Review - Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore

Review: Bloodsucking Fiends introduces us to the love affair between two very different beings: Jody, a newly created vampire, and Tommy, a writer wannabe who moves to San Francisco in search of adventure. The two are drawn together by their individual need for somebody else. Jody needs a man who can take care of business during vampire off-hours: while the sun is out and she is out-cold in her dark hiding hole. Meanwhile, Tommy, who has never had a girlfriend, can’t resist the promise of excitement that someone like Jody can provide. Soon enough they both get more than either had expected as the ancient vampire who transformed Jody starts committing sinister crimes all over San Francisco and leaves clues pinning Jody and Tommy to his doings. Running out of options, it becomes Tommy and Jody’s goal to stop the fiend, a complicated task for a newbie vampire and her mortal boyfriend. 

Overall, I was impressed by this book. Vampires (as conventionally sinister as they might be) are make-belief. And so, while writing about them in a serious tone can work, mixing them into a comically predispositioned plot definitely works better! Christopher Moore used this to his advantage in Bloodsucking Fiends. Jody and Tommy are light-hearted characters thrown in unbelievably above-average circumstances, which in the hands of someone like Moore produces some very funny results.


My favorite part of the story were the characters themselves: Tommy and Jody. They are very different individuals. Tommy is steady and responsible but very naive about women. Jody on the other hand has a lot of experience with men, but has an unhealthy self-image. Over time, as they experience their relationship and explore Jody’s abilities, they manage to change and grow, becoming better individually and as a couple. Their love is never unrequited or based on struggles. Instead, its about exploration and compromises, which is refreshing knowing some of the other vampire love triangles floating around out there. 

The once mysterious vampires have quickly lost their literary appeal due to recent over-usage by many authors. And while some writers should have never gone down the vampirism path, I’m really glad Christopher Moore did. This is a vampire series worth reading.


LitSnit Verdict: A