Suck It Up And Die!

Like most teens, Morning McCobb has hopes and ambitions that are counterbalanced by his insecurities and an inability to adequately communicate his feelings. He also has this whole vampire thing going on. Being a vampire probably wouldn’t be so bad, but Morning has the added responsibility of being the reluctant poster boy for the Vampire Pride movement. See, Morning was outed as a vampire, which has led to major changes in the world. There are new prejudices, organizations seeking to secure civil liberties for vampires (the International Vampire League), organizations which oppose the vampire movement at every turn (the Mortals Only Party), and…of course….vampire reality television. Morning would rather have nothing to do with any of it; he’s focused on achieving his dream of becoming a firefighter and spending as much time with his constantly-on-the-go filmmaker girlfriend as inhumanly possible. He has neither the time, nor the desire, for further complications.

Tough luck. Trouble is coming his way in the form of an angry Congresswoman and the return of an old nemesis who has learned that working the system can be more effective method of stalking one’s prey than the tired ways of Bela Lugosi and his ilk.

I was reluctant to read this one for a couple of reasons. First off, it’s a sequel. Having not read the first book, I was afraid I’d be lost or missing out on things previously established. Secondly, I’ve not taken much interest in the wave of vampires that ‘s flooded the shores of popular culture. I read a chapter of one of the Twilight books, shook my head at the prose, and quickly set it down. I’ve watched a couple of episodes of True Blood and felt that it was just all over the place, haphazardly seeking to cram every myth and legend available into a single storyline. The first problem was easily remedied as author Brian Meehl does a fantastic job of filling readers in on what has gone before, while simultaneously moving the current plot forward. The second problem was alleviated by the tone of the book. While the story covers several serious and topical subjects, it remains lighthearted and cleverly utilizes wordplay to bring charm to even the darkest of moments. It’s this, the subversiveness of these seemingly flippant one-liners and word manipulations that make this a book worth your time, especially if you’ve an aspirations to become a writer yourself. Meehl is writing about vampires here, yes, but he’s also writing about much, much more. You can learn a lot about structure and form in a classroom, but you have to actually see the tricks sentences are capable of in order to truly spark your ambition and imagination. Meehl knows several tricks, and Suck It Up and Die is his three-ring circus.

Suck It Up and Die is written by Brian Meehl, published by Delacorte Press, and can be purchased here: http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/catalog/results.pperl?keyword=Suck+It+Up+And+Die&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit

Reviewed by T-Shirt Joe