Cath's Book Nook

[cathepsut]

Blood Noir (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #16) by Laurell K Hamilton.

This is the 16th book in the series. The books have changed a lot over the years. They started off as your run-of-the-mill vampire hunter novel, tough heroine, nasty bad guys, lots of sleuthing, crime busting, general fighting and monster slaying. Eventually the books lost more and more of those standard items, the characters went through lots of changes in the process, it got more gory and more sexual as time wore on. Lots of fans didn't like that and stopped reading at some point. Others came to it later and some die-hard fans like me just stuck with it, despite lots of bitching about the amount of sex and the lack of plot in some of them. I have been with this series for so long, I just don't want to miss what happens to Anita. I already ordered the next book, number 17.

Blood Noir does have a plot and the usual heavy smothering of sexual encounters. The gimmick of the doppelgaenger in this one was a bit lame in my opinion. It worked for the plot, but can we expect people to really be so stupid that they repeatedly don't get it? I am not convinced. I missed Jean-Claude in this one. He is my favourite character besides Anita. And I could have done without Richard. I really, really do not like him. And I wish Hamilton would kill him off already. But I guess that's really a no-go with him being part of the triumvirate with Anita and Jean-Claude. He is just such an idiot, I just groan as soon as he appears on the page. I like Nathaniel and Jason is growing on me. This book gets an 8 out of 10 from me. Maybe even a 9. Better than the last 2 instalments. I am actually looking forward to Skin Trade, the next title in the series.