Kiss the Dead by Laurell K. Hamilton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Kiss the Dead – by Laurell K. Hamilton

This was not the most horrible book Ms Hamilton has ever written nor was it the best…but it does seem as if she has taken some of her fans feelings to heart.  This book is not filled with the usual “porn” that we have come to expect from her past novels.  In fact there is only 2 scenes that stand out in my mind. Two of the scenes are quite specific and somewhat disturbing.

It still has the usual over writing the Ms Hamilton has been famous for, with a lot of repetition going on and the over-usage of descriptive passages meant to have us imagine what the men look like.  The incessant descriptions of curly hair on everyone, (which is amazing since only about 30% of the people in the US have such and they must all be with Anita!), clothing et cetera, are still being used.

  However, for about the first 60% of the book we actually see Anita using some of her talent.   She is not raising Zombies; she is tracking bad little Vampires, and helping a new to the area Marshal. Oddly, she is helping him more with his personal love life, than being a Marshal but so be it.  This is what our Anita has come to.  Anita is now fighting, slaughtering and giving advice to the lovelorn.  Yes, it is a stretch from the old Anita of yore.  But at least she has come to terms with what is going on in her life and not over-thinking everything.  Well almost everything.

Anita has fully embraced her liking for BDSM and pain.  And it really shows in the two sex scenes.
As we are told in the synopsis, Anita will be called out for a group (Kiss) of Vampires that all look like little kids, tweens and your Grandparents, who are un-bound to any Master.  They do have a Master, but they just won’t admit they do.  In addition, we never get to see him only his daytime servant. These Vampires are meant to evoke our sympathy and to make us understand that they are ‘just people too’ and that they should not be forced to blood-oath to Jean Claude, but things really fall apart after these Vamps kill two policemen.  Slowly we learn that these vamps want to take out Anita and Jean Claude.

Oh, we do get to meet up with Dolph again and he has undergone a sea change for the somewhat better.

There is less overt sex, but more covert discussions and angst about it ( as per normal).  Not as gross as some of the past sexual escapades—just borderline in one scene.

Asher is going to do something rather stupid, which may force him from JC and Anita’s side for a month?  an eternity? Who knows!

Richard does not make an appearance and I wonder if we will ever see some of the original cast again.

No not a horrible read, but sadly not something I’m going to have on my mind or even remember in a couple of days or so.


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