When a fellow US Marshal asks Anita Blake to fly to a tiny community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on an emergency consult, she knows time is running short. When she arrives, there is plenty of proof that a young wereleopard killed his uncle in the most gruesome and bloody way possible. As the mounting evidence points to him, a warrant of execution is already under way.

But something seems off about the murder, and Anita has been asked for her expert opinion on the crime scene. Despite escalating pressure from local cops and the family’s cries for justice for their dead patriarch, Anita quickly realizes that the evidence doesn’t quite add up.

Time is against Anita, as the tight-knit community is up in arms and its fear of supernaturals is growing. She races to uncover the truth and determine whether the Marshals have caught the killer or are about to execute an innocent man - all in the name of justice.

Listening Length

18 hours and 26 minutes
Author

Laurell K. Hamilton
Narrator

Kimberly Alexis
Audible release date

August 4, 2020
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Audio
ASIN

B086D945CY
Version

Unabridged
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Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	18 hours and 26 minutes
Author	Laurell K. Hamilton
Narrator	Kimberly Alexis
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	August 04, 2020
Publisher	Penguin Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B086D945CY
Best Sellers Rank	#9,434 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #40 in Vampire Horror #131 in Supernatural Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals) #139 in Urban Fantasy

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C. S.

The same problem as other reviews but I've addressed things that they didn't mention

Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2020

i won't beat you over the head with what everyone else has said. You've read that. Just want to add what I haven't seen anyone say. One of the 5* reviewers said that this series is showing that all kinds of sex is okay as long as it's consensual. That person is ridiculously naive. This series is not about consenting. Once the sex starts, it's all rape. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking people who enjoy reading rape in books. To each their own and the written words aren't actually hurting anyone so have at it. But the Anita Blake that this series was about, would have destroyed herself before choosing to rape anyone.

When the vampire power that causes all the sex kicks in its an interesting plot development. Anita has no control over it and at first didn't even know it existed or could affect her. In that situation the rape of Anita and her nonconsenting partners (which is what is happening when the vampire powers force sex between them) is understandable and I don't hate that. But as the books progress Anita refuses to learn to control these powers. That's when I started hating her. By refusing to control the power she is choosing to continue to rape everyone around her. Until finally she gets control of those powers and then she makes the conscious decision to do it. There are characters in this series that flat out say that they don't want to have sex with her. There's one that begs her not to use the power on him because he is a recovering addict of that power and is also gay. Guess who she uses it on? All of them. There are a couple of times when she uses it to good effect like when she uses it to enslave one of the bad guys that kidnapped her. But mostly just uses it because she can and she wants to.

I stuck it out until the book where they went to Ireland because I kept having hope that the series would return to Anita actually doing her job and fighting bad guys. I so hoped that book would be the one. I was disappointed and I refuse to waste my money on any more of Laurell K. Hamilton's drivel. That book had a stupid plot that showed potential for how good it could have been, stupid execution, and a whole lot of ridiculousness.

For those that don't know, Laurell came out as being poly herself several years ago so Anita being poly in the series makes sense as all her lead characters in her series are representative of herself. That's fine. My problem is that Laurell is using Anita Blake to work out the chips on her shoulder. Every single character you meet in probably the last 5-10 books falls into specific categories. They either: immediately want Anita and make it known; they want Anita and don't make it known and let jealousy make them angry and hateful towards her but of course she can smell their lust so she knows; it's a woman that wants one of her men and is bitterly jealous and so hates Anita (she has no female friends that she's not sleeping with. Although in the beginning she had one that, surprise surprise, falls into this category); or finally, they hate Anita because she sleeps around a lot, has a lot of scary powers, and/or is better at the job than they are. There's not a single person in the series that doesn't either want Anita or hate her. I feel so sad for Laurell that that's the kind of world she's living in because that much hate didn't start coming into the series until she came out irl.

And last, let me tell you about children. There is a boy in the series, teenager. 15 or 16 when he's introduced. He's one in the everybody rapes everybody, including Anita as a victim, group because a vampire takes over her powers. I don't have any feelings about that in any way. What I do have a problem with is that, after some moral back and forth, she eventually brings this boy home to finish raising him. She sends him to high school during the day and makes him do his homework and go to therapy but takes him to her bed at night. You decide how you feel about all that. I think it's gross. Then there's the subject of Anita having children herself. She's been very firmly in the category of not wanting them and KNOWING it would be stupid and dangerous, with her life being what it is. In the last book she was seriously considering having a baby. Not because she changed her mind and suddenly wanted one. That's an okay thing to do. No, she started thinking about it because one of her harem wants to have a baby with her and he kept picking and picking and picking at her and she wanted to do it to shut him up. For the love of all things good and right in the world. Anyone with a functioning uterus please do not follow this example! You have the right to not want children for any reason. And if you say no you have the right to keep saying no. If the man in your life keeps trying to coerce you into having them, walk away. He doesn't care about you because if he did he would respect your right to say no. Having a baby is a big deal. It changes your body and your life forever. Do not teach your daughters that it's okay to say no until a man comes along and suddenly it's a maybe yes, the way Anita has done in the series.

Basically, I'm done. This series gets 2 stars from me only because I enjoyed the first 8-10 books or so, but Anita Blake is not a good series. When the number of bad books outweighs the number of good, the series can no longer be counted as being good. (Also if you read this far, I'm shocked and I thank you for giving me your time. If you didn't read it all and skipped to the end, I understand and don't blame you)

299 people found this helpful

Helpful

Maybe I've been away too long...

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2020

I…don’t know what to do with this.

I’d stopped reading LKH a few years ago. At the time I stopped, the books felt like 20% plot and 80% icky sticky orgies. I was bored.

But when I was offered a chance to read this, I was curious. Maybe something had changed. Maybe Anita was back to being a monster hunter. I decided to give it a try.

Keeping in mind that I’ve been away from the series a while, and I’m really not aware of what’s happened in recent books, but this…is weird.

There’s no sex. Zip. Zero. None. There’s sexual tension, but no icky sticky. If you love the icky sticky, you may want to stay away from this one. If that’s what made you stop reading it, you may want to try again.

There’s an honest to goodness plot! LKH has given us a pretty solid murder mystery plot and I, while I figured out the *who* pretty early, I was invested in the *why*.

But…

You also have new PC terms for various types of shapeshifters and I was sooooo confused. I can’t even remember them now. My mind mentally stumbled every time Anita would talk about therio-somethings and ailu(um)-somethings and not-bipeds-but-something-similar-somethings.

You also have Olaf. Now, I kind of like Olaf in a makes-me-very-uncomfortable-to-admit kind of way. But Olaf in this book is…extra. Olaf (you know rapist sociopathic serial killer) + Anita might make you very uncomfortable in this book. And if it doesn’t, please stay over there and don’t come near me – ‘cause you kind of scare me.

I already mentioned the lack of sex, but you do have a very boring scene that feels about 10,000 pages long in which a bunch of character gather in a room and read off a laundry list of Anita’s sexual kinks. It’s a very unsexy scene.

I just don’t know who the book will appeal to. If you like the shifter sex shennanigans, you might be disappointed. If you like not thinking of rapists as hot, you might be disappointed.

Yeah, it’s just weird.

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

283 people found this helpful

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Spoole

Argh!!

Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

I have read all of the Anita Blake books, and I keep saying this is the last one I'll read. This time I mean it. I only made it halfway through this awful book. I kept stopping to yell "move the plot!". The characters keep having the same conversations over and over again, drawing the same conclusions. Then they talk about how they keep having the same arguments. It's just nonsense released to get fans of the past to shell out more hard earned money. Spare yourself the agony!

276 people found this helpful

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M.Whitfield

Sadly The Last Anita Book For Me

Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2020

Verified Purchase

Sadly this will be the last book I purchase for Anita Blake. Although always well written and professor edited. The series has become a cop/detective type mystery series. The things I enjoyed about the books along with the support characters are not even in the book. I feel like Ms. Hamilton received a of it criticism in the past and it has shaped the changes. And not for the better. Some may consider what I'm about to say as spoilers but it's not anything you would not learn in reading the first few pages. So I'll say again Anita is away from home. She doesn't begin by leaving. We come in with her already gone. Alone. Yes this is book 27 and as fans who know Anita knows she needs an entourage. It is a must have. Even on US Marshal business, because she has to feed. But nope she's all alone. The other thing that bothered me is that although Anita has been dealing with her situation for years! And is a very capable grown women who knows the consequences of failing to do so, they constantly have to remind her to eat. I feel also that things are being dragged out like a daytime soap opera. This book was over 600 pages and only 2 days pass . If that. And ... Olaf! I don't need to say more. (Sigh..) I miss the old Anita zombies, sex, vampires and all. Especially Jean Claude.

153 people found this helpful

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Carol Banks

Tedious, Boring, Offensive

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2020

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I had had enough of the poly angst after Affliction and didn't bother with Jason or Dead Ice, tried again with Crimson Death (shouldn't have bothered) and didn't bother with Serpentine but tried again with this offering as the reviews were not too bad and sample was ok-ish but it wasn't long before I realised that we have not moved on at all in Anita's dreary unhappy life. Anita has gone from feminist, butt kicking herione to a very unhappy victim, constantly trying to justify her poly lifestyle which seems to bring her nothing but unhappiness and we can't now see the real Anita buried as she is under the ever increasing number of so called lovers - there appears to be only sex in her life and no love at all now. perhaps the author has backed herself into a corner and can't escape although Anita is supposed to be very powerful and all her 'lovers' are bound to her by magic so surely there is a way out of this - Anita is having therapy and i assume the author is too as this book reads like therapy sessions verbatim and at great length. the actual storyline is so padded out by all this that I sometimes forgot what it was and it could have been a short story if one could remove all the deeply disturbing hand wringing - in this book Anita seriously feels that she should have sex with a serial killer so she doesn't have to kill him or be killed (oh and he is a useful marshall!! so that's ok - NOT) although she says several times that she doesn't want to have sex with him!! - surely that is rape which is NOT alright in any way, shape or form and again shows Anita's victim mentality - where has our perky, feminist gone?. She also has some cringeworthy scenes with lesbian fantasies although Anita keeps saying she is not really into it which seems rather insulting to lesbians and if she was a real person feeling unhappy with the sexual demands and lifestyle which seems to have been forced upon her then I would be advising her to get out of the relationships. she is also conflicted about marrying Jean-claude and this has been a theme through the last several books - as Jean-claude is hardly mentioned these days perhaps she should forget the marriage altogether. the early days of her romance with Jean-claude and Richard were very well written and believable - nothing in the last 2 books I have had the misfortune to read has been anything approaching believable. I have read and enjoyed fifty shades so I don't feel that I am unduly prudish but fifty shades was also a love story which Anita's is not anymore. also the increasingly complicated PC terms for werewolves and the like are annoying. what started as escapist fantasy feelgood enjoyable stories have become something much darker and disturbing and I for one can't justify spending any more of my money supporting this author's much needed therapy sessions. I will re-read the series up to Kiss the dead and possibly Affliction and then pretend there are no more stories because the Anita we knew and loved is long gone.

39 people found this helpful

Ms. Theresa M. Derwin

Caged Hunting for Anita

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 6, 2020

Verified Purchase

Okay, this is a definite change in direction for the Anita Blake books, and actually, aside from a shaky start, I really liked it.
My issue at the beginning is exposition which is rather like info dumping.
Yes, it's book 27, but I think a short 'About the series so far' style summary might work better than the repetition of last events through dialogue. There's a lot of "oh yes, I do remember the time" etc.
However, apart from that there's a lot to like here.
There's talk of sex but no longer lots of gratuitous sex scenes.
The plot itself isn't a traditional monster hunt, more of a murder mystery and an attempt to not follow through on a warrant to kill a wereleopard, Bobby.
We get to meet new characters but also see some character thoughts on polygamy, Religion and more importantly the civil rights of supernaturals plus prejudices they face, which feels timely, to be polite. Anita is also still a hard killer but balanced and encouraging therapy here, besides which, there's a very important and revealing story on PTSD.
Olaf is along for the ride and there are some I interesting developments there, as well as an ending which was incredibly emotional and I think Hamilton has tapped into some serious emotions in this one.
I really like this development and want to see the Olaf angle and the next stage in Anita's life written about, and the wedding !

6 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Bleh

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is the first review I've done for an LKH book. I've stuck with this series through everything because I do want to know where it's all going (and I've found bits to enjoy in every book - ok I had to really search in Blood Noir). Saying that, after 10+ hours of reading....nothing happened. I say skip this one, it's not really adding anything to the overall story. Which is a disappointment as now I have to wait 2 years for an actual plot (fingers crossed!). I remember Laurell talking about writing and saying that if a scene didn't move the story forward, it shouldn't be there. Based on that, 80% of this novel should have been removed.
And I thought Anita was smarter than this! Really not a mystery who done it!

I did enjoy glimpses of what's going on with the wedding but not enough to say this was a good book. Oh well. Maybe she's setting it up for the next one?

Well, we'll see won't we? At least the pandemic should have passed by then...

7 people found this helpful

Val Naylor

A little disappointed

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

I've been a bit disappointed in the last few Anita Blake books. There seems to be an inordinate amount of time discussing sex, relationships, sex, monogamy, polygamy. The actual superintendents to swallowed up by this.

Sucker Punch seemed for The first two-thirds to pick up the grit and strength of her older books. I was drawn in, then it seemed to slide. The sociopathic Olaf reappeared. Wanting to date Anita, this led to about 100 pages of discussion on her relationship with her court, what would be classed as acceptable behaviour between them. Naturally she has no intention of doing the horizontal mambo with him but this went on so that the climax of the book (no pun intended) happened so fast i was taken by surprise.

Don't misunderstand, I love Laurells books but part of me wondered if she had gotten a degree in psychology. Enjoy the book, I did, just be prepared for the in depth psychology.

4 people found this helpful

JudeC

Boring, angst-laden and offensive on many levels

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2021

Verified Purchase

So Sucker Punch came up on Kindle for 99p so I thought that I'd give Anita a go again. This is book 27 - and like many others I gave up at around book 9 or 10 when I always assumed LKH's editors were sacked.
I'm very unhappy about this book - not least because the author is not remotely interested in the plot which only occurs occasionally. On the plus side Anita isn't having sex with everyone she meets (I used to have to have flow charts to follow this) but instead is contemplating, at great length and with a huge number of people, having sex with Olaf the sociopathic serial killer. At one point there is a discussion of what level of bondage is acceptable and how to make sure that Olaf doesn't kill Anita as part of their debated sex life. This isn't acceptable on any level - is this considered publishable because most of the characters are were-animals - sorry, therianthropes? And the 'let's be PC about what we call those infected with therianthropy' is utterly bizarre. Next to this the poly love life fades into insignificance although there are various efforts to talk it up which feel as though they should be in a religious tract not a work of fiction.
The final straw for me was when Anita visits the house where the murdered person lives and sees his room of big game hunting - lions, tigers, an entire elephant etc. Morally repugnant yet Anita (who has half these animals inside her) makes no comment on how unacceptable it is in the 21st century to do this.
Definitely the end of the road for me with Anita Blake now.

2 people found this helpful

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