The Mall of Cthulhu by Seamus Cooper

I bought this book because of the title. Well, and I'd heard it was funny. And I liked the cover. I was a little hesitant, though, because the last Night Shade Books book I read was not only barely readable, it was barely edited. Fortunately, this one was both readable and edited. Not a single homophone error in it!

Ten years ago, Ted saved Laura from a band of vampires posing as a college sorority. Now Laura's an FBI agent dissatisfied with her job, while Ted--who wakes up screaming almost every night, remembering the horrors he experienced--works in a coffee shop and tries to forget the past. Unfortunately, Ted accidentally steals a CD containing eldritch knowledge, and the next thing he knows, he's on the run from both the law and white supremacist cultists who are trying to call up the Old Ones. He has no one to turn to except Laura.

It sounds like a romp, and to some extent it is. There's a lot of action, very funny dialogue, and situations that skirt along the edge of WTF-ness in a most satisfying way. But I was delighted that the characters are the real focus of the book.

For ten years, Ted and Laura have had a strange relationship. Laura's gay and Ted's straight, so their relationship is platonic; but their friendship is strained by Ted's neediness--no one else believes in vampires, and he needs someone who can understand his past--and by Laura's frustration with having Ted as her shadow. I enjoyed seeing them deal with their relationship at least as much as I enjoyed their attempts to thwart the cultists.

And yes, the book is very funny. It's also surprisingly touching and well-written. It is, in short, extremely good.

B&N link