Blood Noir (Anita Blake #16)

My favorite fiction author is Laurall K. Hamilton and she writes two series: The Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series and the Merry Gentry series. Blood Noir is the 16th Anita Blake book and this series just keeps getting better and better.

Doing a favor for Jason - one of vampire hunter Anita Blake's werewolf lover - puts Anita in the center of a full-blown scandal that threatens master vampire Jean-Claude's reign—and makes her a pawn in an ancient vampire queen's new rise to power.

Wherever Anita Blake goes, trouble follows. Even an innocent trip to North Carolina to help out her good friend Jason goes wrong right from the start. In LKH’s newest novel, Jason's estranged father is in a hospital with only days to live, so Anita volunteers to be his 'girlfriend' to prove to his father once and for all that he’s a “normal” guy. As soon as they get to his home town, Jason finds himself involved in a case of mistaken identity with a well-known, and infamous, local celebrity. Between dealing with press ambushes, insulting bodyguards, a drunken bachelorette party, and Jason’s bizarre family dynamics, the pair decide they have had enough. But then Marmee Noir, the oldest living vampire, makes an appearance and Anita finds herself involved in the most frightening and dangerous situation yet. The best Anita Blake book in years!!

I have read all Laurell K. Hamilton's books, and while she has had her ups and downs as a writer her last couple of books 'this one included' are starting to return to her original focus. Other reviewers have complained that there is to much sex, but I find that her last couple of books have toned that down and started turning back towards to the proper direction, the characters. The sex is still there, but it is not so prevalent, and lets be honest if Anita had suddenly become puritanical it would make less sense to her character and story line than anything else. I choose not to give anything away, but this book has brought the focus back to the character of Anita and her friends, and that is what has made this series great more than the zombie raising and vampire battles.

There are many reviewers who are posting horrible reviews for this book, but I am not one of them. Anita Blake's world is one I enjoy visiting and even when there are no new books, I have been known to go back and re-read previous books.

If you are a Laurell K. Hamilton fan, then Blood Noir is a 'must-have' book to add to your collection.

This review is for 3 Book Challenges:
Southern author; southern setting.
2008 Recently Published book.
888 Challenge - a vampire book from the vampire category.