Tate Hallaway

TALL, DARK AND DEAD by Tate Hallaway

Author Information
Book Title: 
Tall
Dark and Dead
Author Name: 
Tate Hallaway
Author's Home Country: 
USA
ISBN: 
9780755336555
Categorisation
Category: 
Fantasy
Special Interests: 
Witchcraft
Publisher: 
Headline
Year of Publication: 
2007

Book Review: 

TALL,DARK AND DEAD has taken a clever dive into the booming chick lit market
of urban fantasy by including just enough of the current female reader's
interest(vampires) and mixed it up with a little of the occult. The book
slips and slides between seriousness and silliness (which, despite its marketing
tags of comedy, is NOT funny, and that's a good thing), with fortunately just
enough of the former to cement its appeal. With the character of Garnet immersing
herself in a stereotype in order to actually better disguise herselffrom those
who seek to do her harm, there is an unexpected poignancy to therelationship
angles. Garnet is a survivor and has many clever and appealing coping
mechanisms in dealing with all that comes her way.
 
Tate Hallaway has since written a second novel in her new series, titled
DEAD SEXY. One has to wonder whether this first somewhat darker urban
fantasy novel (with its pagan references and the like) has fallen prey to more
than just a few subtle editorial tweaks in order to make it appeal to a
greater market. There are enough of the vampire "lite" novels out there, and Tate
Hallaway from this debut novel seems to have something a little grittier to offer
up. The cover art is very visually appealing, but cartoon images of a skinny
black-clothed witch standing amongst purple flying bats - well, what impression
would that give out to the person picking it up in the bookstore? TALL DARK AND
DEAD shows a lot of promise, but judging by the title of the second book - there
comes that sinking feeling.
 
A.T.
 
Subscribe to RSS - Tate Hallaway