Dead Ice (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #24)

by Laurell K. Hamilton

Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton returns with another addictive adventure featuring vampire-hunting heroine Anita Blake, to thrill fans of Charlaine Harris and Anne Rice.

My name is Anita Blake and I have the highest kill count of any vampire executioner in the country. I'm a U.S. Marshal who can raise zombies with the best of them. But ever since master vampire Jean-Claude and I went public with our engagement, all I am to anyone and everyone is Jean-Claude's fiancée.

It's wreaking havoc with my reputation as a hard ass - to some extent. Luckily, in professional circles, I'm still the go-to expert for zombie issues. And right now, the FBI is having one hell of a zombie issue.

Someone is producing zombie porn. I've seen my share of freaky undead fetishes, so this shouldn't bother me. But the women being victimised aren't just mindless, rotting corpses. Their souls are trapped behind their eyes, signalling voodoo of the blackest kind.

It's the sort of case that can leave a mark on a person. And my own soul may not survive unscathed . . .

• ISBN10: 0755389085
• ISBN13: 9780755389087
• Publish Date: 5 November 2015 (first published 4 June 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Headline Publishing Group
• Imprint: Headline Book Publishing
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 576
• Language: English

Reviews

[Silvara]

Check out my other reviews, discussions and link ups at Fantasy of the Silver Dragon.

I've been hoping for years now that Anita would go back to the crime scene work like in the early books. I really enjoyed reading about how she figured out who the killer or bad person was. All the information about police work and using her zombie raising power and other abilities.

This book? Started out with her doing that, in the form of her U.S. Marshall duties. There is a squick factor in that the crime she is investigating has to do with zombie porn. (Yes, you read that right.) But no explicit details are given. And there is a lot less sex between Anita and everyone than in previous books. There is still sex, more than one scene of it. But there was a lot more crime investigation, and zombie raising.

There was also some wereanimal politics. And more Asher and Kane (his lover) having hissy fits. I used to really like Asher. Now I just want him to either wise up and stop being such a brat of a toddler, or have him leave the city for good. Either works for me at this point really.

Manny is back in this book! He's around for quite a bit of it, and I loved getting to see him working with Anita again. We also get a bit of Larry, they actually start on the path of working their issues and he isn't as much of a jerk as he was portrayed last I heard about him.

Micah and Nathaniel were in this one a lot, Micah a bit more than Nathaniel. And we get a lot of Dev and Nicky as well. I like that Anita is trying to work on her issues, she even mentions going to therapy and trying not to take things out on the men in her life just because anger is easier.

The Rafael plotline didn't really get wrapped up, or have any kind of "is he still hurt or isn't he?" closure. Which is my main quibble. But over-all, I'm super happy with this book and I hope we get to see lots more detective work in the next book as well.

This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon

[Melanie]

DNF

I'm done with this series. I get that poly relationships are more complicated than those of us that are in monogamous relationships. I don't want to read a book about nothing but trying to sort through those fine lines between each of the different pairings, etc. It started off so good with some great police work, but then nothing but relationship issues for more than an hour. NOPE. I'm done.

[Nany]

It was good to not have a sex scene in each chapter, but I was expecting more detectivesque plot instead of the whole sentimental crap with all Anita's boyfriends, and I didn't like how manipulative they were with the extra girlfriend issue, why Anita has to add something she doesn't want. I get really frustrated with all that BS.

[Cocktails and Books]

DNF 102 pages in.

When I read the blurb for this book and saw that Anita and Jean-Claude were getting married, it peaked my interest. I had walked away from this series several books ago because I just couldn't take it anymore. But as I got into DEAD ICE, I realized this was still the same Anita Blake. She still had a boat load of emotional issues that she didn't deal with and a bedroom full of men and enough drama to make a junior high jealous. I skipped through the book several times to see if anything would grab my attention and make me want to continue reading. Instead, all it did was fuel the fire to put the book down and DNF it.