Ever Tried to Hide a Weapon in a Little Red Dress? (Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K Hamilton)

Member Name: QuinnElaine

Product:	Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K Hamilton
Date:	22/04/08 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fascinating world, intriguing characters,interesting crimes

Disadvantages: not for everyone

Zip her up and she's as hidden as she's going to get! Anita Blake raises zombies from their graves for Animators Inc, and is also the legal vampire executioner for the fine state of Missouri. In fact, her kill record has caused the vampire community to refer to her as The Executioner with all the implied capitals. One of her best friends, Edward, is a cold-hearted professional killer known in the same circles as simply Death. Edward may give her the creeps sometimes, but he does let her play with all his best toys. Yeah, Anita may appear delicate, but it's best to remember that appearance are often deceiving!

Someone has begun killing vampires in St. Louis and while Anita would be happy to help her local RPIT (Regional Preternatural Investigation Team ) team figure out the who, what and why of it all, being summoned before the city's Master Vampire has kinda made this case a priority. Nikolaos appears an unlikely Master of the City when Anita first lays eyes on her, but behind that smiling child's face is a devious and ruthless mind with centuries of experience. Nikolaos insists that Anita help them by finding out just who is behind the brutal deaths of her people, and she is not used to taking "no" for an answer.

Anita barely escapes Nikolaos' supernatural hissy fit when she gets a bit too flip for the Master's liking. Jean-Claude, the second most powerful vamp in the city, is already quite taken with our feisty heroine, and he tries to act as a buffer between these two powerful and pugnacious souls. Jean-Claude's interference on her behalf may have cost him more than he planned though, and Anita finds herself wondering if the handsome and dangerously charming vamp may never surface again now that he's defied his Master. Hmm, on the other hand, perhaps she's better off never having to deal with his particular brand of temptation again? Either way, Anita's determined to put an end to these killings, along with whomever... or whatever is responsible!

My Thoughts:

Guilty Pleasures was first released back in 1993. I am baffled as to how I could have overlooked this series for so many years, but in exchange I've had the pleasure of reading the series back to back from book one straight through to book fifteen, The Harlequin, over the past three months. Things have a way of evening themselves out. Hamilton's first book in this series set its hooks deep into the mind of this reader, and I'd have to admit that it's become one of my own guilty little pleasures.

For those, like myself, who have been blithely ignorant of Anita's world, I offer this small warning before you rush off to pick up the first book. The series starts out innocent enough, but somewhere around book six the series begins focusing more attention on Anita's complicated love life... in detail... Hot, sweaty, aerobic, and often, rather kinky detail. Yes, graphic violence isn't the only thing that earns this book it's adult status. OK, you've read the obligatory warning label. We can move on now...

Anita is a strong woman, and whatever her faults, she tries to be honest about them... at least to herself if no one else. I admire that. She likes quality guns, shiny knives, really good coffee, and stuffed penguins, although not necessarily in that order. She's not shy about the scars she's acquired both before and since her in-statement as a legal vampire executioner. She is who she is, and Anita tries hard to be OK with who she is, all of who she is. Her softness is well-hidden, and she's all about show you the sharp edge of herself. A girl's gotta protect herself after all. I find Anita's no nonsense, witty, and uniquely skilled approach to be very appealing in what have been traditionally, male dominated roles.

In book one, Anita says, "I bet she thought I'd be scared of her. She was right on that. But I spend most of my waking hours confronting and destroying things that I fear. A thousand-year-old master vampire was a tall order, but a girl's got to have a goal." She's got soft heart but she guards it well, and I find that appealing too. There are many characters who come and go throughout the series, and many who become valued friends as time passes. All of them revolve around Anita though, and if her blend of humor, sensuality and action doesn't appeal, then this series is not for you. This first book is a wonderful gateway into Anita's world.

I love the diversity of characters. This world is very much like our own, it's just that some of the people aren't human. I enjoy Hamilton's depictions of vampire and were societies, and find Anita's natural abilities to be quite intriguing. Anita is an animator, something in the core of her soul calls out to the dead and undead alike. With her will and a little ritual she can raise the dead from their graves to testify before a judge, reveal the location of a lost will, or to help someone find a little closure from those that have passed out of this life.

Guilty Pleasures is the name of the strip club Jean-Claude runs, but it is also an apt description of Anita's feelings about the events that unfold in this book. Here, we are just being introduced to Anita, her powers, and her world. All the books to follow just help add a little flesh to these rather appealing bones.

Anita may not be comfortable with the "monsters", but she's even more uncomfortable with the thought that she may be more of a monster than some of the vamps and weres she encounters. Anita often seems to dig her heels in and insist on sticking with the definitions of self, humanity, and acceptable dating material with a pig-headedness that foreshadows her need to bend before she breaks. Buckle up, readers, it's gonna be a rough ride!


"Pity is an emotion that can get you killed. The only thing more dangerous is blind hate, and maybe love." ~ Anita

Summary: Zombies, werewolves, vampires... and strip clubs?