Half the Blood of Brooklyn
Charlie Huston
Del Rey, Jan 2007, $13.95, 246 pp.
ISBN: 9780345495877
Vampyre P.I. Joe Pitt is no longer a Rogue but is an Enforcer for the Society, a clan that carved out a piece of Manhattan belonging to the Coalition. The two clans have an uneasy truce, one that can be broken by the smallest misdeed. Joe isn’t interested in vampire politics but in his girlfriend Evie who is dying from AIDS. However, it is just a matter of time before war breaks out and the Manhattan clans are trying to get allies from the outer boroughs.
Terry, the leader of the Society is turned down by the Docks for an alliance and he retaliates even though he knows he will make an enemy of that clan. Joe is sent to look at a death caused by what looks like Van Helsing and the sad part is that the victim was not a vampire but a businessman who sold blood to the vamps. Another clan wants to negotiate but this time when Joe drives to Brooklyn, he is taking a hostage so that the negotiator will be brought back when talks are finished with Terry. It sounds like a simple plan but Joe becomes involved in a clan war and the end result is losing everything that matters to him.
This dark supernatural urban noir shows a brutal vampire society that is hidden amidst humans yet are predators who think of humans as prey. Manhattan is the perfect place for this storyline to take place because it is full of predators only in Charlie Huston’s world they are of the supernatural kind.. Most are out for themselves and want power and territory. Joe is no choir boy but a predator who has one soft spot, his dying Evie. Clan warfare is comparable to the mafia wars.
Harriet Klausner
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