The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #2)

by Laurell K. Hamilton

After a few centuries, the only death 'big enough' is a human sacrifice. I know, because I'm an animator. My name is Anita Blake. Working for Animators, Inc. is just a job - like selling insurance. But all the money in the world wasn't enough for me to take on the particular job Harold Gaynor was offering. Somebody else did, though - a rogue animator. Now he's not just raising the dead ...he's raising Hell. And it's up to me to stop it ...

• ISBN10: 0786545496
• ISBN13: 9780786545490
• Publish Date: 3 March 2004 (first published 5 May 1994)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[FranJessca @ A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog]

I’m going to try to keep this review short and sweet. We will see how it goes because I’m doing a re-read of one of my favorite series right now. The Anita Blake series got me into the Urban Fantasy genre, and this is the third time I’ve read the second book in the series. It has to be one of my favorite series in the book because of how dark and twisted it is as far as other books. It also was the book that introduced Anita’s hidden powers. She may be small, but she is one fierce kick-butt female heroine. 

The Laughing Corpse, which is the second book in the series, focuses on Anita’s Animator/Necromancer skills and some very sick twisted villains in the story. If you read the first book and thought the former Master of the City was bad, you haven’t read anything until you meet Dominga Salvador. She is one voodoo priestess that will give you nightmares. Anita has to track down who could’ve raised a zombie that is now on a killing spree. She ends up dealing with more than she bargained for in this story. Be prepared for an action-packed, twisted storyline in this book, although you will also get Anita’s ways of dealing with danger. She’s scared at times in this book, but she has humor too in this book. 

Overall, this book gets 5-stars from me, and it is one of my favorites in the series. Anita Blake will forever be one of my favorite kick-butt heroines. I know later on the books change a lot, but I enjoy them. I like how Anita grows in the books. There is no sex in this book, but a lot of action. It’s been a while since I read the earlier books, so it was nice to be back in the previous world of Anita Blake and how much she hated Jean-Claude but also loved him in her ways. I can’t wait to dive into the next books because I’ve missed this world that Laurell K. Hamilton created. I love this series, and I’m glad it’s getting me out of my reading funk I’ve been having lately.

[Berls]

Why oh why did I wait so long to pick this series up? All the recommendations, all the times I held the books in my hands and had them sitting on my bookshelf, only to return them unread, sell them to Half Price Books, or donate them to a library because I thought I wasn't interested. Well, at least someone recommended them again and I finally said, "there's a reason I keep ending up with these books" and picked them up. Because damn they are good.

This is only book 2 in the series, but I will say it's not living up to all the talk about it being a super sexy series. I don't know if that happens later or I've just read so much true erotica that it takes a bit more to get me these days... but that's okay - the suspense, action, and characters are keeping me fully engaged.

I think I enjoyed this one mainly because of the character development with Anita. We get to see a bit more of her back story and a TON of potential for where this series could go. We also see her morals and where she draws the line loud and clear. She may have killed, but she doesn't do it lightly. And she genuinely cares about people.

That's not to say that the story wasn't great. The mystery was no where near as obvious in this book as book one and I was pretty stumped about exactly who/how these REALLY TRULY AWFUL murders were happening. I had my suspicions, but I didn't know how to put them together. Oh and, if like me, you like books that go there with getting brutal (without being horror, because that doesn't work for me) this book will deliver.

I have a feeling I would love this in audio, but I'm doing a pretty decent job killing it in print - which says a lot.

[Chelsea]

I'm nervous about this series because I heard mixed things about the later books. Luckily I really enjoyed reading this one and so far I'm planning on continuing with the series. This is a slightly older book so there's some wording that would not be acceptable today. It's also a little weird that the main character is so against vampires but she seems to be cool with the other supernatural races. It's not a bad thing I guess but I was hoping for more vampire friends in this series.