My review guidelines can be found HERE.Skin Trade
Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 17
by Laurell K. Hamilton
When a vampire serial killer sends Anita Blake a grisly souvenir from Las Vegas, she has to warn Sin City’s local authorities what they’re dealing with. Only it’s worse than she thought. Ten officers and one executioner have been slain—paranormal style. Anita heads to Vegas, where’s she’s joined by three other federal marshals, including the ruthless Edward. It’s a good thing he always has her back, because when she gets close to the bodies, Anita senses “tiger” too strongly to ignore it. The weretigers are very powerful in Las Vegas, which means the odds of her rubbing someone important the wrong way just got a lot higher.
COVER ART
• Circular saw blades, I see no correlation to cutting wood and killing people with knives.
• Suggests horror, and this book is full of that!
PARANORMALITY
• Psychics
• Living vampires
• Vampires
• Serial Killer
• Jjinn
SEXUALITY
• M/F, serial killer sexual tension
• M/F, with a male voyeur
• M/M/M/M/F, blackout physic rape orgy
• Implied sex with a 16 yr old
• coerced BJ
REVIEW
• Starts out gruesome. Very strong contrast to the last book, Blood Noir, that started out like a contemporary romance. But, like the last book, Anita goes out of town again.
• Anita goes out of town and seems to take a million steps back. I thought she learned shit, the hard way! But yet, she leaves town without any food, without telling her master like a good little servant... *sigh* This is one of my struggles with this series. Anita doesn't learn.
• Edwards back, but then he always comes in when the really big and bad are around. And there are at least two of them in this story.
• In the last book, Blood Noir, Anita realizes that she needs to act more like a good little human servant for Jean-Claude to keep face with the vampire community and limit the threats to their happy home. So she moves into the Circus... now surrounded by all her men. She is feeling overwhelmed and like she is loosing control. The men are gaining power and power over her... Anita likes to be in control. I can TOTALLY relate to that!
• Olaf is back and super creepy. Anita actually flinches and Olaf offers the unthinkable. *shudder*
• Anita has found another human with one of her freaky traits... nice to know you're not alone. Sometimes.
• Intense at 544 pages. Yet it all happens in one day and night. Too much to shove into that tight of a time period for me. I'm tempted to go back and plot out the time line...
• The climax/showdown doesn't take long enough for me. There is all this build up (see above bullet) and then "wham, bam, thank you ma'am." *sigh* But this is a common complaint I have with Ms. Hamilton's writing style. She gets very deep emotionally but the climax ends too fast. And the epilogue, well talk about leaving loose ends!
• Anita's interaction with Requiem is bittersweet, and once of my favorite aspects of this book.
Read a Tuesday Teaser HERE.
Read a about a gruesome morning discovery in the excerpt HERE.
Read for the 2010 Anita Blake Reading Challenge.
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4 comments:
Huh about the circular saw blades.
Hate Olaf. And hate non-learning characters. :)
All in one day!=) Seriously?
Seems like a lot to have happen.
As for the series, I am still behind. I have the first book though. I really need to get my butt in high gear and read them!!=)
Good review Sweet. I have this one on my self too, but haven't even started the series yet, soooo much catching up to do.
Hmm, I never actually put it into words but thought of it often. Yes, the build-up lasts for the duration of the whole novel and then 5 pages before the end of the book, it all gets unraveled and end. :)
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Thanks so much for delving into my head. It's scary in here sometimes, so it is nice to have company! Don't step on the zephyr...