The Killing Dance (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter) [Paperback]

Laurell K. Hamilton (Author)

Book Description

Series: Anita Blake Vampire Hunter | Publication Date: June 5, 2001

With her love life-and life-on the line, the time has come for Anita Blake to choose...between a vampire and a werewolf.

...monstrously entertaining... (Publisher's Weekly)

Romantic thrills...Erotic chills...A real rush! (Jayne Ann Krentz)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Anita Blake, vampire hunter, is now herself a hunted woman. Who put the $500,000 price on her head--a man or a monster? It's not just her own skin she needs to save; the rivalry between her werewolf boyfriend, Richard, and Marcus, the other alpha werewolf in his pack, has come to full boil. And there's always Jean-Claude, the vampire who's been waiting for just the right moment to slip inside Anita's head and heart. Don't assume anything, though--Hamilton's probably got a few more surprises in store.

Review

'Death and gore galore ... Hamilton writes with ease and vigour...Great fun' SHIVERS 'I was enthralled - a departure from the usual type of vampire tale which will have a wide appeal to any reader hunting for both chills and fun' Andre Norton 'This fast-paced, tough-edged supernatural thriller is mesmerizing reading indeed' LOCUS 'Supernatural bad guys beware, night-prowling Anita Blake is savvy, sassy and tough' P N Elrod, author of THE VAMPIRE FILES --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Ace; First Edition edition (June 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441004520
• ISBN-13: 978-0441004522
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (189 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #841,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Laurell K. Hamilton is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of two series that mix mystery, fantasy, magic, horror and romance. Her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter novels from Berkley Books began with GUILTY PLEASURES (now a hugely successful graphic novel from Marvel - the first sexy paranormal comic ever!) and continues with the SKIN TRADE, number seventeen in the series, in which Anita's complex personal and professional relationships with a master vampire and an alpha werewolf continue to evolve. There are now more than 6 million copies of Anita in print worldwide, in 16 languages. Hamilton's Ballantine series features Fey princess and private investigator, Merry Gentry and there are now six novels exceeding one million copies in print. Divine Misdemeanors, the eighth in the series will debut Octobe 29, 2009. She lives in St. Louis County Missouri with her husband Jonathon Green, daughter, one pug dog and one boxer/pug dog.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear the calendar--you'll read this one in one sitting!, April 11, 2000

By 

mellion108 (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Killing Dance (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter) (Paperback)

I'm quickly making my way through the Anita Blake series. Any of these novels is a winner on its own, but you'll miss so much if you don't start at the beginning (GUILTY PLEASURES).

DANCE, in my humble opinion, is the best book thus far in the series. The main characters (Anita, Jean-Claude, Richard, Edward) are much more developed, the relationships between them all are so well written that you start to feel like you know them. In DANCE, Anita faces the realization that a mysterious "money man" has put out a huge contract for her death. With the help of her friends (and I use that term for lack of a better word for these complex characters), she battles her way through shapeshifters, shooters, makers of shapeshifter-porno movies, vamps, psychopaths and cops. And then things get strange.... Forever undaunted, Anita arms herself to the teeth to protect her life as well as the "lives" of the men/undead/werewolf that she loves.

DANCE also brings Anita to some decisions regarding her feelings for Jean-Claude, the seductive Master Vampire of the City, and Richard, the potential alpha male of the local werewolf pack. Who will she choose? Will she tell them both to take a hike? How will she reconcile her own ambiguous feelings about what it means to be a monster and what it means to be in love?

All in all, this entire series is a great ride. Anita narrates each story. She's petite, she's pretty, she's tough. She doesn't need to be rescued because she's typically the one doing the rescuing! She's a necromancer with incredible powers, and these powers are more developed in DANCE through her relationship with Jean-Claude and Richard. Laurell Hamilton introduces new characters and brings in some old ones from prior novels. It's rather difficult to pin this series into one genre. It's part romance, part mystery, part detective, part horror, part gore, part vampire and all of the above. There's something here to please almost everyone. These books are fun, they're scary, and I guarantee you'll keep reading them to find out what happens next!

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A much needed and exciting character development for Anita, June 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Killing Dance (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter) (Paperback)

Book 6 of Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake series gives a refreshing new twist to her tough as nails necromancer. The story starts with the complicated love triangle between Anita, the vampire Jean Claude and Richard the werewolf who happens to be a teacher. It continues with dangerous politics as Richard finds himself in a struggle to take control of his pack without the violence everyone wants him to use and Anita and Jean Claude must join to help him to do this. Considering the breathtaking pace at which Ms Hamilton paces the story with it's high tension sexual moments and it's nail biting combat, it becomes impossible to lay the book down and you'll find yourself propelled to read it in one sitting. Longtime readers of the series will likely be in for a surprise as Ms Hamiltons departs from her previous formula for writing the Anita Blake books and truly adds even more detail and depth to her much loved character. As always with the Anita Blake series, the supernatural, the backstabbing politics and one woman's struggle to scrape a living raising the dead will sure to delight the reader and make us all wait with anticipation for the next novel

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As Satisfying as an Ice Cream Sundae, September 18, 2002

By 

W. Brueckmann (Summerfield, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Killing Dance (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter) (Paperback)

I have read all of the novels in Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series and the "The Killing Dance" is one of the very best and my own personal favorite. Readers would be well-advised to start the series with the first novel "Guilty Pleasures" and enjoy the development of each of the characters instead of starting with this novel.

The book explores the growth and development of each of four main characters; our heroine Anita Blake, junior-high school teacher and alpha werewolf Richard Zeeman, mysterious bounty hunter Edward, and master vampire of St.Louis Jean-Claude. A huge bounty has been placed on Anita's life by an unknown money-man and Anita must somehow protect herself until the time limit expires. Anita puts a lot of effort into survival, a skill at which she has had a lot of practice and at which she excels.

Several plots run simultaneously throughout the book with the action being non-stop and rivetting. Everything ties together nicely at the conclusion, with just enough dangling ends to make us want to start the next installment "Burnt Offerings" right away.

Anita's hard-boiled attitude and biting sarcasm provide several instances where the reader can't help but laugh such as her commentary on a dinner party; "There were three kinds of people at Catherine's dinner party; the living, the dead, and the occassionally furry." Her dry sense of humor serves to break the tension at just the right moment; "What do you say to boyfriend A when he finds you naked in the bed of boyfriend B? Especially if boyfriend A turned into a monster the night before and ate someone. I bet Miss Manners didn't cover this at all."

Readers will devour this novel like an ice cream sundae; satisfying yet leaving you wanting some more. Top ratings are well-deserved.