I agree with you completely. I was trying to think when the last time I read Interview was and I think I was in 8th grade, so that's closer to 35 years since the first and last time I read it. Too young to appreciate the lovely writing and pacing in this book, apparently. The last one I really enjoyed was Q of the D. I muscled through Body Thief and tried to get through Armand but didn't make it. After Q of the D, she was more into the gay erotica. Nothing wrong with that it's just not interesting to me because she let the stories slide into...well, you said it best: pulp.Tell ya what, I think Interview is the only 'great' book out of the whole series. Lestat and Q of the D are alright, but they're just pulpy potboilers compared to that first one. And I hate how, by the second book, Anne goes and changes Lestat into a superhero, basically. I prefer him straight-up EVIL. And by the time we get to Body Thief it's just...bleeeech. Boring shark-jumping X-Men vampires.
But you can't beat Interview. It deserves its place next to Dracula, Salems Lot, and Carmilla as some of the best vamp lit yer apt to read.