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A review of Bloody Bones

by Laurell K. Hamilton

The fifth novel in the spine-tingling story of Anita Blake, vampire hunter.

Reviewed by: April Dawn Duncan
About April Dawn Duncan

Bloody Bones Anita's life is already complicated as it is. She's dating a werewolf and a vampire at the same time after all. Of course that's only because the vampire has threatened to kill the werewolf if he doesn't get a fair shot at wooing her. Fair is fair. At least those two can handle themselves. But now Anita has a new man in her life who's fresh out of the university and raring to go. No, he's not another boyfriend, it's worse than that. Larry is her boss's latest acquisition, the newest animator with Animator's Inc. And guess who got assigned to baby-sit him?

As an animator, Larry Kirkland had some good potential, even if he was a little clumsy sometimes. He had boyish charm and wholesome morals. If only he didn't insist on being a vampire hunter, those would be enough. Anita had hoped their first encounter with supernatural baddies would shake his conviction. But scared and hurt as he was, he seemed to become even more determined. Try as she might, Anita could not convince him otherwise. So now her only choice is to break him of dangerous habits and teach him how to stay alive. Anita with a sidekick? Who'd have thought?

Bert, Anita's boss, has outdone himself this time. He's hired Anita and Larry out to a client who wants them to raise several two hundred year old corpses from a centuries old graveyard. The catch is the client's construction vehicles have disturbed the graveyard. The bones have been mixed together like some great jigsaw puzzle. It will be no small feat to put them back together and raise a few zombies from the mess. But when Anita finally meets the client, she can feel it in her bones; something isn't quite right. And just before she can start to figure things out, she's called to a murder scene. The evidence she finds doesn't fit the usual suspects, so all she can come up with is conjecture. It is a very bad thing when even the preternatural expert doesn't have a clue. Maybe this time it won't be so bad to have a sidekick after all.

"Bloody Bones", by Laurell K. Hamilton, is an ingenious use of fairy tale lore to create an absolutely chilling murder mystery. Hamilton introduces us to a new kind of power. I have read four novels before this one, and every time I wonder how Hamilton is going to outdo herself next. I have yet to be disappointed. Though I love a good mystery, and I love the gothic horror genre, Hamilton's novels go deeper. They are about the development of character. They are about self-discovery and self-reflection. Hamilton has introduced a new character that I adore, besides Anita, of course. Larry Kirkland is like a moral barometer. Anita can rely on him to remind her what she's supposed to believe in. He's also like a mirror, forcing Anita to look at herself and what she's becoming. While his influence may not stop her from changing some of her morals or beliefs, it does make her look herself in the eye while she's doing so. I think all of us need a Larry in our lives to keep us honest, to make us think, and to give us a boost when we most need it.

Some of the subject matters in this novel are very difficult to deal with; at least they were for me. But crime is crime; it comes in many forms, all of them detestable. I applaud Hamilton for her careful balance of grit, realism, and sensitivity.

Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: Bloody Bones

Copyright © by April Dawn Duncan, 2003

Reviewed by April Dawn Duncan:
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--The Morgaine Saga - by C. J. Cherryh
--Tigana - by Guy Gavriel Kay
--Ender's Game - by Orson Scott Card
--Foreigner: A Novel of First Contact - by C.J. Cherryh
--Guilty Pleasures - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--The Laughing Corpse - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--Circus of the Damned - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--The Lunatic Cafe - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--Bloody Bones - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--The Killing Dance - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--Burnt Offerings - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--Blue Moon - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--Obsidian Butterfly - by Laurell K. Hamilton
--Narcissus in Chains - by Laurell K. Hamilton









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