Skin Trade: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel

I love the Hamilton books. I have read all of them and I am so glad that we have finaly moved away from the sex! Dont get me wrong some is ok just like in this book. My only problem is in the most recent novels its be nothing but sex. I skip most of those pages and at that point I wasnt really reading much. I am also thrilled that Edward is back in this book. I love Edward and the books with him in it seem to have so much better story lines. This book was very hard to put down. It jumps right in, in like the first 2 pages and doesnt stop. I would get again in a second.

*Possible Spoilers* Just got done reading this yesterday and have to say I'm impressed by the book. Even though I am a big Anita Blake fan, the last couple books that have been released have been a hit and miss and so few and far between. While I throughly enjoyed Incubus Dreams and The Harlequin, I was very disappointed and really didn't care for Micah, Danse Macbre, and Blood Noir. But I always look forward to the next book and always do pick up a copy. The book starts out really great and hinders back to older Anita (a la Obsidian Butterfly and Gulity Pleasures). A vampire serial killer named Vittorio sends Anita the head of an vampire executioner and she flies to Las Vegas to solve the crime. Edward, Olaf and Bernardo join in and it's off to hunt the murderer. There is a lot of action and more police work that was missing in the last chunk of books. Anita also visits the weretigers and is reunited with Crispin, who had made an appearance in Blood Noir. There are a couple new characters introduced, such as Max (Master of the city in Vegas) and his wife Chang-Bibi, who also happens to be a weretiger queen. She dislikes Anita based on the fact that Anita can call out her tigers, but also seeks an alliance with her by giving her possible "mates" to sleep with. The book is great as a whole. There is sex, but it is kept to a minimum and only fills in a couple small scenes in a couple chapters. I don't really mind the sex as much, but sometimes (as with Danse Macbre) there tends to be too much of it and then the plot gets lost. The ending climax does come a little quick, but not too much for me to cry fowl. Overall, this book was a great break from a lot of the common characters we know and some of the basic plots from the last couple books. We see more police crime solving action that has been lacking for quite awhile and it not so lost in sex and going off on tangents. I cannot wait for the next Anita and hope it will be just as jam packed as this one was.

I don't usually write reviews for books but I had to on this one... Excellent book, Skin Trade brought back the "Horror" aspect of Anita Blake. Yes folks there are still sex scenes! But if you've read the series it needs to be done due to how this character has grown. The powers that she has acquired from her Vampire Master has sealed that and it will happen in every book from now on, so if that part isn't something you like, then stop buying the books, cause it's going to happen. But all in all, this entire book has brought back the supernatural horror that seems to have been missing in the last couple of books. Yes there was blood and gore in the last couple but the "oomph" that was from books past was missing. It's back and Ms Hamilton did a wonderful job. I bought the book, but due to work I also broke down and bought the Unabridged Audio so that I could listen while I worked. Unfortunately Kimberly Alexis was a poor choice for reading Skin Trade. She tried to give it the character it needed, but really she just read it and not in a way that is "Anita". It's like she didn't honestly know how to read the slang that is common in American English or even add the sarcastic feeling in some of the comments which are written. One bit that just hit a nerve was the way she read the word "Nah". In American Slang, at least, that is pronounced NAW not NIEGH like a sound a horse would make. But this was only one of many sayings that I got stuck on while listening. Might just be me, but then again it's my review :) But the book is worth the buy and is getting a high grade from me

Yes, I'm still a fan of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series and I loved "Skin Trade", book 17. I do, however, shelve the books under my erotica section and have for the last several. But I also think that the sex is part and parcel of the plot and the story arc that Ms. Hamilton has directed this series. It's her series and the stories still grip me from beginning to end. Anita's doubts regarding Vittorio's death are proven all too true when she receives the equivalent of a gory, engraved invitation she can't refuse to come to Las Vegas, where he is apparently making himself at home now. Moreover, circumstances dictate she must move quickly and therefore, she leaves without her normal 'escort'. When she arrives in Las Vegas, Anita faces discrimination as a woman, a marshall, the human servant of a master vampire, and for her choices in lovers. Anita, of course, doesn't feel the need to proffer explanations or excuses...she has a monster to kill. Fans of the series will enjoy 'seeing' some familiar characters as Anita works with three other marshalls readers have met before--Edward/Ted, Olaf, and Bernardo--one her mentor, one a serial killer with a badge, and one who'd like to bed her and who she's already seen naked. Life as usual for Anita. Now if only a blood-thirsty master vampire was Anita's only problem. An entire book without much interaction with Anita's 'normal' group of men was different and I both enjoyed the difference and missed the men! Once again, Laurell K. Hamilton sucked me in from page one and I absolutely could NOT put the book down until the last page was read. She does a wonderful job of weaving the many threads involved in both this tale and her overall story arc into a flowing narrative that doesn't stutter or stop. The action continues as each new and returning character interacts with Anita, and each of those actions drives the plot further. Now escuse me while I go sit and whimper pitifully until the next chapter of Anita's story comes out.