Skin Trade

Finally! I have waited patiently to get my hands on this book :)

There is a human head on Anita's desk and it's real. She has yet to start her day by seeing her customers and now, with what little time she has, she has to think about the human head so nicely packed upon her desk. She knows that Vittorio sent it. Vittorio is a powerful master vampire (although he belongs to no city and is a serial killer) that had recently been responsible for the death of some local cop in St. Louis. She decides to call Las Vegas and tell them what she's just received from their little town.

However, it's worse. Vittorio had recently killed some of the Vegas cops as well as their local executioner (who's head is now on Anita's desk) and left her a nice message in their blood. The Vegas cops want to know why Vittorio is so interested in Anita. When she arrives in Vegas her reputation has proceeded her and not in a good way. Since she and Jean-Claude have decided to go public with the fact that she is his boyfriend her standing at work among the cops, SWAT, and fellow marshals has plummeted. Instead of someone deserving of respect with the highest kill count in the nation she is nothing but a harlot in almost every law enforcer's eyes. Not very nice, and Anita doesn't want to waste time with a pissing contest to win these boys over. Time is a ticking.

The good news is Edward (Ted), Olaf (Otto) and Bernardo will be joining her along for this mission - even though she'd rather not be anywhere near Olaf. When she meets the SWAT team she sees how impressive they really are; they've been doing their homework. Sgt. Rocco is a powerful physic just like Anita but just a different flavor.

Soon everyone begins to question the local weretigers, because one of the bodies was attacked by a were-animal but then they're also trying to find the missing link. Some of the bodies weren't killed by human of shifters. But what could have possibly killed those humans with so many sharp blades?

I am very disappointed in this book. She spent 486 pages with the action of the case and then in the last 10 pages it's solved. The ending was really anti-climatic! She's going up against one of the most powerful vampires (starting to rival Mother of Darkness) and wins?! Really? In 10 pages? UGH! I am just so bummed too about how the events played out in the final part of the book.

While reading this I could also tell that both she and Anita are starting to tire of this series. She often makes references, in Anita's voice, about how tried she is. That is to say, how tired Anita is of her job - and how her job is starting to interfere too much with her other life and vice versa. Is that a foreshadow perhaps of the end of the series? I would hope not because I very much love all the characters and love reading about them but there's only so many stories to write until they all begin to take on the same plot w/just some minor twists - and that means they've become dull.

All in all I'm not over the moon about this book. There have been some books in the past that she's written in the Anita Blake series that afterwards I was sad that it was over; it was like drinking you favorite beverage - although it's now gone it was delicious while the time lasted and left you happy. This book though, left me with a sour taste because it wasn't that good. Hopefully we will have some more books to come before she decides to pull the plug. In all fairness she has been writing Anita's story for some time.

1) Guilty Pleasures
2) The Laughing Corpse
3) Circus of the Dammed
4) Lunatic Cafe
5) Bloody Bones
6) The Killing Dance
7) Burnet Offerings
8) Blue Moon
9) Obsidain Butterfly
10) Narcissus in Chains
11) Cerulean Sins
12) Incubus Dreams
13) Micah
14) Danse Macabre
15) The Harlequin
16) Blood Noir
17) Skin Trade (Coming our June 2, 2009!!!!)

Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton. New York 2009