Skin Trade (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 17)
by Laurell K. Hamilton
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Book Summary Information
Author: Laurell K. HamiltonEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-06-02
ISBN: 0425227723
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Berkley Hardcover
Book Reviews of Skin Trade (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 17)
Book Review: A Vampire Serial Killer in Vegas
Summary: 5 Stars
Skin Trade (2009) is the seventeenth fantasy novel in the Anita Blake series, following Blood Noir. In the previous volume, Jason and Anita were abducted and Jason was tortured by vampires. Anita got free and disposed of the vampires and then the human servant of a Master of the City. The US Marshals Service was a bit disturbed by the incident, but Anita was found innocent of any wrongdoing.
In this novel, Anita Blake is a US Marshal in the Preternatural Branch. The vampires call her the Executioner. She is also a necromancer at Animators Inc. as well as the human servant of the vampire Master of the City of Saint Louis. She currently has six boyfriends plus a few more sex partners who only feed the ardeur.
Vittorio is a very old and powerful vampire. He is also a serial killer. Vittorio got away from Anita in Saint Louis and then just disappeared (see Incubus Dreams).
Maximilian is the Master of the City of Las Vegas (see Danse Macabre). He controls the New Taj casino and was a mobster before he became a vampire. His consort is Bibiani, the Chang -- matriarch -- of the weretigers in Vegas. Their son is Victor, a weretiger.
Edward -- AKA Ted Forrester -- is also a Marshall in the Preternatural Branch under his alias. He is married and has a son named Peter. He is known to the vampires as Death.
Rupert Shaw is the Undersheriff of Las Vegas. He has a grudge against shapeshifters. But he also has one of the best SWAT teams in the country.
Lieutenant Grimes is the head of the Preternatural SWAT team. He has six practitioners in his unit plus a psychic sergeant.
In this story, Anita receives a human head in the post with a note from Vittorio. While the secretary who opened the box is having fits, Anita finds a Las Vegas postmark on the package and calls the Las Vegas Police to try to find out to whom the head belonged. She is finally transferred to Shaw and learns that the head belonged to the local vampire executioner. The killer also left a note in blood on a wall that was addressed to her.
Naturally, Anita is going to Las Vegas. Her only problem is getting out of town before Jean-Claude wakes from the dead. She refuses help from Jason and the others in Jean-Claude's retinue because they don't have badges. She has to appear to be strictly business on this excursion.
Of course, Jean-Claude will be sending some people to Vegas to provide protection and food for the ardeur. He selects Requiem for the ardeur and Wicked Truth for protection. If nothing goes wrong, they will have little to do with the local police or the other US Marshals.
Shaw meets Anita at the airport with Lieutenant Grimes and several other SWAT team operatives. Anita wants to see the crime scene as soon as possible, but Shaw and Grimes play head games. Anita gets to meet the Vegas SWAT team psychics and try her strength against theirs. Then they start interrogating Anita.
Then Edward appears along with Olaf -- AKA Otto Jeffries -- and Bernando Spotted Horse. Its old acquaintances week, for all three US Marshals have worked with Anita on other cases. They have also been interrogated by the locals. Anita is getting a little peeved at the local police.
Finally, they get to view the crime scene. Three SWAT team members had been killed and seven are in the hospital under a magic sleeping spell. Anita is a little confused by the number of items that have been marked and logged, but then Edward mentions that the SWAT team had been in a firefight before they became casualties.
Later, Anita goes to the New Taj to meet Max and Bibiani. Edward has a fit when casino security takes Anita and Bernando into a shielded room before reaching Bibiani; the faraday cage effect blocks their radios. Anita and Chang-Bibi have a slight dispute, which Victor tries to moderate. Then Max shows and tells Bibiani to stop making trouble.
This tale takes has less sex than usual. Naturally, there a plenty of sexual innuendoes and risque remarks, but the physical sex play is minimized. Yet anyone who is upset by sexual references should avoid this volume.
This novel involves Anita with old acquaintances and ties up some loose ends. But it also forebodes some changes in the milieu. Read and enjoy!
Highly recommended for Hamilton fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of paranormal police procedurals, various forms of magic, and a few sex scenes.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Summary of Skin Trade (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 17)
A proven series with a hot new look. The #1 bestselling author returns with her most anticipated novel yet.When a vampire serial killer sends Anita Blake a grisly souvenir from Las Vegas, she has to warn Sin City's local authorities what they're dealing with. Only it's worse than she thought. Ten officers and one executioner have been slain-paranormal style. Anita heads to Vegas, where's she's joined by three other federal marshals, including the ruthless Edward. It's a good thing he always has her back, because when she gets close to the bodies, Anita senses "tiger" too strongly to ignore it. The weretigers are very powerful in Las Vegas, which means the odds of her rubbing someone important the wrong way just got a lot higher.
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