Sweet Vernal Zephyr

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter for Animators, Inc., is offered a cool mil to raise a 283-year-old corpse. But she knows that "the older the zombie, the bigger the death needed to raise it". Only a human sacrifice is "big" enough to raise this old soul--and Anita's no murderer.

Now, a creature from beyond the grave is tearing a swath of murder through St. Louis. And Anita will learn that there are some secrets better left buried—and some people better off dead...

“After a few centuries, the only death 'big enough' is a human sacrifice. I know, because I'm an animator. My name is Anita Blake.

Working for Animators, Inc. is just a job - like selling insurance. But all the money in the world wasn't enough for me to take on the particular job Harold Gaynor was offering. Somebody else did, though - a rogue animator. Now he's not just raising the dead ... he's raising Hell. And it's up to me to stop it ... "

• The title is actually the name of a comedy club. There is even a description of the shirts the employees wear that would have been a striking graphic.
  
  
• Alas, a prone female head and haunting cemetery overlay is all we get to suggest the absolute GORE of this novel. But, I guess, Anita is hurt a lot... and stuff takes place in a cemetery. So not a total disconnect.

• Animators
• Zombies
• Vampires
• Voodoo
• Shifters

Tension

• Anita discovers a little more about herself in this novel. Not only is she an animator, she is also a necromancer with an affinity for all dead, not just zombies.


• Jean-Claude has also stepped it up a notch, no longer requesting Anita's presence but demanding it.


• There is a monster at the end of this book. (No, it is not Grover. *Pleazzzze comment if you get that extremely vague reference*) And only Anita understands the true extent of the horror.


• Actually, monsters abound. Gore flies every where. I even freakin' dreamed about bloody dismembered indistinguishable human body parts in the middle of reading this. NOT COOL.


• Zoom, Zoom, finish one catastrophe and another follows. You will not be able to take a breath with the initial reading. I was only able to set my copy down because I was on my third read through.


• In that light, this is not the best choice for a re-read due to all the plot twists. Character interaction drew me back in about midway. I thoroughly enjoy the power play between Anita & Jean-Claude.


• The fanny pack has got to go. That specific detail dates this book and makes me cringe every time I read it.


• As for other details, I've embedded some links so you can have a better visual of the kinda heat Anita packs; Browning Hi-Power 9mm, Firestar 9mm, Uncle Mike's Inner Pants Holster, American Derringer .38 Special.