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Already dead
a Joe Pitt casebook
277 pages
A blood-soaked, hardboiled descent into a nocturnal Manhattan where the undead are just another flavor of organized crime.
What it feels like
This is a gritty, propulsive plunge into the grimy underbelly of a nocturnal Manhattan, blending the cynical edge of classic noir with visceral urban horror. The narrative moves at a breakneck pace, driven by a ticking clock and a protagonist who is as weary as he is tough. Readers are immersed in a claustrophobic, shadow-drenched atmosphere where survival means navigating corrupt factions, violent cults, and the constant, gnawing hunger of a viral curse. The prose is sharp and punchy, delivering hardboiled attitude and dark, sardonic observations without missing a beat. It is a perfect fit for readers who love their mysteries soaked in blood, moral ambiguity, and the relentless, unforgiving energy of a city that never sleeps.
- Mood
- grimy
- nocturnal
- claustrophobic
- menacing
- Tone
- gritty
- cynical
- hardboiled
- sardonic
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- urban alienation · survival at the margins · navigating corrupt systems · the burden of immortality
- The writing
- The prose is sharp, punchy, and soaked in hardboiled noir sensibilities, delivering rapid-fire dialogue and cynical observations.
- The arc
- The protagonist moves from weary, cynical isolation to a desperate, high-stakes scramble for survival against overwhelming odds.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave gritty, fast-paced urban fantasy that blends classic private eye tropes with visceral, blood-soaked horror.
Content notes
- gore
- body horror
- violence
- blood consumption
About the book
Those stories you hear? The ones about things that only come out at night? Things that feed on blood, feed on us? Got news for you: they're true. Only it's not like the movies or old man Stoker's storybook. It's worse. Especially if you happen to be one of them. Just ask Joe Pitt.There's a shambler on the loose. Some fool who got himself infected with a flesh-eating bacteria is lurching around, trying to munch on folks' brains. Joe hates shamblers, but he's still the one who has to deal with them. That's just the kind of life he has. Except afterlife might be better word.From the Battery to the Bronx, and from river to river, Manhattan is crawling with Vampyres. Joe is one of them, and he's not happy about it. Yeah, he gets to be stronger and faster than you, and he's tough as nails and hard to kill. But spending his nights trying to score a pint of blood to feed the Vyrus that's eating at him isn't his idea of a good time. And Joe doesn't make it any easier on himself. Going his own way, refusing to ally with the Clans that run the undead underside of Manhattan--it ain't easy. It's worse once he gets mixed up with the Coalition--the city's most powerful Clan--and finds himself searching for a poor little rich girl who's gone missing in Alphabet City.Now the Coalition and the girl's high-society parents are breathing down his neck, anarchist Vampyres are pushing him around, and a crazy Vampyre cult is stalking him. No time to complain, though. Got to find that girl and kill that shambler before the whip comes down... and before the sun comes up.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Description from Open Library.
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