And so endeth Christopher Moores vampire romance...but not before a few bridges, and quite a few undead, are burned.I started listening to the audio of Bite Me: A Love Story just a couple of days after finishing its predecessor, You Suck (also a Love Story). Part of the rush was some eagerness to continue the story, but there was also a desire to replicate the experience - You Suck was a really FUN listen. Perhaps I should have waited a little longer. Or perhaps Bite Me just wasnt quite as satisfying.
Abby meant well when she imprisoned vampires Jody and Tommy in a bronze shell during their daytime death phase; she thought it might prevent an ugly breakup. Abby's science-geek boyfriend Steve had devised a serum that could restore humanity to vampires, and the couple were in disagreement about whether to take it. However, in order to test the cure, Steve also had to devise a formula to induce vampirism...and our little Goth girl's dying to get some of that. Meanwhile, vampires on four legs, made the old-fashioned way, are terrorizing San Francisco.
There's no shortage of plot contortions in Bite Me; those go with Moore's territory. But there is a shortage of Tommy and Jody, both separately and together, and as they're a couple of my favorite characters, I missed them. On the other hand, there's a bit too much of Abby. I've lived with a teenage perky Goth girl myself, so I like the idea of Abby's character (although mine's more Goth lite, and a lot smarter than Abby), but I think I prefer her as a side dish rather than the main course. Susan Bennett once again got her voice just right, and was consistent in her other characterizations as well; appropriately, she has a "performed by" rather than a "read by" credit for her audio rendition of the novel. I just didnt feel the material she had to perform was as strong as it was in You Suck. For me, Bite Me dragged in spots and went on a bit longer than it had to, and it wasn't as consistently funny - although, being a Christopher Moore novel, it definitely had its moments.
In the end, I was mostly content with the way Moore ended his Love Story trilogy, and I'm glad I read it on audio - but I'm ready to say goodbye to the Vampires of San Francisco.