Book Blurb
Anita Blake has the highest kill count of any vampire executioner in the country. She’s a U.S. Marshal who can raise zombies with the best of them. But ever since she and master vampire Jean-Claude went public with their engagement, all she is to anyone and everyone is Jean-Claude’s fiancée.
It’s wreaking havoc with her reputation as a hard ass—to some extent. Luckily, in professional circles, she’s 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. Anita has seen her share of freaky undead fetishes, so this shouldn’t bother her. But the women being victimized aren’t just mindless, rotting corpses. Their souls are trapped behind their eyes, signaling voodoo of the blackest kind.
It’s the sort of case that can leave a mark on a person. And Anita’s own soul may not survive unscathed . . .
It’s wreaking havoc with her reputation as a hard ass—to some extent. Luckily, in professional circles, she’s 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. Anita has seen her share of freaky undead fetishes, so this shouldn’t bother her. But the women being victimized aren’t just mindless, rotting corpses. Their souls are trapped behind their eyes, signaling voodoo of the blackest kind.
It’s the sort of case that can leave a mark on a person. And Anita’s own soul may not survive unscathed . . .
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Toot's Review
Have you ever read a beloved series that ended up growing and changing so much that it’s unrecognizable from what made you fall in love with it in the first place? Or how about one that changed so much but you accepted it in its new form, only to get stuck in its own redundancy? Yeah, I have and sadly, it seems to be my beloved PNR Anita Blake series.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, if you’re a fan of the series, you’ve heard all the bad mojo surrounding the series over the years. Our favorite Vampire Hunter turns into a sex craved, issue filled Diva as the series progressed over the years and sadly Dead Ice is just another addition to this dying series.
Anita is back with her unique crime fighting in the supernatural world and with her menagerie of lovers. In this installment of the Anita Blake series, Anita is dealing with the FBI and has been brought on to a case involving Zombie Porn. Yep you heard me, Zombie Porn, which involves real life rotting Zombies, brought back to life for nefarious snuff porn films of sorts. Usually Zombies in Anita’s world are soul-less animated corpses but someone has found a way to trap the soul back into the Zombie to keep the thing from rotting too quickly, thereby committing not only the act of forced porn but also making the person suffer through the process of rotting and being raped. Yeah it’s very gross!
Anita is also dealing with her very confusing love life and impending marriage to multiple people. Yep, she’s all about the polyamourous relationships (if you didn’t already know). All the while dealing with the demanding animal groups who want to be represented in the marriage and all the normal politics she normally deals with.
If you didn’t know, this series is told from Anita’s POV. I think this is what is really starting to grate on my nerves. Normally when I read books from one POV, there’s a good reason for it. It’s the heroine or hero’s story. Usually being in their head is part of the story. It moves the story along and is sometimes really annoying or can be brilliant. Unfortunately, twenty years in Anita’s head is getting a bit old. In Anita’s world, it hasn’t been that long but the books have been around that long. Anita is a very neurotic diva-esque personality that tends to reiterate everything, explain everything, nitpick on everything, perseverate on everything, obsess about everything, hate on everything and spew how great she is all the while being self destructive to everyone and everything around her and yep, you get to be in her head, yet again. I never thought there was a character that I would grow to hate hearing a story from their POV but Anita has done it. I’ve grown tired of her narocies. She runs hot and cold and she’s just tiring. Having someone explain everything she does to the reader like you’re a five year old toddler became eye roll inducing. The first half of the book had more explanations of story elements than story itself but it does finally pick up steam in the second half.
In a nutshell, I felt the story had an echo of the old Anita/Police days but as a whole this story does not push the series forward, it just adds to the already present stagnant waters.
After being a patient and hopeful fan of the series for many years, I was hopeful that one day, the style of the original books would come back after all Anita’s whoring was over but sadly I think those days are far, far behind us and I don’t think even the author knows how to dig her out. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to hang up the series and more onto other worlds.
I give it 2 1/2 stars
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