Me and the Devil

Amazon Best Books of the Month, December 2012: Once upon a time--before heartthrob bloodsuckers sparkled in the sunlight of chaste daydreams--vampires meant sex and danger, blood and animal, Victorian taboo made unflesh, scratching at your windows in the small hours. In Me and the Devil, Nick Tosches doesn t quite reach back to the Gothic (though he may reach for the Gnostic, if you want to dig into the seedier details) with his tale of an aging writer--a decrepit Drac of the New York night--who discovers rejuvenation in the femoral blood of his willing female complements. His book is so packed with grit, vice, and gore as to make it a queasy recommendation for unsuspecting readers, but if you think you re ready, go for it. Me and the Devil is a throwback to the fearless writing of William Burroughs, Jim Carroll, and Richard Hell, a book heedless of boundaries and conscience. --Jon Foro