Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher MooreChristopher Moore is a hilarious fiction writer. The first novel of his I read, A Dirty Job, had me laughing out loud. Then I picked up Fool, a satirical comedy loosely based on Shakespeare’s King Lear, which I also enjoyed. With the recent release of Bite Me, I was really interested to read the first book in Christopher Moore’s vampire love story, Bloodsucking Fiends .

Jody never asked to become a vampire. But when she wakes up under an alley dumpster with a badly burned arm, an aching back, superhuman strength, and a distinctly Nosferatuan thirst, she realizes the decision has been made for her.

Making the transition from the nine-to-five grind to an eternity of nocturnal prowlings is going to take some doing, however, and that’s where C. Thomas Flood fits in. A would-be Kerouac from Incontinence, Indiana, Tommy (to his friends) is biding his time night-clerking and frozen-turkey bowling in a San Francisco Safeway. But all that changes when a beautiful undead redhead walks through the door…and proceeds to rock Tommy’s life — and afterlife — in ways he never thought possible.

Having loved both A Dirty Job and Fool, I was a little disappointed by Bloodsucking Fiends. It wasn’t just the fact that it needed another proofread (I found some simple errors such as ‘too’ vs. ‘to’ and missing ‘a‘s and ‘the‘s). I think the problem I had was the narrative. In both A Dirty Job and Fool, it is narrated by one character, where Bloodsucking Fiends jumps around as a third-person omniscient narrator.

That being said, I still really enjoyed the story. It was a bit of action, a bit mystery, a little love story (although far-fetched), and humourous. I didn’t laugh out loud, but there were a couple good smirks and a few bits I shared with others. I think the difference between Bloodsucking Fiends‘ humour and Fool‘s or A Dirty Job‘s humour is that the characters in Bloodsucking Fiends were less exaggerated but still out-of-the-ordinary.

Looking at Christopher Moore’s biography, it appears that Bloodsucking Fiends was only his third novel (1995), whereas I’d previously read two of his more recent releases (A Dirty Job was from 2006 and Fool in 2009). Obviously Christopher Moore is improving! I’m looking forward to reading You Suck: A Love Story , the second book in the vampire love story… and then Bite Me, the third and latest book.