Customer Reviews

Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter 02)

5 star:		(97)
4 star:		(58)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

"The Laughing Corpse" is the second in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton, although the focus is much more on her job as an Animator than as the person the vampires call The Executioner. Once again the title is taken the name of a St. Louis hangout for those who like to visit the dark side, in this case a comedy club (helpful hint: zombies do not like to be the butt of jokes). This time around Anita is in way over her head with a whole bunch of serious problems. A lord of the underworld wants to pay her big time bucks to raise someone who has been dead for a couple of hundred years and does not like it that Anita has refused because the only way to do so required a human sacrifice. Her friend Catharine is getting married and wants Anita to be a bridesmaid, which involves wearing a pink gown that has to be altered to cover all of her scars. The voodoo priestess for the entire Midwest has learned how to put a person's soul back in their dead body, which stops the zombies from decaying, and Anita refuses to help her raise more zombies for profit. Meanwhile, Jean-Claude, the Master Vampire of St. Louis who has already put two of his marks upon our heroine, demands Anita start acting like his human servant. But the case Anita is trying to focus regards a savage zombie that is going around murdering families in their home, making her problems with three powerful people who refuse to take "No" for an answer rather inconsequential. Like it says on the coffee mug her boss would not let her have at the office, "It's a dirty job and I get to do it."

I was surprised to decide at the end of "The Laughing Corpse" that it was not only an improvement over the first book in the series, but one of the best horror stories I have ever read (and I read a lot of horror novels). There is a lot going on her, but Hamilton weaves the various cases, most of which would have sustained an entire novel, into a coherent narrative. I really was surprised when everything came together in the end. Hamilton has a much surer sense of her character this time around and I have every reason to believe that future novels in the series will be at least as good as this way. These books deserve their reputation and popularity if the rest are any where near as good as "The Laughing Corpse."

Big Time Warning: this is a gruesome book. Younger readers of "The Laughing Corpse" are going to be upset by several of the scenes, especially when Anita investigates the bloody crime scenes and the climatic encounter. I read these sections in the light of day and they were still disturbing. Those who come to this series because of their love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer need to be told that this is a much darker world where the violence is brutally horrific and not beautifully choreographed. These books are much more intense. If they made this into a film it would give "The Exorcist" a run for its money. Remember, you were given fair warning.

Animator and vampire hunter Anita Blake is back. And everyone wants a piece of her. Master vampire Jean-Claude wants her for his own. Millionaire Harold Gaynor threatens her life unless she agrees to raise a three-hundred-year-old corpse from the grave. The catch? Only a human sacrifice will raise a zombie that old. Voodoo priestess Dominga Salvador wants her to go in to business with her, raising zombies with souls. Is nothing sacred? Necromancer John Burke wants her to help him find his brother's murderer. However, he's a murder suspect himself. To make matters worse, a killer zombie is on a rampage, murdering and eating whole families. It's just an ordinary day for the Executioner.

THE LAUGHING CORPSE is the second novel in the Anita Blake series. The action is nonstop. The humor is sharp as a wooden stake. The vampires are (...). The romance is as hot as a date in Hell. And Anita is the girl of my dreams. My next date with her is in CIRCUS OF THE DAMNED. Can't wait!

Ever wonder what the United States would be like with vampires and shapshifters? Where vampires are treated as living people and a person could be tried for murder when they staked the undead. Where the disease known as lycanthropy can make a regular person howl viciouly at the full moon and crave warm human flesh. And a woman known as an animator makes a living off of raising the dead...as in zombies. If you've ever wondered if the supernatural could be natural then I would encourage you to read this book and the other books of the Anita Blake series. Especially those who love blood, guts, gore, and a heroine who's tough enough to take on the whole supernatural world that Laurell K. Hamilton has created.

"The Laughing Corpse" by Laurell K. Hamilton, the second novel in the addictive Anita Blake - Vampire Hunter series, is a fun-filled thrill ride that will have readers craving more. Even better than the first of the series, this book grabs the reader by the throat and doesn't let go. Full of page-turning suspense, this book is escapist reading at its very best!
When Anita Blake, tough-as-nails vampire executioner and necromancer, is offered a million dollars by Harold Gaynor to raise a 300-year-old zombie, she has no choice but to decline. A zombie that old can only be raised one way - with a human sacrifice. Mr. Gaynor is not at all pleased with her refusal, but Anita will not be bought or threatened.
Unfortunately, when incredibly violent and gruesome murders start occurring, apparently perpetrated by a flesh-eating zombie, Anita realizes that someone else has raised Gaynor's zombie.
Anita seeks the help of the country's most powerful voodoo priestess, Dominga Salvador, in hopes that she might know about the killer zombie. However, when Anita refuses an offer to work with Dominga, it puts her on the voodoo priestess' list of enemies.
Anita is left fighting off Gaynor's goons, a murderous zombie, and all the nasty preternatural monsters Dominga Salvador can send her way, which makes for some great reading!
On top of all her other troubles, Anita must deal with the advances of Jean-Claude, the new Master Vampire of the City. Although Jean-Claude is mind-numbingly sexy, Anita refuses to become involved with a vampire. But Jean-Claude doesn't give up that easy, and his witty and sometimes wicked exchanges with Anita are truly entertaining.
"The Laughing Corpse" is a suspenseful, non-stop action adventure set in Hamilton's weird and wild world of vampires, werewolves, and zombies. Readers will be absorbed into this wonderfully imaginative alternate reality and will enjoy every minute spent in the company of Anita and the gang. So pick this book up today, put the phone off the hook, and enjoy!

Anita Blake is quite a busy girl in this second installment of the series. Gaynor, a sadistic millionaire, has offered Anita a million dollars to raise a very old corpse. Anita is an expert in raising the dead, but there's a catch in this particular request. Human sacrifice is required in order to raise the three-hundred-year-old corpse -- something Anita isn't prepared to do. However, Gaynor won't take no for an answer. To make matters worse, a powerful zombie has killed various families and Anita has sought out help from one of the most powerful and evil voodoo priestesses she's ever met. It is up to Anita to find the monster and the person who had raised it.

The Laughing Corpse is action-packed and suspenseful from beginning to end. Just when you think Anita is out of the woods something else comes along. This novel is as entertaining and riveting as Guilty Pleasures. There is a lot of gore and gruesome descriptions in this one, but said descriptions aren't gratuitous -- except for the police murder scenes involving slaughtered children. That was a bit too much. I also wish that Jean-Claude had been in more scenes. He is one sexy vampire! I look forward to reading the third installment with gusto. I can see why so many people swear by this series. It's as addicting as chocolate! Highly recommended...

This second book is great - Multiple plots weaving together, true NON-stop action, greater interation between Anita Blake and Jean-Claude. I didn't like the first book too much, but this one seems to work - the story moves smoothy, we now know many of the characters and something about Anita Blake hints at power and danger. And she doesn't get her butt kicked...as much.
While the book does not focus on vampires, Jean-Claude, Master of the City, seems to appear more in these chapters than in "Guilty Pleasures", mostly because they REALLY talk to each other instead of trying to stare each other down.
I got an older copy so as to have a normal looking cover.

This is one of the necessary books in a series. The first book catches your attention, but leaves a lot to be answered. The second book, The Laughing Corpse, develops the characters, especially Ms. Blake, and shows what they are willing to do if not now then in the future. There are a few hints of foreshadowing in this book. It also hints at the huge amount of power that Anita has and will discover in future books. If you are not reading these books in order then this book will probably not interest you as much. If you are reading them in order, which I highly recommend, then you will appreciate what you learn from this book after you have read the later books. I hope everyone has a beautiful day and KEEP READING!

If I had read this first instead of Guilty Pleasures I would probably not have read another one. The violence in this book is pretty stomach-churning, and while it's blackly funny in parts, there isn't as much personal interaction as in the other Anita Blake books I've read. So if this is your first exposure to Anita Blake, don't be discouraged but go on and try the rest of the series.

I felt that this installment in the series was slightly better than Guilty Pleasures, but I must admit that Ms. Hamilton still has a way to go in developing her writing skills.

This novel didn't suffer from the total lack of explanation that I found in Guilty Pleasures, but it still seemed that explanatory prose was used in some odd ways. Pages were spent describing gruesome crime scenes, and in tedious arguments with the Master vampire of the city, yet almost no space was spared for real character development or to further the plot.

Again, the killer is revealed suddenly and (**mild spoilers**) turns out to be something that makes sense in this created world, but that the reader could not possibly have guessed. Ms. Hamilton seems, at times, to be making things up as she goes along. Of course any writer is, by definition, making things up as they go along. The trick is that it shouldn't seem that way. This book, however, introduces rules of internal logic as they are convenient to the story so that one gets the impression that the rule was created to get the writer out of a corner.

All-in-all, this is a very good concept with a fairly shaky execution. Not terrible, but not excellent either. I recommend this novel for those who are interested in reading the whole series, and for those looking for ideas for writing, roleplaying, etc. Otherwise, only hard-core fans of the author or the genre need apply. Bearing the above in mind, you should still be able to have fun.

This is the second novel in an excellent vampire series. Welcome to the world of Anita Blake, necromancer (zombie raiser) and vampire executioner. She is a 5'3" dynamo with a variety of weapons that would make Rambo proud. She is tough, but fair, and her world is very very interesting.

Anita's money hungry boss has made an appointment at a client's home. This client would like a zombie raised. Once Anita arrives and notices the weapons carried by her client's bodyguards, and the type of bodyguards this client has, she realizes this is not your ordinary "I want my attorneys to review my husband's will" so please raise him as a zombie appointment.

Anita's boss is offered a tremendous amount of money to have anita raise a very old zombie. This zombie is so old that the only way to raise him would be to take a human life, and to use human blood. Anita turns this offer down, but this client will not take no for an answer. Also, Anita is pulled into yet another police investigation when she helps the police investigate a case where entire families are being murdered.

This novel has plenty of action and the story lines and characters flows beautifully. This novel is EXCELLENT and I would highly recommend!