The Lesser Dead

Starred review from August 11, 2014
Buehlman (The Necromancer’s House) offers up a colony of fierce, brazenly unscrupulous vampires who reclaim the genre from angsty goths and return it to its fearsome and ferocious origins. Joey Peacock, the caustic, pragmatic, perennially horny 14-year-old at the heart of the story, drawls a recap of the 45 years since his parents’ maid, Margaret, turned him into a vampire. Then he settles into the vibrantly depicted year of 1978, in which an astoundingly creepy cadre of children threaten his vampire colony in the subterranean warrens of New York City’s subway system. The pretty little baby vamps are vicious and very hungry, so things take a spectacularly nasty turn before the adventures in undead babysitting begin to wear. The sharply witty tone and graphic style mine the darker facets of vampirism, while Joey’s complex relationship with Margaret, and the poignant, prickly camaraderie he shares with Cvetko, an older vampire, add heft and humanity to Buehlman’s distinctive, twisty entry into a crowded genre.

September 15, 2014

Turned at the age of 14, vampire Joey Peacock uses his innocent looks to ensnare victims in 1978 New York City. He is part of an underground community of the undead who are roused to action when a new set of players enters their territory in the form of child vampires. They laugh and play and want Joey to join them, but these young people are dangerous to both humans and vampires alike. Although it isn't clear why this novel is set in 1978, the details of a dirtier, graffiti-splattered New York are vivid--we even get a visit to Studio 54! VERDICT Buehlman (Those Across the River; The Necromancer's House) is in general a lovely stylist and probably intends his direct addresses to the reader (such as many "more on that later" interruptions) to be conversational; they are instead distracting. But once the action accelerates as the tunnel dwellers must decide what to do about their dangerous child rivals, readers won't be able to put the book down.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2014
Buehlman (Those across the River, 2011, and The Necromancer's House, 2013) entertains readers with another foray into the supernatural in this fast-paced vampire tale bursting with bloody violence and colorful characters. Joey Peacock tells his story of being a young, virile vampire in 1978 New York City. It's a pretty fine gig: he easily charms humans for feeding, has some posh digs in subway stations, and he understands his place under the colony leader Margaret McMannis, the vampire who turned him. He even has a friend in romantic, old-school Cvetko, who writes his potential victims affectionate letters and chastises Peacock for watching too much television. Things go awry when Peacock discovers a group of feral, insatiable child vampires whose appetite for blood threatens to bring unwanted attention to his clan. Buehlman adds '70s ambience to the narrative with pop-culture references to Soap!, Star Wars, and Studio 54, among others; and his ability to combine humor with astonishing and vicious action sequences will appeal to the most ardent of horror fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)