Skin Trade

April 20, 2009
Hamilton's 17th Anita Blake novel draws the vampire hunter into a game of cat-and-mouse with a particularly monstrous vampire named Vittorio. Aided by sadistic serial killer Otto Jefferies, convenient sociopath Edward and fanged escorts handpicked by her lover Jean-Claude, U.S. marshal Anita offers her services to Las Vegas, now under siege from Vittorio's army of enthralled preternatural beings. Manipulated by the cunning Vittorio and occasionally misled by coincidental events, Anita employs her insight into Vittorio's condition and weaponized libido as the decisive weapons in this struggle. The book is largely concerned with the melodramatic conflict between hunter and hunter and Blake's soap-operatic love life, but Hamilton does manage some genuinely moving passages, particularly those describing the terror of innocent vampires caught up in the arbitrary and draconian U.S. legal system.

June 1, 2009
In her 17th adventure (after "Blood Noir"), Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, also known as the Executioner, finds a surprise package on her desk early one morning. Inside, carefully packed in ice, is a human head. She knows this to be the handiwork of the vicious vampire serial killer Vittorio, whom she had chased from her hometown, St. Louis. The package was mailed from Las Vegas, so she leaves for Sin City and meets up with team members: cold, calculating Edward; psychopathic Olaf; and handsome, mellow Bernardo. Along with Vegas's preternatural police, they set out to track down Vittorio and anyone or anything else working with him. VERDICT For readers who have been longing for the engaging stories of the early Anita Blake urban fantasies, with lots of adventure nicely mingled with sexual tension but fewer pages of graphic sex, this is the book. Right from the start this supernatural thriller grabs the reader's attention and does not let go. Buy multiple copies for all those eager fans.Patricia Altner, BiblioInfo.com., Columbia, MD

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2009
The seventeenth book in Hamiltons Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series (after Blood Noir, 2008) opens with the St. Louis necromancer-cum-U.S. marshal receiving a most unwelcome gift: a human head in a box. Its achallenge from the vampire Vittorio, who resides in Las Vegas. After learning thatsomeone is killing cops there, she flies out to Vegas where sheismet by the sheriff, fellow vampire executioner Edward, and psychopathic marshal Otto, who quicklydevelops feelings for Anita, much to her chagrin.Anitapicks up the scent of weretigers and discovers that they run the city, so determiningwho among them is a killer will requireall her political savvy and skills as a hunter. It takes a while for thingsto get startedpetite Anitahas to prove herself to the men who both disdain and desire herbut readers who findthat the lengthy sex scenes in Hamiltons novels drag down the story will be pleased that this one features more varied action, though, as usual, sex rulesmost of Anitas interactions with humans and supernatural creatures. Recommend this as the best entry in a whilein Hamiltons long-running series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)