In Which We Discuss Vamped

Marty Kowalski is bored out of his skull. This shouldn't be surprising – he is over two hundred years old.

Marty became a vampire in the midst of World War II. In the years since then, since the vampires joined with the prostitutes and allied with the church, the ranks of the vampires have grown, to the point where human beings are almost non-existent. Vampires no longer need to hunt; blood is grown through stem cell research, and sold like coke or any other popular drink. It even has various additives; one brand of blood is the equivalent of tea, and is designed to taste as if the victim died peacefully. Another brand, the equivalent of a sports drink, has added adrenaline (incidentally, more than three times enough to give someone a heart attack), supposedly to taste like the blood of someone who died screaming. With no need to hunt anymore, vampires have gone back to their day jobs, and most of them accept the status quo. Marty, however, one of the first vampires, remembers that "lab-grown [blood] versus the real thing is like Tang next to fresh-squeezed", and is suffering a kind of vampire midlife crisis. Vampires don't have midlives, of course, but many seem to fall under the spell of this kind of ennui around the time they should have died.

Marty has begun playing fast and loose with his own health, such as it is. He drives recklessly, and has already removed his seatbelts and airbags. He doesn't go out in the daylight; in this world, vampires are physically incapable of being awake in daylight hours, although they can be burnt by sunlight. He has no problems with garlic, and of course vampires have reflections – how else did Dracula get that parting so straight? Marty reflects all the time; in mirrors. In chrome. In his lonelier moments.

So when Marty runs into Isuzu, a young, fresh little refugee from the human farms made to cater for rich vampires, he's pleased. Knowing just how rare she is, he decides not to kill her at first. No. He'll wait. Besides, right now she's just stopped being scared and stale adrenaline has an odd aftertaste. Better to wait and scare her fresh when he's ready.

The problem with delayed gratification is, of course, the delay. Marty needs to take care of this little six-year-old human, at least for a time. So he does. Just for a little while.

But then he starts to realize; maybe the warmth and humour a child has will be more interesting than a quick kill. Maybe looking after her properly will be more rewarding then just killing her.

And so, just like that, Marty becomes a father. Vampires can't have their own children, partly because vampires don't age, and many of them miss at least this aspect of mortality. There are programs such as "Little Bobby", which focus on human children growing up, which are very popular. This doesn't mean, however, that one of Marty's neighbors wouldn't snap Isuzu in two without a second thought. So, her existence must be kept secret. Then there's the fact that human food isn't sold anymore, except as artifacts on e-bay. And, luckily, as pet food. After the change, most human food was simply relabeled, and all the animals meant for human consumption were simply used for pets. Medicine, on the other hand, is a little harder to get ahold of.

And so, Isuzu and Marty begin adjusting to each other. The book is told in first person, from Marty's point of view, and much of it focuses on his reaction to becoming a father. Surprisingly, most of the issues he comes across are somewhat normal and human, even in the unusual situation. Of course, it's the unusual, vampire only concerns, which keep the book fresh, and prevent it from being just another fatherhood story. Although the fatherhood part of the book is surprisingly touching and real.

Although the Marty-Isuzu pairing may sound reminiscent of Lestat, Louis and Claudia, nothing could be further from the truth. Somehow, Sosnowski manages to keep the vampiric elements of the story on the right side of believable without delving too far into fantasy or horror, despite the subject matter.

Sosnowski effortlessly slips between present day and back-story, linking Marty's relationship with his parents and his own youth, with his efforts to keep Isuzu safe and happy. Sosnowski's droll wit and rhythmic writing style, and the unique and believable alternate world he has created are interesting and absorbing, making the book a pleasure to read.

In summary, Vamped manages to remain sweet, touching and, in places, funny, without allowing the fantasy elements to overwhelm it.

In Which We Discuss Plain Truth

Philadelphia lawyer, Ellie Hathaway is somewhat dissatisfied with her life and career. There's no reason why she should be – she's won almost every case she's come up against. She's kept murderers, rapists, and various other criminals out of jail. She's successfully suppressed evidence and won all her cases. She's just won yet another high profile case, although it does not improve her feelings. As Ellie describes it;

"My nightmares were full of children. Specifically, six little girls – two dark-haired, four fair, their knees sticking out beneath the plaid uniform jumper of St Ambrose's School, their hands twisting in their laps. I watched them grow up in an instant, you see; at the very moment a jury foreman acquitted my client, the elementary school principle who had molested them."

Her personal life isn't ideal, either. She always assumed that she'd have children by this point, and the fact that motherhood currently isn't an option is something that nags at her as her bodily clock ticks away. Despite being with her partner for eight years now, they aren't married, or even close to being so, and the face of the child she never had haunts her dreams.

However, for now, Ellie is remaining optimistic. Her partner, Stephen, has set up an interview for her at his firm, with a chance to be made senior partner. When her car's engine conks out on the highway, she is lucky not to be killed. But all Stephen can do is ask why she's late, and tell her "that's what taxi's are for."

So, Ellie decides to take a hiatus from her life and her career, and goes to stay with her aunt Leda, near Lancaster County, in Southeast Pennsylvania. She soon finds she's dropped straight into a murder trial, and despite her personal feelings, ends up helping the Amish girl accused, eighteen-year-old Katie Fisher.

A dead newborn was recently found at the Fisher family's farm. Medical experts say that it appears that the baby may have been smothered, and to local detective, Lizzie Munro, it seems that the most likely culprit would be the mother of the child. There is no obvious mother, though, until Katie is seen to be bleeding, and is forcefully taken to hospital. Despite all medical evidence, Katie continues insisting that she was never pregnant.

Katie's family, particularly her father, is traditionally Amish. When Lizzie asks if his daughter may have been pregnant, Aaron Fisher denies it, on the grounds that Katie was unmarried. When Lizzie gently points out that marriage is not a prerequisite for pregnancy, Aaron replies, "To us, it is."

Much of the book focuses on Amish culture, particularly as Ellie is required to stay at the Fisher's farm as Katie's guardian. I must confess, that my previous knowledge of the Amish faith comes, in it's entirety from Weird Al Yankovic's "Amish Paradise", which is definitely not the best source. However, subsequent research has shown that Picoult was pretty accurate in her portrayal. Lapsed Amish (practicing Amish deigned to comment) also say that she got it right.

The Amish characters in the book occupy a fairly wide variety of roles. Aaron Fisher, Katie's father, is tremendously strict, and hard on his family and himself. He goes far beyond what the ordnances require, and refuses to so much as acknowledge his lapsed son, Jacob.

Jacob wished to study beyond the eighth grade education Amish folk are normally given, and chose to do so rather than stay within his family. The Amish culture disapproves of individual achievement, which Jacob's study was seen as. However, although he was not a member of the faith, his father and his family were not required to forget him completely, and Sarah Fisher and her daughter, Katie, try their best to talk to him in secret.

Another character that left the Amish faith is Leda, both Katie and Ellie's aunt. Although she does not visit due to Aaron's strict views, she and Sarah are still in contact, and Leda provides the link between Ellie and Katie, at least at first.

Samuel Stolzfus, Katie's intended, is just a strong, atypical Amish man, trying to do what he believes is for the best. He occupies a similar role to Patrick in the film Saved! as far as portrayals of traditionally religious characters are concerned, and provides a stark contrast to Aaron.

The plot is told between a third-person viewpoint, with occasional first-person chapters from Ellie's point of view.

To be honest, I didn't find Ellie a sympathetic or truly believable person. Her obsession with a child is so great that she finds herself unable to truly sympathize with Katie, who she believes is guilty. I don't believe it. I don't believe it's possible to be so obsessed with motherhood that a person who would win cases for pedophiles and rapists would have difficulty arguing for someone accused of neonaticide. Of course, I'm young, and nowhere near to being a mother myself, and perhaps my opinion will change. But, for now, I just don't find it believable. Or rather, if I am to believe, then Ellie is hypocritical enough that I find myself unable to consider her a sympathetic character.

Jodi Picoult's writing is just as good and involving as in My Sister's Keeper although still not as witty or flowing as Sosnowski, another author on my mind, who wrote Vamped. For some reason I found this book slightly less enjoyable than My Sister's Keeper. It's most likely that the subject matter interested me less. There's also the fact that My Sister's Keeper focused more on the relationships between characters and was told by a wide variety, while Plain Truth is told only in third-person, or from the viewpoint of a character I didn't like very much.

However, just because I found the book less enjoyable doesn't mean that it was bad. On the contrary, I was unable to put it down, and am now reading it for the second time in as many weeks. I also picked up three more of Picoult's novels earlier, and, since hearing that Lifetime made Plain Truth into a film, I had the good fortune of accidentally and coincidentally tracking it down. Picoult made a new fan with My Sister's Keeper, and Plain Truth has only strengthened my respect for her writing.