Publishers Weekly
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 Kemper 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)
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USA Today
What The Da Vinci Code did for the religious thriller, the Anita Blake series has done for the vampire novel.
Entertainment Weekly
[A] wildly popular paranormal series.
Library Journal
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
—Patricia Altner
JANUARY 2010 - AudioFile
Kimberly Alexis takes over the narration of this series with a tough, no-nonsense voicing of vampire hunter and Federal Marshal Anita Blake. Blake's latest adventure begins when she receives a decapitated head at her office. The only one who could have sent it is the vampire serial killer Vittorio. Alexis contrasts Blake’s voice with the softer tones of the supernatural beings—vampires, were-tigers, and witches. She gives the older ones cultured voices that make them seem even more menacing. The result is a fantastic world made more believable through Alexis's matter-of-fact reading. Fans of the series, and those who enjoy erotic fiction and the supernatural, will enjoy this seventeenth installment. E.N. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine
