I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Skin Trade
by
Laurell K. Hamilton
It is part of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #17 series and is a erotic romance, urban fantasy in a paperback edition that was published by Berkley on May 25, 2010 and has 544 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Hit List, Bloody Bones, Killing Dance, Burnt Offerings, Narcissus in Chains, Obsidian Butterfly, Bite, Incubus Dreams, Micah, Danse Macabre, The Harlequin, Blood Noir, Flirt, Bullet, Never After, Kiss the Dead, The First Death, Affliction, Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, "Shutdown", A Kiss of Shadows, Lunatic Café, A Caress of Twilight, Seduced by Moonlight, A Stroke of Midnight, Mistral’s Kiss, A Lick of Frost, Blue Moon, Dead Ice, Jason, Crimson Death, Serpentine, "Wounded", Fantastic Hope, Cerulean Sins, A Terrible Fall of Angels, Slay, Swallowing Darkness
Seventeenth in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter erotic urban fantasy series with this episode taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In 2009, Skin Trade was nominated for theGoodreads Choice Award for Fantasy.
My Take
Ooh, boy! Anita’s reputation takes a major hit amongst the non-psychic law enforcement community while getting a major boost from those who experience and/or understand the dangers under which Anita struggles. She does gets a very nice boost from the LVPD at the end!
You’d think that as much as Anita hates having to feed the ardeur with sex that she’d take better care of eating real food more frequently since … supposed to help.
I’m surprised Anita manages to keep so much under the radar with so much of the weird sh*t hitting the fan in this story. With what Sheriff Shaw reveals, the issues picked up by Rocco and Santa, the mystical escape attempt by one of Anita’s tigers, and all the “little queen” snarking that crops up. I’m curious as to how much Rocco really does keep from his fellow SWAT members as to what went down at the strip club at the end. Anita’s dedication on the one hand and the actual actions on the other will cause the scales of justice, in the eyes of the police, to sway up and down.
With all the trouble … causing Anita by not having the fourth mark…oh, wait, not an issue…maybe…there are still the Auggies, Maxes, and Bibianas of the world out there.
The Story
Vittorio has reared his ugly head…oops, I mean he sent a head to Anita. Seems she caught his attention when he fled St. Louis a few months back and now he wants her attention on him.
Carefully calculated to bring Anita to Las Vegas without input from Jean-Claude, Vittorio and Marmee Noir use Anita as their battleground each seeking to use her against the other. Even as Anita struggles with Edward, Bernardo, and Otto against and with the Las Vegas police department to stop the killing spree, which has taken out dancers and police officers as well as battling Chang-Bibiana’s intent to take over Anita’s powers for her tigers.
The Characters
We do get a number of questions answered about Anita‘s powers in and amongst the tigers as well as illumination as to Vittorio‘s…well, issues sounds so tame. A nice bit of back history on Vittorio and Marmee Noir.
Jean-Claude reveals a bit more about his feelings than I think Anita ever suspected. As do the Wicked Truth which results in her asking for their future aid. Naturally, Jean-Claude and Anita’s hope that she would not expand her pool of food is not fulfilled. Hey, this is Anita and her ardeur…… just gonna happen! Although Requiem‘s issues are resolved in Skin Trade. Thank god, he has been making me uncomfortable!
Interesting developments with Edward and Otto/Olaf as well.
The Cover and Title
The cover makes me think woodworking more than it does jinn with its rough-edged saw blades. Maybe if there had been blood dripping from one or two of the teeth?? It is a lovely metallic silver background. As for the title, Skin Trade, I haven’t a clue as to its significance.
