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    Hit List: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel
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    Hit List: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel
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    Hit List: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    Hit List: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel

    Written by Laurell K. Hamilton

    Narrated by Kimberly Alexis

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A serial killer is hunting the Pacific Northwest, murdering victims in a gruesome and spectacular way. The local police suspect "monsters" are involved, and have called in Anita Blake and Edward, U.S. Marshals who really know their monsters, to catch the killer.

    But some monsters are very real-and even to speak their name can earn you a death sentence. The bogeymen of the vampire world, The Harlequin, are here in America hunting weretigers and human police. But Edward thinks the serial killings are just a trap-to lure Anita ever closer to the most dangerous vampire they've ever hunted…




    From the Paperback edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJun 7, 2011
    ISBN9781101526286
    Unavailable
    Hit List: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel
    Author

    Laurell K. Hamilton

    Laurell K. Hamilton is the author of the New York Times bestselling Anita Blake series and Merry Gentry series. She lives with her family in St. Louis, Missouri.

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    Reviews for Hit List

    3.5/5

    438 ratings37 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I really enjoyed most of this one, such a turnaround from the last book. Would have gotten higher, but the ending was silly, imo. Also, Anita has too many awesome powers to keep track of. They really need to be pared down a bit to make it more interesting.
    • 4/5
      I love this series. There have been some good ones, Narcissus in Chains and some bad ones, Micah, but what I love about these books is that when another one comes out, I can't wait to read it...when it's auto shipped from Amazon, I stop everything and give it all my attention. I think I read this one in 24 hours...don't you just love getting caught up in a book like that??While I'm very much a Jean Claude fan, I respect the relationship between Edward and Anita...In Hit List, that relationship takes front and center as they work on a huge case tracking a serial killer. Amongst a load of supernatural beings, the scariest thing in the entire series is Olaf...he makes me shiver...he's like Hannibal Lecter who's now working for the police...incredibly complicated. Olaf scares me more than Marmee Noir...who is the most evil of all the vampires. If you're a fan of this series, this is one of the best yet.
    • 5/5
      This was back to old-school Anita. She and Edward are tracking down monsters in the Pacific Northwest. Of course, they can't say who the monsters are for fear of endangering anyone who learns of the existence of the Harlequin. Nor can they mention that these Harlequin are being controlled by the Mother of All Darkness who is still trying to take over Anita's body.

      Edward calls in reinforcements including Olaf the psychpath serial killer who loves to torture and murder girls who are physical matches for Anita. He wants to date Anita. Anita is having no problem at all with refusing except that if she refuses that might encourage Olaf to add her to his list of victims again. Anita is certain that one day it will come down to her or Olaf. She just hopes it isn't today.

      Anita also gets involved with a den of red tigers when she needs to feed the ardeur and one of her tigers to call lives there. She meets another tiger who is not pure-blooded and is treated badly by the group. He has four tigers inside including the elusive gold tiger.

      There is a lot of politics among the Marshall corps as their supervisor takes an immediate and intense dislike to Anita. They also have problems when another of the Marshall's is attacked in infected with shapeshifting. Anita gets to work on her person to person skills as she convinces her to keep living, that is life is changed but not destroyed.

      This was a very quick read filled with action, adventure, and danger. It was well-done urban fantasy and recommended for followers of this series. The only unfortunate part of the book for me was that we didn't get to see Jean-Claude or Richard in this one.
    • 2/5
      plot development was good, nice read, but ending felt rushed & forgotten
    • 4/5
      Laurell K. Hamilton...hmmmm...this is getting back to the old stuff but I get a little tired of all the moralising. It could just be a culture thing as I know sex can be a big issue for American readers. However, I just wish that LKH would just get on with it, the story is good but drags on with all the monologs of Anita Blake talking about her 'sweeties'. I also prefer it when Anita is not in Saint Louis as I get confused about all of her lovers. I wish that some of them would die off, not because I dislike any of them but rather because there are too many for my poor brain to think about.

      However, the story itself was good, better than the last few efforts. It reads like LKH has gotten over some of her issues which have dogged the last 8 books or so and back to writing entertaining horror/romance stories. It's promising!
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. I flew through it in one day. I think it should make some of the Anita Haters happy. There is only one sex scene, but it is with a new person. There is little to none of Anita's men in this book. We are missing many of the main men we are used to seeing. We do have a lot of Edward and then Olaf and Bernardo come in about halfway through the book.

      I have seen many comments on Twitter, etc. that some of the people who have been complaining about Anita that might start reading again because of the reviews that they have seen. The one thing that they might understand is that there is continuing story and might not understand what is going on in this book.
    • 3/5
      "Hit List" is her best Anita Blake book in probably the last 8 or so. My hopes that Hamilton would get her head out of her vagina came true. There was only 1 sex scene that was easy to skim through & a fair amount of action took place. The edge was missing, because there was also too much talk with tons of angst going on during it. I know far more about everyone's motivations & thoughts than I wanted to.

      I doubt we'll ever get the old Anita Blake back, but the world is still pretty cool & I am sure that there will be at least one more book. While a lot of Anita's problems are resolved, another hits high gear & begs for a finish. Unfortunately, the resolution didn't make a lot of sense to me. While I'm glad she finally got killed off, I just don't understand how/why the whole lion color thing worked nor how it was the straw that broke Mommy Darkness. With all the repetition in her writing (there were a couple of explanations in the book that were made early on & were pasted, word for word, into the last part) I would expect to have understood or felt the magic better, but it just didn't pop for me.

      While the resolution that took place could easily be grown into more problems, I'm hoping that Hamilton will put this series to bed on a higher note than I've been expecting. She could & should wrap up nicely in one last climactic novel, but I doubt she will because the last chapter felt clumsily tacked on simply to put in teasers for the next book. For instance, why else would she need to tell us she sleeps above ground 2 days a week? Obviously, Otto needs to hunt her & get killed.

      Some predictions: Hopefully I'm wrong, but the whole series seems so predictable now that it's hard not to make some. It will be fun to see what really happens...

      Anita going through a crisis over her growing lack of humanity especially with new powers & urges she's bound to feel. (IOW, more angst. I'm not sure I wouldn't prefer the sex since it's easier to skim through, but this is a given.) The only question is how many of Anita's friends will die or get hurt. There's no doubt Anita's guilt will drool from every page, unfortunately.

      I expect the vampire council will now want her head because she's too powerful, so that will be stirred into the hunt for Otto & lead into at least 2 more books after the next. Jean Claude will become the servant & Anita will wind up ruling the Vampire Council as the new dark queen - a nice one who is worried about her humanity - but she'll still pretty much rule the supernatural world.

      Edward & Anita will have a showdown to prove that Anita is the baddest of the bad. Since Donna's kid is suddenly mentioned again, he will get his assassin's badge next year & it should take Otto about that long to get his new problem/powers under control, I expect this all to mesh together. Likely this will wind up with Edward crippled & retired (to really drag it out for another novel with Edward setting some complex plan into effect against Anita), Otto dead & the kid a devoted servant of Anita's. He'll be a new major player, possibly a lover since the young lion seems to have upset Anita so much, yet she's coming to terms with it. Possibly this will be the spark that sets Edward & Anita into their showdown.

      I won't buy Hamilton's books new, anymore. I reserve that for writers I really like. I bought a lot of hers & then she really disappointed me with the last dozen books or so. I wouldn't have read them, but a friend at work (I turned her on to the series & loaned her the first dozen.) kept loaning them to me. For all my bitching, I'm kind of glad I read this one & will read the next.
    • 2/5
      I've been reading Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series since the beginning (of time - it sometimes feels like the beginning of time!) Hit List is book 20 in the series and I feel entitled to really be irritated with LKH at this point in the game over some very small things. It's a bit of a good news/bad news situation I'm afraid - I enjoyed the story very much, but the writing, well we'll get to that in a minute.

      First, let me applaud the story - the story is good! Anita is back to crime fighting, which is her forte really. These days she uses different supernatural powers to locate and destroy the bad guys, but I am happy with her growth in this area. Hit List brings back our old friends, Marshals Ted Forrester, Bernardo Spotted Horse, and Otto Jefferies, along with a few "second-tier" weres from St. Louis, but the big four are MIA - Jean Claude, Richard, Micah, and Nathaniel.

      The "bad guys" in Hit List are the predictable Mother of All Darkness and, her loyal guard the Harlequin. I am happy to finally have that dark cloud (pun intended) dissipate, although there are no guarantees with Mommie Dearest - I wouldn't put it past LKH to bring her back somewhere down the line.

      Hit List is not all bad - its really not even mostly bad. The problems I have with the book may even stem from me out-growing the series a bit. After 20 books, you just get a little tired of some of the writing. For example, Anita always has "guy moments" and "girl moments," never just moments. I also get irritated by the way she portrays non-supe men - they all think she's just a little, tiny, cutie-pie, underestimate her skills with weapons, are completely unevolved, and think she's sleeping with all the men in her life. It's the same thing in all her books really, I don't know why I'm surprised.

      I am also afraid the LKH is running out of men - perish the thought! She seems to be laying the groundwork for Anita to have sex with Edward and Olaf later in the series, which is sacrilege I tell you! For very different reasons, fans of the series may not survive this turn of events (and Anita might not either.)

      There are also inconsistencies in Hit List that annoy me. When we first met the Harlequin back in boon 15, Harlequin, LKH told us that you must never speak their name unless they have contacted you already. They are very old, very powerful, and to speak their name signs your death warrant. In the beginning of Hit List, LKH is very careful not to let her characters speak their name out loud, but on page 67 Anita does say the name, and there are no repercussions. I even thought, "oh yay, Anita doesn't care anymore - she'll say 'Harlequin' instead of 'they who must not be named', etc." But then later in the book, she's back to not mentioning their name - a small thing, but a big one, basically cracking the mythos of her series. Nobody caught this during the editing process? I'm not even a super-careful reader and it struck me!

      I don't know, peeps. I still recommend the series, but start at the beginning when the books were still new and good, and quit when you tire of it all. I'm a total completist, which means that I'll probably be reading these books from my rocking chair in the nursing home. I'm just a glutton for punishment I guess, with nobody but myself to blame.
    • 1/5
      Anita and Edward "Death" Forrester are called in to act as Marshalls when there's a string of mysterious deaths. Most of the first half of the book is Anita confronting sexist cops/detectives/marshalls, and them immediately realizing how badass and amazing she is. Anita's obsession with being the most macho person in the room has gotten pretty ridiculous. There are some serious body image issues going on here too. Right after looking at a crime scene, Anita meets the other female marshall, who immediately says,
      'God, you're tiny. I bet I can put my hands around that little white-girl waist, and you still have boobs and an ass. That is not fair, girlfriend.'...
      'I know men who prefer your body type to mine.'
      'Bullshit,' she said, and was ready to be angry.
      'I hang around with a lot of older vampires. They don't like the really thin girls. They like women to look like women, not preadolescent boys with boobs sort of stuck on as an afterthought.'
      'You don't look like that,' she said, her voice a little less angry, but still not friendly.
      'Neither do you. We both look nice and curvy the way God intended grown-up women to look.'
      She thought about it and then grinned at me. It lit her whole face up, and I knew we'd be ok. 'Ain't that the truth. But that booty is not white-girl booty.'
      'I'm told I look like my mother, except paler. She was Hispanic.'
      'That explains it. I knew you were too round in the right places to be white bread.'

      After being attacked, and several of her colleagues killed, and in the middle of a forest filled with supernatural assassins, Anita meets a female detective and thinks,
      If she'd been dressed better I might have thought she was a professional model, but she had dieted too much for her bone structure, so she looked starved, and she'd dieted away all her curves so she was built like a man.

      Like, really? These are not the words or thoughts of professional women in the midst of life-and-death situations.

      Then Anita needs to feed the ardeur, and the sexiest sexy sex dialog occurs: 'Trust me, I want you do to go down on me, but first I want to kiss and cuddle. Once you do me orally I'm just going to want you to fuck me.'
      His eyes went wide, and he shivered.
      'What?' I asked.
      'The way you talk.'
      'Something wrong with the way I talk?'
      'No, he said,'it's great. It's just...perfect.'
      Yup, nothing sexier than the words "once you do me orally"! Jeez. Various hilarious euphamisms ensue, including "dangling bits," "magic button" and my favorite, "I wanted to feel him put what was brushing aganist the smallest bit of me deep inside me." what the hell?

      Admittadly, there's only the one (intermidably long) sex scene in the entire book, which is a huge improvement on previous books. There's still very little plot, and Anita saves the day through yet another new magical power, as opposed to using detective work or actual brainpower.
    • 4/5
      I started reading this and fell in love with LKH's writing and characters all over again, as I have done with every one of her books I have ever read. It's always so long between books as I'm always uptodate, so it has always been ages since I've read hers. As I said, I loved the beginning of this book and that is what makes me give it 4/5 stars. I'd already heard it was more old-style Anita, which I'm sure the prudish fans out there will rejoice at, and it is. It has an epic fight scene in it which I read with total awe.

      The ending got interesting.. and then I realised I only had about four pages left of the book. There's only two things that can happen to a book when you realise that; cliffhanger or the ending feels rushed. It felt rushed and rather than enjoying it, I have been left with this annoying 'meh' feeling that I can't quite place. I can't lie, the end disappointed me. I wonder what will happen in the next book after that.
    • 2/5
      I dunno. Great that Anita got to do "Marshall" type of things again; but rather jumpy and really got away from series progressing. Not that I necessarily liked where series was headed, but 20 books in and tantalizing hints of things to come just not panning out. New settings and new characters okay; but, needed more of usual cast. Hopefully upcoming release of #21 gets on with the story.
    • 5/5
      I really loved this one, can't get enough when Edward and Anita team up!
    • 4/5
      Anita Blake, vampire hunter and necromancer, hunted by the Mother Of All Darkness herself - is called to investigate tiger shifter murders occurring across the country. Anita knows what's going on but she can't share it with her fellow law enforcement. Edward helps Anita but in the end some of her lovers, bodyguards, and friends enter the mix. Unfortunately so does Olaf, a scary psychopathic serial killer out for Anita for his girlfriend. Worse Olaf contracts something that only makes him more terrifying and the ending of this book, well, is slightly anticlimactic compared to the lead up during the last few books. Because of the Mother of All Darkness it took awhile for me to break down and read more of the series. How Anita could take on the Darkness as she does is appalling but when I thought of what she'd done it was terribly simple. I'm very glad I'd picked up this book, the action was awesome, and Ethan is an amazing fellow. So many different things are interesting about him. I wish I could meet him. Although Nathaniel is still my ultimate favorite. There also wasn't enough of him in this novel. That makes me sad. Not that I could do anything about that.
    • 4/5
      better book than the last one I read
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book! It was reminiscent of some of the earlier Anita stories, her being a U.S. Marshall solving preternatural crimes, but that’s what I loved about it. It highlighted the changes in Anita’s crime fighting style and personality that we have observed, subtly reminding us; she’s not the old Anita! She’s better, faster, stronger, and more real than ever before. There is less focus on the sexual elements than in previous books but that was never my reason to read the series in the first place. Every Anita Blake book I read reinforces my love of this series and never disappoints. Another amazing title by Laurell K. Hamilton to add to my multiple reads shelf!
    • 4/5
      The best Anita Blake I've read in a long time, I loved seeing Anita on the road with Edward and co. The preternatural elements unfold in a satisfying way, and there is a minimum of rehashing old emotional issues. HIT LIST has me excited for more Anita Blake, in a way that I haven't experienced in a long, long time.
    • 2/5
      Still searching for the story. The plot just isn't there lately. On the plus side:
      Less porn. I actually felt like I could read this one in public and not feel completely embarrassed if someone read over my shoulder.

      Only one more person was added to the harem. So...yeah. I guess that's good?

      More Edward, and with a personality, so that was nice.

      Now, the downsides:
      Again, no real plot. There was almost plot--murders! Mystery! Woo! Except Anita and Edward knew from the very beginning who was killing people, but didn't bother to tell anybody.

      I don't think the author likes women very much.

      I don't think the author likes men very much.

      The author makes so many assumptions about "guy things" and "guy looks" and "girly" conversations. It gets old. Most things are just not that clearly separated by gender lines.

      I know way too much about what people look like and what they're wearing, but Anita has so very many men in her life that I have no clue who these people are. Why should I care about them?

      And why include so many peripheral characters instead of key players? I think it's been about three books since we've had any significant inclusion of the main "sweeties" (ugh), as Anita often calls them.

      The author constantly has characters disapproving of Ania and her men, making me wonder what sort of hang-ups or prejudices she has that she's trying to work out through these books. Not everybody cares that much about other people's sex lives. Really. Really, really, really. I can't imagine so many federal marshal's would concentrate on this issue rather than on stopping a vicious murderer.

      So much rehashing of old ground and old characters. I wish the author would put aside her own issues and just write the fun stories she used to write. Oh, and get rid of the word processor. The repetitious phrases (and sometimes paragraphs) are insulting to the reader. Like we won't notice?
    • 3/5
      Interesting sub-plots. The ending both tied up and established some loose ends, setting the stage for the next group of baddies.
    • 5/5
      I really wish that this book just go on and never ends ... Yes, it was THAT good! XD

      Hit list deserves more stars but 5 stars is all I can put here ;)
    • 4/5
      what do you mean another Anita Blake book? Isn't this number 20? Why yes it is. Many people gave up on the series 10 books ago. I was one who was often ready to give up on the series, especially when it became more about the ardeur than the plot, but I'm glad that I haven't.Anita is on a road for this book, so we don't get any of her local sweeties, like Jean-Claude or Nathaniel or Micah. It was nice to see some of her secondary sweeties come into play, but it was even nicer to see Edward/Ted throughout the book. The story was fantastic, until it came to the 'big fight'. I was disappointed when it came time for Anita to fight Mommie Darkest and the Harlequin.300 pages of build up to a one page, anti-climactic, non-existent fight sequence. I can handle Anita passing out, but it made for a sadly anti-climactic finish to the book. I was definitely left scratching my head at the over the loose ends.
    • 4/5
      One of Hamilton's best Anita Blake books in years. Anita is in Seattle with Edward hunting the Harlequin who are on a killing spree. A lot of focus on the hunt and the action.
    • 3/5
      Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie TaleQuick & Dirty: Anita is back with an actual plot and less sex, in a dark horror story that may appeal to early fans of the series.Opening Sentence: The main piece of the body lay on the ground, on its back in the middle of a smooth grassy field.The Review:Hit List, the 20th book In the Anita Blake series is a definite improvement to the long suffering series. Hit List finds Anita in Washington State following a series of brutal murders against shape shifters without packs. Working as a U.S. Marshal, Anita has teamed up with fellow U.S. Marshals Ted Forrester (Edward), Otto Jefferies (Olaf) and Bernardo Spotted-Horse to solve the murders.Anita is also a vampire hunter, an animator and a succubus. She has left all her men back in St. Louis, men that she may need at any time to control her hunger. On the job, Anita is facing prejudices against her love life. Anita is also dealing with several issues in her life, the main one being burn out, she is tired of all the killings, tired of tracking killers and tired of being hunted by her enemies.Edward helps Anita to realize that the killers are The Harlequin. The Harlequin are the vampire equivalent of judge, jury and executioner and they are working for the Mother of All Darkness, a very old and powerful vampire. The Harlequin have lured her away from her men, her home and her support structure. They are hoping to catch Anita so the Mother of All Darkness can take over her body. Anita has power over the dead and she can control many types of shape shifters and that power would make the Mother of All Darkness unstoppable. The ultimate battle between Anita and the Mother of All Darkness comes to an end.Edward is a major character in Hit List. Anita and Edwards’ relationship grows. Olaf is still a sick, sadistic bastard that for some reason I want to see more of (a showdown with Anita would be nice). Bernardo, the smart, sexy Indian is really just along for the ride, but I really enjoy his character. He is a light in the darkness of the series.The complaint about the last nine or so books in the series is that there is little to no plot and the books should be reclassified from Urban Fantasy to Erotica. Hit List does have a plot, it is not strong but there is at least a story going on. The erotica portion has been tamed down, as Anita adds only one man to her long list of lovers.There are a few problems with Hit List. One is repetition, people are always asking “What do you mean?” and “Why is that?” for things that really need no explanation, or have already been explained. Several characters come off as whiney, Anita included. Another problem is that subjects are not dropped; they are beaten to death so many times that it becomes absolutely annoying. Unfortunately, the main subject that is on everyone’s mind and will not go away is the subject of Anita’s sex life. She definitely has an interesting sex life, but the fact that people make a huge deal out of it seems really unrealistic and the fact that the subject comes up time after time after time. These people need to worry more about the serial killings than someone’s personal life. The last problem I have with the book is the ending. It is extremely rushed. The book was almost over when anything happened and the final battle happens in the blink of an eye in the second to last chapter.Overall, Hit List should appeal to fans of the first ten books in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. The atmosphere is dark and the tension levels run high. There is quite a bit of action with The Harlequin so the story isn’t entirely slow. I do not recommend this book, for first time readers of the series.Notable Scene:Movement made me glance at Haven; he was wearing a black cloak and held a white mask in his hand. “We’re coming,” he said, “wake up.”I woke staring at the dark ceiling, pulse thudding, throat almost closed around it, and then I heard it. The door, not the knob, but the brush of someone against it, like the first tentative touch. I drew my gun from underneath the pillow and tried to think how to warn Laila without them hearing me. They were either vampires or wereanimals; they’d hear any whisper. Then I realized they’d heard the change in my heartbeat; they knew I was awake.I had time to say, “Laila, they’re here!” The door opened as she sat up in bed but didn’t reach for a weapon. Shit. There was no one in the doorway. It stretched pale and empty, filled with night and the artificial lights of the parking lot beyond. Then I heard it, a creak of board, and knew something was crawling on the floor, hidden from me by Laila’s bed.I started to say, “It’s by you, on the floor,” but one minute she was on the bed with her gun and the next a black shape whirled over her and she was gone. I’d seen the speed of lycanthropes and vampires, but all I saw was the cloak like a black sheet and it dragged her over on the other side of the bed with it. It wasn’t just fast, it was as if the thing, whatever it was, was formed of the blackness of the cloth and nothing more. Fuck, that couldn’t be real. Had it mind-fucked me? If the answer was yes, I was about to lose in real life and not just in nightmare.The Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Series:1. Guilty Pleasures2. The Laughing Corpse3. Circus of the Damned4. The Lunatic Café5. Bloody Bones6. The Killing Dance7. Burnt Offerings8. Blue Moon9. Obsidian Butterfly10. Narcissus in Chains11. Cerulean Sins12. Incubus Dreams13. Micah14. Danse Macabre15. The Harlequin16. Blood Noir17. Skin Trade18. Flirt19. Bullet20. Hit List21. Kiss the DeadFTC Advisory: Penguin/Berkley provided me with a copy of Hit List. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
    • 4/5
      This book has way less sex than a lot of her other recent books which was a plus for me. There was some but at least this book had a plot, some action, a real case, and some genuine forward motion on the overall arc. One major negative was the ending seemed way too easy after the whole buildup about scary Marmee Noir. However, It was good read and once I picked it up and started reading, I wanted to finish it. As opposed to dutifully reading to the end. Nothing compares to the first books in the series but this was definitely better than most of the other recent books.
    • 5/5
      The world's best vampire assassin's are after you. The Mother of all Darkness has a crush on you so she wants' to possess your body, and like all the other control freaks out there, if she can't have you no one will. The out of town case you get called in on, because, let's face it, you are one of the best, is looking like a trap to lure you away from the power structure that has previously kept you safe and the back up they have called in just so happens to be a psycho serial killer who has the hots for you...especially because you fit his victim profile. Oh shit right?Not for Anita Blake. In book 20 of her series it reminds me a lot of the older books. Where Anita was focusing more on crime fighting then boinking. It was one of the harder books to put down, in fact I fell asleep reading it because I fought closing my eyes for to long and they decided to close on their own. Laurell K. Hamilton is one of my absolute favorite author's. I read both her series avidly and I am often caught re- reading them while trying to figure out what else I can fill my head up with. Hit List wasn't a let down at all. Instead of her usual sweetie's being all over the book, we get to see a few old friendly faces as well as get introduced to a new face when Anita adds a lover to her dance card. I liked how Edward, her mentor and another hard ass, started to realize that he had things he wanted to go home to. You got to see a softer side and a few hidden secrets about him as they talked about his family and contingency plan should he fall in the line of duty. It was kind of odd how easy it seemed to take down the big bad of the story, it had me wondering, "Well why didn't you do it all along? " But it still was extremely well written and a very good read. Favorite Quotes : Somewhere in the book during a sex scene she made not of "dangly bits" "The one's who can't be named-" He glared at me. " I really hate that we can't even say their names out loud, it feels like we're in a Harry Potter book talking about He-Who-Must-Not- Be- Named." " They like women to look like women, not preadolescent boys with boobs sort of stuck on as an after thought." " We both look nice and curvy the way God intended grown women to look. "
    • 4/5
      Far from home and her sweeties, Anita is stretched thin tracking down the Harlequin. Both she and Edward know very well who is responsible for the string of violent and bloody serial murders strung across the US. But naming names will just get everyone investigating dead. And unfortunately they're only called in to consult, not run things. The Harlequin are tracking down and killing unattached werelions - but with the golden tigers revealed, what exactly can the Mother of Darkness want now? And can Anita hang on to the ardeur long enough to find out?Great suspense for the first two-hundred pages, no multi-partner sex scenes for a change... Anita's still plenty angst-y, but Edward makes up for it. The end arrived way too fast.
    • 3/5
      Unhappy with the path Hamilton had chosen for Anita Blake, I'd all but given up on these books, but picked this one up on a whim. And good news, fans - the first 2/3rds of the book is VINTAGE Anita in all her butt-kicking, paranormal-investigating badassery. A wonderful return to form, and really fun.Unfortunately, it seems like Hamilton just got sick of writing it or something, because the ending is schlocky and doesn't deliver. A real shame, because mostly the book was so fun.
    • 3/5
      meandering journey without Anita’s family of vampires and weres. Hamilton breaks with her trademark formula without giving readers a credible replacement. Edward is a main character, but seems oddly souless and suburban, lacking the underlying threat he normally exudes. He calls in the sociopathic serial killer Olaf as a backup, but even Olaf’s menace is muted. A final confrontation between Olaf and Anita is telegraphed over and over, but the novel ends without it. And the final battle? What final battle? The novel ends with a whimper. It’s as though all of the characters are infected with the ennui that Anita expresses repeatedly. Light on action, light on sex, even light on the Anita angst, this felt like a placeholder in the series rather than an Anita story.
    • 4/5
      I picked this up very hesitantly. The last 5 books in this series have either been god-awful or shown promise. This one is a promising one. It is still flawed, but I didn't throw it across the room once, though there were moments I rolled my eyes.On the plus side: Anita is doing the work of being a Marshall and she is on a case away from home. This means the number of men she is expected to have sex with is a fraction of what it would be otherwise. I mean, it's over 150 pages before the first sex scene, and though it is plenty explicit enough for those who have come to count on that from Hamilton, it was kind of...*restful* in comparison to Anita's more recent goings on. This is a good thing. Edward is on the case with her. He is, by far, Hamilton's most compelling character ever. The books with him have tended to be way better than those without him. The writing is tighter. Anita is getting her feet under her, and kicking ass, rather than flailing about in an emotional shitstorm for hundreds of pages without any resolution or movement towards resolution, as in some of the worst in the series. On the negative side: Hamilton still tells rather than shows. There is so much info dumping through dialog in all of these books, I cannot believe her editor hasn't done something about it after 20 books. It's not quite at "As you know, Bob" levels, but close. There is still a hyper-focus on appearances. Every time a character is introduced, or even walks into a new room, the reader is given a detailed description of exactly what everyone is wearing, what their hair looks like, the exact shade of everyone's eyes, whether or not Anita finds them attractive, and whether or not they find her attractive. Enough already.There is still a lot of back and forth verbal emotional analysis going on in moments when it really might serve everyone better to get on with the task at hand. Anita still needs everyone to spell everything out for her, in detail, with follow up questions, and they are all, even the most taciturn characters, willing to do that for her, even when they are on their way to fight monsters, or even *while* they are fighting monsters. But that's been going on for at least a dozen books now, so no surprise there.The first 90% was pretty good, but the ending was sort of weak. I can't say much without massive spoilers, but it seemed way too easy and not nearly scary enough. Hamilton has written some terrifying scenes in the past, but this wasn't one of them. It was kind of an anti-climax, IMO.In short, this was way way way better than the low point of the series, and I will read the next one, but I'm still getting it from the library, not the bookstore.
    • 5/5
      Dont let anyone tell you this is a girls book. Anita Blake is tiny package of zombie rasing, vampire slaying, badass. She will do any thing for the people she loves and there are many, cough cough HOT people. Blood, gore, action, violence,and love Anita Blake will just plain do it all. The city of Saint Louis is her playground and she will do whatever needs to be done to protect it from vampires, shifters, witchs, demons, the mother of all darkness and just about anything else you might think of. It is a must read.
    • 4/5
      SO SO SO SO Much better than the last few books! I felt like the old Anita we had loved in the beginning was starting to peek her head out a little in this new book. I received this book yesterday in the mail and just couldn't wait to read it so two other books got put on hold so I could have time to speed through it. I've already finished it though and I'm dying for more. This book brought Anita back in the field doing her work the fact that it also happened to revolve around the Harlequin as being the serial killers she was after was a plus. Though I did feel a little cheated because The Harlequin were suppose to be the big bad or the vampire world and it just seemed that she defeated them too quick and with not quite enough explanation. There could have been another 50- 75 pages in the quick explanation of the last chapter but oh well I still loved the ending. Some of the book bordered on redundant and seemed to be fillers. However with the ending she left us with and Anita going back to work I think I was happy to read a little filler. The 5 million dollar question will be "Can Miss Hamilton Keep It Up And Make Anita Back Into The Woman We All Loved To Read." I think we all know what the back drop for the next story will be and who she will be hunting so can she keep her hands to herself and love the men she's accumulated or will she continue her slutty ways?