Kiss the Dead by Laurell K Hamilton

When a fifteen-year-old girl is abducted by vampires, it’s up to U.S. Marshal Anita Blake to find her. And when she does, she’s faced with something she’s never seen before: a terrifyingly ordinary group of people—kids, grandparents, soccer moms—all recently turned and willing to die to avoid serving a master. And where there’s one martyr, there will be more…


But even vampires have monsters that they’re afraid of. And Anita is one of them…(courtesy of Amazon)



I'm a big fan of the Anita Blake series, after all, having Amy hand me this series 3 years ago is what got me back into reading!  The dynamic in the series of a strong kick ass female that is set in her ways and yet, still manages to come this far and open up is great.  I have a few favorite characters and Hamilton keeps the story going whether it's a crazy vampire or an insane lover, there's always action and hot sex!  If you read Hamilton, you better be open minded and ready to be turned on but remember there's action and lots of blood.

This all being said, I read Kiss the Dead in about 5 hours.  I didn't want to put it down.  If Hamilton ended the series right here today with this book, I wouldn't be disappointed.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want her to end the series, I'm just saying that this book would bring comfort to the series ending.  I don't want to give to many spoilers away, but if you think you might be concerned, don't read on, just take my advice and read this one.

Bottom line, this book has me happy for Anita.  This is a change for some of the books, Hamilton usually has us lost in crazy sex scenes, but halfway through the book and not one scene yet.  Hamilton brings up the true Anita here, the US Marshal, the Executioner, as she works with the cops and SWAT team to find what has happened to the girl.  Well done action in only Anita's bad ass way.  Anita is with Zerbrowski (we all loves him) and it's amazing how far he's come to be Anita's partner and respect her.  Finally Anita has a game plan with all her men.  I still love Micah, Nathaniel, and Jean Claude the best for her.  We see some drama with Sin and Nicky will do anything for her, even if it costs him his life.  Anita has come full circle (many argue they don't like it or the amount of sex, well then read something else), coming full circle shows you that Anita has grown, she's comfortable in herself now.  She went from warding off men to opening her heart to quite a few and would do anything to protect them, which she shows again here as 4 end up in a bad situation.  And I'm just going to say --- fricking Asher, REALLY?  This book could be a turning point for the series.

6 slices