Review by Vicky London

Flirt is the 18th book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. According to the Berkley press release, Hamilton had completed work on the next Anita Blake book, Bullet and had intended to start work on a “non-Anita” book. Instead she was inspired by an encounter in a restaurant to write this unexpected bonus work. Here is the cover blurb:

When Anita Blake meets with prospective client Tony Bennington, who is desperate to have her reanimate his recently deceased wife, she is full of sympathy for his loss. Anita knows something about love, and she knows everything there is to know about loss. But what she also knows, though Tony Bennington seems unwilling to be convinced, is that the thing she can do as a necromancer isn’t the miracle he thinks he needs. The creature that Anita could coerce to step out of the late Mrs. Bennington’s grave would not be the lovely Mrs. Bennington. Not really. And not for long.

Anita has been relaxing just a bit with the men in her own life. The affectionate warmth of being with them brings out something softer in her, a sense of safety she can almost trust. They do love her; that part is forever and for sure. But flirting with feeling safe is a dangerous thing…

I think I’ve finally figured out what is bugging me the most about the last four or five Anita books. She feels the need to excessively editorialize. Every thought, action and word are endlessly explained, almost in a clinical and slightly condescending way. Nothing is left for the reader to interpret as if you’re a bit to dense too understand.

This book is more of a novella but surprisingly it works. The length of the story was appropriate but I felt it could have been fleshed out just a bit more with her life at home with “the guys”. I was disappointed that Jean Claude didn’t make an appearance. He seems to have been squeezed out of her life by the excessive number of live-in boyfriends. Which is kind of sad because he is really the only one left who can hold his own with Anita, power and personality-wise. I did like that Anita made a return to her raising the dead job which is pretty much a necessity since the police department seems to have dropped her as a consultant.

For the first time though, it seems quite apparent that Anita’s thinking has shifted. More than ever, her practicality forces her to do distasteful things but it seems to bother her now quite a bit less. In my view, she truly has become something that she used to fear.

Publisher: Berkley Hardcover
Release Date: February 2, 2010
ISBN-10: 042523567X
ISBN-13: 978-0425235676

Popularity: 5% [?]

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