The latest Anita Blake installment features Anita joining Jason on a trip to North Carolina, providing emotional support as he visits his dying father. Of course, bad guys appear, and people get bloody.

I keep hoping Ms. Hamilton will take some of her critics’ (and fans’!) advice to heart and the series will improve, but alas! The first scene reads like bad fan fiction, and it’s pretty much all downhill from there, including the usual inane “As You Know, Bob” dialogue. Anita’s constant pregnancy scares are getting kind of old now, and the continued lack of editing made me keep thinking of how I would have rewritten particular sentences if I were her editor. At least this book is shorter than the previous ones!

Anita Blake is more likable in this book compared to other ones. To be honest, I’ve grown weary of Hamilton’s series because she seems to be covering the lack of plot with sex, sex and more sex. This book though, is a definite improvement than the earlier ones. Although not very good compared to her earlier works, it has at least a semblance of a story. And not just an outlet for her to write about her sexual fantasies.