily surprised. Charlie Huston has authored a novel which mixes film noir with elements of the supernatural and combined both in the character of Joe Pitt. Pitt is a sympathetic character in the sense that he struggles with "everyday" trials and tribulations as do we all. He must deal with work politics, put food on the table, and handle an adult relationship. And yet, into each of these aspects Huston has woven elements beyond the everyday. Moreover, the narrator has perfectly captured the spirit, not only of Pitt, but of the supporting cast as well. Bravo to the author and to the narrator. I have already downloaded the second novel, and eagerly await the third.

10 people found this helpful

Not just for vampirophiles

Fun listen - I found it an updated "hardboiled" detective noir that HAPPENS to be set in a vampire context.
The story is well constructed, the characters are interesting, the protagonist is vulnerable and while the exploration of the vampiric dynamics and culture is fresh and interesting, the story doesn't rest on vamp mystique to interest the reader


You don't have to wear a lot of crushed velvet to enjoy this one! :D

10 people found this helpful

The BEST vampire book/series ever written!

Would you listen to Already Dead again? Why?

I have listened to this book (and the other 4 in the series) 4 different times in the past several years. If I don't have anything else interesting to listen to or am between audiobooks, Joe Pitt is my "go-to".

What other book might you compare Already Dead to and why?

No other book (vampire or non-vampire) captures the grittiness and toughness of Joe Pitt. Only "Marv" (the role played by Mickey Rouke) of the Sin City movie comes close to protraying the "badassedness" and the mindset of Joe Pitt.

Any additional comments?

Scott Brick's performance is absolutely perfect. There is no other audio performance/narration that compares to this "Movie of the Mind" experience. The first 28 mins of the the last book ("My Dead Body") is, without a doubt, THE BEST AUDIO PERFORMANCE ON AUDIBLE. This series made me a life-long fan of both Charlie Huston and Scott Brick.

4 people found this helpful

I am glad I took the chance!

After reading several reviews, I decided to purchase this audiobook. I didn't want to turn the story off to go to sleep, nor turn it off to go to work! I was hooked! This book is gritty, and if you are offended by swear words or sometimes gruesome details, this book may not be one that you want to pick. However, I am quite satisfied with my purchase, and have purchased the second book in the series, No Dominion. This book is a classic "whodunnit" and you are lead along with the main character through the plot twists. This story had me emotionally involved. I had almost given up on the vampire genre, the books all seemed to rehash to same plot. I was very pleasantly suprised, especially since the narrator is by no means my favorite, although I do admit he does this book justice. I can't wait to see how the main characters develop in the second story! Purchase this one, you will enjoy!

13 people found this helpful

Good, Clever Fun

Any additional comments?

It’s a lot harder to do this than it looks. I know, all too well, because I’ve been working on something in the same vein. (And “vein” isn’t a pun, though it could be.)

Huston’s basic plan here is to marry the hardboiled novel to the vampire story. His hero, Joe Pitt, is a vampire who, true to the Chandler/Hammett code, insists on working alone in a quasi-existential bid to figure out what it all means. In other words, his case(s) turn out to be as much about self-discovery as about their more proximate causes.

And it works. It works pretty well.

Being a vampire (vampyre) means that Pitt is changed from what he was when he was human. He isn’t sure what fulfillment might look like. He balances his girlfriend – who, as someone HIV-positive, refuses to sleep with him – with his uncertain place in the pecking order of the New York vampire world. He takes cases no one else can manage because, precarious and alone as he may be, no one else in this world is as self-possessed, as legitimately his own person.

The story itself is solid. Pitt comes up against the agendas of several different people, and it isn’t clear until the end who’s responsible for what. It’s professional work, entertaining and engaging, and, as I say, I’ve tried my hand at something similar.

Things fall down a little when too much of the story turns on the particulars of what it means to be a vampire, things like how the virus affects its host and how driven particular vampires are to the different clans and gangs, to the politics of the vampyre world. But, from what I can tell, Huston builds on all of that as part of the ongoing series. He’s planting the seeds of a more complex world where each decision here has implications for future novels. So, if it feels a touch too pat here, I can forgive it.

I also can’t help contrasting this with Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden books. Where those are clunky and cliché-ridden, with a protagonist in love with his idiosyncrasies, this is someone who approaches a real character – at least as real as a vampire private detective can get.

In the end (or in the beginning if you prefer) it’s a stretch to make this work, but Huston does. I’m not quite in a hurry to read what’s next, but it’s on the list. This is quality pulp fiction, and I’m taking notes on how Huston pulls it off.

3 people found this helpful

Finally a Non Girly Vampire Story!

So many of the Vampire stories out there are romantic trash. For the non romanticist this story delivers. Lot's of action and a plausible Vampire world.

Scott Brick (Narrator) does an especially good job of narrating this story.

I couldn't put it down and found it unpredictable and engrossing.

10 people found this helpful

Sympathy for the Vampire

Joe Pitt is a reluctant vampire. Since he's been infected with a virus which forces him to feed on human blood and stay out of the sun, he's had to work hard at retaining his independent status in a New York filled with vampires belonging to different clans. The Coalition is especially powerful, and lets him remain a free agent as long as he does freelance jobs for them. His latest mission is to clean up the scene of a zombie killing spree and find a rogue agent who's been infecting victims with the zombie bacteria. He must also find a fourteen year old goth girl who's taken to camping out in the streets. She's the daughter of a powerful and shady business man, and Joe's not at all sure that returning her to her dysfunctional parents will make her any safer from what she's likely to encounter in the urban jungle of New York City.

I've never been that keen on vampires and zombies, though did enjoy Anne Rice in the 90s, but the unlimited variations on these themes since then have mostly left me cold. Charlie Huston's take seems original though; there's a decidedly noirish twist to this tale which separates it from most of the teen vampire fiction. The copious and astoundingly sickening violence is not for the faint of heart. I have a high tolerance for such things in the right kind of context, and there were several times when my boundaries were stretched to the outer limits. But I've met plenty of guys like Joe Pitt in my former life as and out-and-about creature of the night. He's bad, there's no doubt about it, but he's a good kind of bad, and I have sympathy for his cause. I'll be back for more.

2 people found this helpful

Simplistic genius

Charlie Huston has done something special here with his first Joe Pitt novel. He has created a new format for a tired story (vampires) and has made literary history with his simplistic approach to writing such a complex tale. It is a violent story, not for the faint of heart, but well worth listening to. This audiobook was my first experience with Huston, and hopefully all of his books will be on audio someday. Until then I can just re-listen to the Joe Pitt series and read his Hank Thompson trilogy on my nook. We need more Huston though, so Charlie, if you are reading this... knock it off and get writing.

2 people found this helpful