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My Dead Body is the conclusion to the Joe Pitt casebook series from Charlie Huston. It begins with Joe homeless and living in the sewers of New York. It ends with the majority of the vampire power structure wiped out and Joe riding off into the sunset with his lady love and a doomsday device to ensure that he is not bothered.

Normally, I'm not a big fan of vampire novels and it's even harder to jump in at the end of a series, but thankfully there is just the right amount of exposition that I didn't even suspect I was reading a continuation until I was about half way through and got the impression there was some old history between characters to which I was not privy. 

For some reason I've never really understood the whole "I've become a monster and I hate myself" school of vampire psychology so I was well pleased with the Joe's internal monologue where he hates himself for the fact that he is a despicable person and in no way blames this on his vampiric status. 

Almost all of the characters are like this. Their vampirism is a tool that they use to generate and maintain personal power. They are underground and so their interactions are also underground. They are the mafia and the gangs, organized undead who have no problems killing of those of different ideologies. Somehow violence and anger fit much better than the moping and existential angst that is so common where bloodsuckers are concerned. There is no romance to these vampires, just nihilism. 

Vampires make so much more sense when they understand that they are dead and are just filling the time until their bodies realize it. No seduction, just brutal honesty. It works well. 

John Enzinas reads frequently and passionately. In his spare time he plays with swords.