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, US Marshals who really know their monsters, to catch the killer.
But some monsters are very real. The Harlequin have been the bogeymen of the vampire world for more than a thousand years; they are a secret so dark that even to speak their name can earn you a death sentence. Now they are here in America, hunting weretigers, and human police.
The Harlequin serve the Mother of All Darkness, the first vampire. She was supposed to be dead, but only her body was destroyed. Now she needs a new one, and she's decided that Anita Blake's is the body she wants. Edward thinks the serial killings are a trap to lure Anita closer to the most dangerous vampire they've ever hunted. The vampires call Edward "Death," and Anita the "Executioner," but Mommy Darkest is coming to kill one, and possess the other, and she doesn't care how many others have to die along the way.
But some monsters are very real. The Harlequin have been the bogeymen of the vampire world for more than a thousand years; they are a secret so dark that even to speak their name can earn you a death sentence. Now they are here in America, hunting weretigers, and human police.
The Harlequin serve the Mother of All Darkness, the first vampire. She was supposed to be dead, but only her body was destroyed. Now she needs a new one, and she's decided that Anita Blake's is the body she wants. Edward thinks the serial killings are a trap to lure Anita closer to the most dangerous vampire they've ever hunted. The vampires call Edward "Death," and Anita the "Executioner," but Mommy Darkest is coming to kill one, and possess the other, and she doesn't care how many others have to die along the way.
This is the 20th book in the Anita Blake series. For a while there, the series had turned into books mainly about sex. All kinds of sex. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong about that – in fact that is a reason why people like to buy them, but the detective part of the series is what drew me to them and Laurell has gotten back to that.
The book starts off with the grisly murder of a were tiger and sets the pace from the start. We see more back story for Edward and Anita has to battle Olaf obsession with her. There are changes in the Marshal Service, that lead to problems for Anita and Edward.
I did think some parts of the story were contrived, just a little and I wasn't happy with how the end was wrapped up. It was very fast. All in all though, I really enjoyed the book and look forward to seeing what Laurell does next with Anita.
For the first time in a long time I really enjoyed this series. This book is more reminiscent of the first books (before the ardeur was introduced). I love Edward's character and felt it was good to see Anita away from her usual harem of men. The price of the book was crazy but I am not disgusted with myself for buying it.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked it as well. It was great to see Anita get back to her roots and away from all the men. Edwards character had a lot of growth in this book and I liked that as well. Thank you for your comment!
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