Book Review: The Harlequin

Reviewed By: Kayla - student - Kansas City

The Harlequin     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon UK HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Laurell K. Hamilton
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Fantasy   Romance   Vampire   Hard Boiled   Romantic Suspense   Supernatural
Series: Anita Blake # 15
Berkley 2007, 422 pages

When I saw the title of the new Anita Blake book, The Harlequin, my first thought was of little 150 page romance novels that usually tell the same story repeatedly. Apparently, “The Harlequin” is actually a reference to French clowns. I suddenly felt very under read. Before you give the screen too strange a look, no clowns appear in this story. The Harlequin is actually a group of vampire assassins/spies. They are the secret police of the vampire world. The very secret police, you can be killed just for speaking of them without first being contacted by a member. The majority of the vampire world prefers never to speak of them.

When Malcolm, “the Vampire version of Billy Graham”, comes to warn Anita that something dangerous is framing some of the vampires in his church for murder, she knows that it must be bad. When Jean-Claude, the Master of the City and her boyfriend, refuses to explain what Malcolm was hinting at things start looking worse. Are they bad enough to call in Edward, everyone’s favorite assassin? I hope so. Too bad he brings along Olaf the serial killer as backup. Well, it is too bad for Anita. I found it quite enjoyable. In fact, I found the whole thing to be another excellent addition to the Anita Blake series. You get to see some old favorites and a few new ones we are just getting to know. There is plenty of action, which there was not a lot of in her last couple of books. Well, there was action; it was just the adult content kind. Over all I was satisfied. This is not a series I would recommend starting in the middle with, so if you are new to Anita I would suggest going back to the start. However, if you are already a fan I am sure you will enjoy it.

Kayla - student - Kansas City

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Kayla - student - Kansas City