Guilty Pleasures
ISBN: 9780755355297
Description
My name is Anita Blake. Vampires call me the Executioner. What I call them isn't repeatable. Ever since the Supreme Court granted the undead equal rights, most people think vampires are just ordinary folks with fangs. I know better. I've seen their victims. I carry the scars... But now a serial killer is murdering vampires - and the most powerful bloodsucker in town wants me to find the killer.
Reviewed on 14th April 2013
The first book in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, series introduces the reader to the first-person perspective of the title character - a fairly ordinary young woman with a slightly unusual job - as she's hired by an unlikely client to solve a string of murders.
Its an interesting world that Hamilton has created, in which the paranormal is just normal and accepted as part of society, which serves in part as a metaphor for discrimination. Mostly though it's a bit of a romp, though without the campness that some vampire-themed series evoke.
The plot is complex enough to stay interesting while really not doing very much. As a mystery story it's not really got the weight that I like and the investigation seems to be pushed more by the various supporting characters than the investigator. As a paranormal romance - which it clearly claims not to be - I think it would be quite acceptable. There's enough kissing and romance-related commentary from Anita that this aspect over dominates the narrative and weakens the overall effect, though it doesn't go anywhere near the extremes of some more recent vamp-romance novels.
While it certainly wasn't a bad book, I don't think that I'm the target audience and I'm not enthused by it enough to immediately consider buying the sequels.