The new genre, it seems, is vampire as funny, hip, and contemporary. In Vamped, there is a modicum of the slurping of blood, must-sleep-by-day type routine, while the remainder of the book revolves around Marty, a man-turned-immortal during WWII, and his incessant longing for a life not dominated by eternal ennui.

In this world, vampires outnumber humans, and that is the twist upon which the tale turns. Marty happens upon Isuzu Trooper Cassidy, a small girl who has just lost her mother to the mean breed of vamp. He takes her into his life and raises her as a human, a dangerous undertaking when all around him his bloodthirsty neighbors are aching to taste the sweet bouquet of non-manufactured blood (there are artificial blood-bottling plants by this time). So, he must keep her origin a secret.

This is a love story, and it's touching if not particularly transcendent. Isuzu will eventually marry, Marty will eventually marry, and they will all settle down as a happy vamp home. Isuzu will be immortalized by the undead lover she marries.

Fun, engaging, but not earthmoving.