If you pick up a novel title about a gay vampire feeding on men in West Hollywood, you kind of expect that it’s going to be campy fun. The opening kill of Bite Club may give the impression that this is going to be a serious, gory gay horror novel, but fear not—the fun is about to begin.
After the first few bodies are found mutilated, coroner (and junk food lover) Becky and the sheriff know they have a serial killer on their hands. Becky suspects the unthinkable—vampires! So she calls her old college friend Chris to come help her explore the possible supernatural angle of the case. Little does she know that when Chris and his boyfriend Troy arrive, they’ll more than prove that vampires are real!
These are only the main players in this darkly slapstick novel. Even werewolves and ghouls come into play as the good guys move closer and closer to the identity of the vampire that’s terrorizing the city…and could really suck the life out of the upcoming Halloween festivities!
A lot goes on in Bite Club and many characters are heavily introduced only to be gone within the same chapter. Don’t let them distract you from the big attraction: the main characters. The majority of the strongest humor and comic situations are shared between the lovable leads. I particularly couldn’t get enough of the scene in which Becky finds out a deep dark secret about her friend Chris and his boyfriend. Comic gold that I could easily see being played out on the big screen.
There even seems to be a whole subplot brewing involving the werewolves, but that is cut short. Clearly they were just introduced briefly because Hal always intended to write the sequel…The Trouble with Hairy!
Once again, things begin with some horror, including an opening werewolf kill and then a chase scene! But once the Bite Club bunchare on the case, the camp comes back; pretty soon, a young naked man named Louis is found in an old lesbian’s garden with a dead cat! He immediately falls under suspicion for the grisly deaths of humans and disappearances of dogs that has the community in an uproar.
Chris, Becky, and friends intend to clear Louis’s name when they learn that the werewolf community is incredibly homophobic and rejects gay werewolves from the pack. This time around, we get more of the main cast’s backstories, including the pasts of Chris and Troy and the Sheriff’s previous experience with werewolves. Love is in the air as Becky finds a man, and a drag queen begins to fall for werewolf Louis. Before the novel ends, there will be wedding bells!
As in the first novel, many characters get grand introductions…right before becoming Alpo! The love between Chris and Troy is deeper realized in this sequel, as is Becky’s relationship with food. And, as with Bite Club, I have some favorite comic moments, including a scene in which Louis tries to control his werewolf side when taken out to a restaurant for dinner. And when the big bad wolf finally gets it in the end, even this big bottom felt sympathy pains.
There’s no telling what’s in store for these lovable characters next as they try to tame the wild beasts in West Hollywood while dealing with their own monsters….
Here’s Hal Bodner with a copy of Bite Club and a different kind of hairy trouble!
