Bloody Bones

Reviewed: July 19, 2005
By: Laurell K. Hamilton
Publisher: Jove
384 pages, $10.99

Anita Blake raises zombies for a living, in a world like ours but not quite the same place. Zombies can be used to settle all sorts of legal questions, or to testify as to who killed them. Anita is also a licensed vampire slayer and an assistant to the police’s monster squad. But this adventure begins with her primary profession.

It’s supposed to be a matter of finding out who is buried beneath a plot of land in another part of the country in order to clear the way for a real estate development. That’s the story, anyway. But in this alternate reality where vampires have human rights and can only be killed if it has been proven they have murdered a human being, nothing is ever quite as simple as advertised.

Anita is breaking in a junior partner, young Larry, and the pair find themselves involved with fairy folks and a nightmare monster before the story ends.

They also find themselves caught in the middle of a power struggle between Jean-Claude, the master vampire of Louis, and Serphina, a much less accommodating master. As usual in these tales, Anita has to fend off Jean-Claude’s amorous intentions, and face the forces of a greater darkness.

Also as usual, all of this takes place at breakneck speed over just a day or two. One hopes that Anita’s life does slow down from time to time.

I detest the marketing of these books. Up to this point the sexual content of Anita’s adventures has been suggestive, but nowhere near as graphic as the book covers would suggest. Happily, I’ve been reading these in e-book format and haven’t had to put up with anyone wondering what on earth prompted me to pick up a book that lurid.

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