Thursday, June 9, 2011

Review: Hit List by Laurell K Hamilton

Hit List
Author:Laurell K Hamilton
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Publisher: Berkley
Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Book #20
ISBN:   0425241130
ISBN13: 9780425241134
Genre:Urban Fantasy


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.
I must admit that after the last few Anita Blake books I was kinda hesitant to pick up HIT LIST. I'm all for Laurell's sex scenes but BULLET was pretty much all orgy sex and I was thinking HIT LIST would be the same and I really missed seeing Anita in action... hunting, fighting, killing bad guys or even using her necromancy skills. You might be shocked but I can honestly tell you there was only 1 sex scene in HIT LIST, we have kick ass Anita back!!! Not only that but only 2 of her lovers are in the book and they are only in the last few chapters. I loved her with Edward again, they make an awesome team and I love seeing them in action. Olaf made a few appearances and he is as creepy as ever. I have a feeling he will be a major player in an upcoming book and I think it will be Edward and Anita hunting him down to kill him finally. We have a new Shifter in the picture. I really enjoy Ethan. He seems like he will make a great addition to Anita's group. My only complaint is the ending. I felt like it was missing something/happened to fast/just lacking, after all the difficulties The Mother of All Darkness has caused it just wasn't a fulfilling for me. To sum it up HIT LIST is full of action OUTSIDE of the bedroom so if you missed the old Anita grab yourself a copy.

I gave it 4/5 stars