Fat White Vampire Blues
by Andrew Fox
(Ballantine, $13.95, 334 pages, trade paperback; published in July
2003.)
Fat White Vampire Blues, Andrew Fox's first novel, is a relentlessly
entertaining romp through New Orleans's supernatural underworld.
It's the best vampire comedy since Christopher Moore's sardonic ode
to San Francisco, the classic Bloodsucking Fiends.
In each novel, the city itself is so lovingly and vividly portrayed
that it becomes a character. Fox's New Orleans admirably strays from
cliché and rings with authenticity; it's inhabited by beautifully
eccentric weirdos from all walks of life.
Fox, like Moore, cleverly lampoons vampire lore while taking it seriously
enough to concoct a convincing and thrilling read. And both authors
are merciless satirists. Fox's book, though, is entirely its own in
terms of plot and characters.
Jules Duchon is a 450-pound cabdriver who harbours two secrets: he's
an ex-superhero and a vampire. Jules is addicted to the fat-rich blood
of New Orleans residents; he especially loves the blood of overweight
black women and gets an erotic thrill watching them eat before he feeds
on them. For years, he never questioned his actions.
But then the upstart vampire Malice X threatens to run him out of town
if he continues to feed on black victims. And then New Orleans's underclass,
including many of Jules's friends, rally to mourn the tragic murder
of a well-loved homeless woman -- a victim of Jules's. For help and
guidance, the confused and besieged Jules must turn to his estranged
lover Maureen, the vampire stripper who turned him, and his former superhero
sidekick, Doodlebug.
The result is a surprisingly inventive, moving, and complex tale that
never fails to elicit a smile, even at its most brutal or at its most
tender. And it has a killer ending -- the kind of powerful final punch
that elevates a novel another notch or two.
Originally published, in slightly different form, in
The Montreal Gazette, Saturday, 9 August 2003.
Claude Lalumière's Fantastic Fiction
is a series of
capsule reviews first published in the Saturday Books
section of The Montreal Gazette.
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