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The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 2)
 
 
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The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "Harold Gaynor's house sat in the middle of intense green lawn and the graceful sweep of trees..." (more)
Key Phrases: exterminator team, killer zombie, two exterminators, Dominga Salvador, John Burke, Harold Gaynor (more...)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (167 customer reviews)
Price: $7.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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  Kindle Edition, September 1, 2006 $6.39 -- --
  Hardcover, Large Print $28.95 $28.95 $57.71
  Paperback, August 1, 2005 $10.20 $8.00 $5.99
  Mass Market Paperback, September 23, 2002 $7.99 $3.71 $3.40
  Audio, CD, Audiobook $28.76 $21.33 $21.33
  Unknown Binding, December 31, 2001 -- $3.89 $4.00
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Frequently Bought Together

The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 2) + Circus of the Damned (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 3) + Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Book 1)
Price For All Three: $23.97

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  • This item: The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 2) by Laurell K. Hamilton

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  • Circus of the Damned (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 3) by Laurell K. Hamilton

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  • Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Book 1) by Laurell K. Hamilton

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Harold Gaynor offers Anita Blake a million dollars to raise a 300-year-old zombie. Knowing it means a human sacrifice will be necessary, Anita turns him down. But when dead bodies start turning up, she realizes that someone else has raised Harold's zombie--and that the zombie is a killer. Anita pits her power against the zombie and the voodoo priestess who controls it. Notice to Hollywood: forget Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Anita Blake is the real thing. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Review

Anita Blake is one of the most fascinating fictional heroines since Scarlett O'Hara... -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

Hamilton just keeps getting better and better. -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Jove; later printing edition (September 24, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0515134449
  • ISBN-13: 978-0515134445
  • Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (167 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,413 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #10 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Dark
    #13 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( H ) > Hamilton, Laurell K.
    #14 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Urban

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Laurell K. Hamilton
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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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First Sentence:
Harold Gaynor's house sat in the middle of intense green lawn and the graceful sweep of trees. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
exterminator team, killer zombie, two exterminators, spook squad, sister reporter, master vampire, human servant
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Dominga Salvador, John Burke, Harold Gaynor, Peter Burke, Master of the City, Dead Dave, Señora Salvador, Anita Blake, New Orleans, Detective Perry, Wheelchair Wanda, Glazer Safety Rounds, Benjamin Reynolds, Browning Hi-Power, Burrell Cemetery, Jean Jacket, The Grey Cat, Manny Rodriguez
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Blue Moon by Laurell K. Hamilton
Bloody Bones by Laurell K. Hamilton
 

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The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 2)
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167 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (167 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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60 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Anita Blake, Animator, is up to her neck with killer zombies, May 7, 2001
By Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)      
This review is from: The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter) (Paperback)
"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.

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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Can't get enough of Anita Blake!, April 8, 2004
This review is from: The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter) (Hardcover)
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!

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33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, March 5, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter) (Paperback)
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Bloody Good
Anita Blake can raise the dead, and is usually willing to pay the price (killing a chicken). However, the older the zombie, the higher the cost, and to meet overtly wealthy Harold... Read more
Published 7 days ago by Tez Miller

4.0 out of 5 stars I am a huge fan of the `cool on the outside and crumbly on the inside' character type.
Plot Summary: Animator Anita Blake manages to attract the attention of several unsavory parties during this installment. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Rebecca Baumann

5.0 out of 5 stars Death by Zombie Attack
The Laughing Corpse brings to life the realities of Anita's life as an animator. This book starts to address Anita's uncommon afinity for the dead. Read more
Published 1 month ago by A. J. Arnold

2.0 out of 5 stars Guilty Pleasures
This book wasn't what I thought it was going to be. This isn't author's fault. I thought I was getting a vampire romance fantansy and that is not what these books are about,... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Etienne D'

2.0 out of 5 stars The Laughing Corpse
This book just didn't do it for me. I won't spoil it for anyone else. It is very different from the other books in this series. Read more
Published 2 months ago by D. Wooten

5.0 out of 5 stars It's the Voodoo that You Do So Well!
Much different tale than the first book, Guilty Pleasures. Like the first book, The Laughing Corpse is the name of a bar owned and operated by the Master Vampire of the city,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by James "Scotman" April

2.0 out of 5 stars THIS BOOK EXCEEDED MY QUOTA FOR GORE--
I could have skipped this second in series as it was too drawn out, too gory, too dismal, and too boring to be enjoyed. Wow! What a weird combination. Read more
Published 2 months ago by SJ

5.0 out of 5 stars The second gets gory.
I was excited to read the next book from the Anita Blake novels. It was gory yes, but it still held Anita in there. She is something else, so many words to describe her. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jessica M. Norris

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid enjoyment
I've only just begun reading this series of novels, and therefore, as expected, this is the second book I've read. Read more
Published 3 months ago by B

4.0 out of 5 stars Skepticism was there, but no longer!
If some are going through some tough withdrawals from other series and trying to get used to different supernaturals other than those sexy and mysterious bloodsuckling creatures,... Read more
Published 4 months ago by T. Hilburn

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