Vamped

by David Sosnowski

Book Overview

So this vampire walks into a bar...Yes, it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but it's just another night in the never-ending life of Marty Kowalski. With his trademark slogan -- "There's a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743262530
• ISBN13: 9780743262538
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 335 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.6" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Fun with Vampires

Marty is Average Joe Vampire wondering what to do with eternity. He is so bored that he's thinking about ending it all. In his world almost everyone is a vampire. The thrill of the chase has vanished. They sip blood made from stem cells. A living, breathing human is a rarity, a delicacy to savor should one cross your path. Then one night a suicidally depressed Marty stumbles upon little human girl, Isuzu Trooper Cassidy. This gives him a whole new lease on his unlife. He wins her trust planning to keep her for a later meal. What he doesn't foresee is that this feisty child will turn him from a predator into a protector. Eventually Marty comes to think of himself as a single parent who must shield his daughter from the evil clutches of his undead brethren. I loved this book. It's well written and laugh-out-loud funny throughout.

Well I loved it.

I'm not great at writing reviews. I just wanted to type something to say that I recommend this book for anyone who's into the whole vampire thing. I throughly enjoyed this book. I liked how the vampires have taken over and what it would be like in today's world if that happened. It made the 21st century a character unto itself. I read some other reviews here and agree with some of the negative stuff. Which I think could have been fixed if the book was longer. Which it could have been and I would be happy with that cause I was sad when it was over. I hope there is a part 2 in fact, I would love a series on this. All in all (even with the negative things thrown in) I loved this book and can't wait to read his other one, "Rapture".

Irreverant Vampire Fun

The author's witty, fast-paced writing and vampire theme are what originally lured me into this book. It's a book about vampires who have essentially overrun the earth and how a tantilizing snack turns into one vampire's undead dilemma. Fast and fun, with lots amusing contemporary references and word play. Despite the overall humorous take, the book has many dark and meditatively complex overtones which, while at times somewhat disturbing, also made for a really good read. A lot of ground is covered stylistically, from the classic "origins" portions of the main character, to the downright silly descriptions of practical issues in a world become dominated by vampires and the culture that results. Strangely upbeat in places and situations that seem really grim on the surface. A thoroughly amusing book that was oddly heartwarming in a really unexpected, and not-at-all sappy way (which was good, because I loathe sappy). The person who commented that "many intelligent questions" remain unanswered clearly either didn't actually read the book or doesn't have very good retention. His/her example question is thoroughly answered and dealt with in a great many ways which are quite plausible. In fact, the "solutions" to many of these often awkward questions produce most of the novel's tension and suspense! As for the example given, there's no reason to try and "forcibly abduct" the mortal child when you don't know they are there. This ground is amply covered throughout the entire book. An actual reading of the novel might help. Oh, and the anti-Catholic commentary, earlier? Please. If you are offended by this book due to alleged anti-Catholic content, then you must also believe the Church is infallible, no priests ever stray, and that power does not corrupt. I would have thought that vampire material of any kind would be avoided by those sorts of folks, but apparently not. Take that particular critique with a large grain of salt, I say. Unless you consider yourself not only unusually pious but also without much sense of humor about it, you may safely read on. For all those folks, religious or no, who can appreciate the nature of human frailty and the very idea of vampires in the first place, this is a worthwhile and amusing book, however. Overall, a fun but (somewhat necessarily) dark story with surprising twists and humanity in the oddest places.

Great Vampy Fun

This is a really wonderful vampire story where the roles are reversed, the world is full of vampires who drink blood from juiceboxes and vacation in wintery alaska, where the night lasts forever. If you like traditional vampire stories and are ready for a humorous change, then i think you'll like this book. It is a well developed novel with interesting characters and situations. It was an easy read, but a very worthwhile one.

At last, a vampire novel that does something NEW

Successfully treading a fine line between heartfelt and hardboiled, Vamped starts out by throwing so many fascinating ideas at the reader that you'll want to slow down just to take it all in. And it doesn't let up until you reach the last page. Sure, it's all about vampires, but these bloodsuckers aren't the kind you'll find in Anne Rice books. Instead, they're jaw-droppingly ordinary, engaging in nostalgia trips, petty jealousies, tentative friendships-even selfless gallantry. Sosnowski throws in virtually all of the vampire "rules and regulations," but he updates every one of them, making Vamped seem comfortably familiar and impressively innovative at the same time. In this way, he manages to do the impossible: redefine the "vampire genre" without being cute, coy or clever. Sosnowski seems to have a great respect for all the vampire traditions that have come before, but that doesn't mean he has to follow in them. Readers familiar with Sosnowski's previous book, Rapture, will find a great leap forward in terms of style and character. Good as the previous novel was, it often seemed to rely too heavily on its central metaphor (i.e., a virus that causes about a third of the population to sprout wings). Like the angel metaphor in Rapture, the vampire metaphor in Vamped is strong. The thing is: the characters are so well drawn and the situations so realistic, the novel would work well even without the vampire element. This is a book you'll read for pure entertainment the first time through, and you'll probably read it too fast, Sosnowski's style is so engaging. When you go back and read it again, you'll find a completely different book, one that's even better than the one you remember. And in case you're worried that Sosnowski's skimping on the blood and guts to get his points across, don't be. While there's stuff in this novel that you'll probably always remember just for its distressed beauty, there's also stuff you'll probably remember for its forensic detail. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.