Anita Blake is an animator. She makes her living raising the dead; and also slaying a few vampires. There isn't much she does know about the dead, and raising it. The first rule to raising the dead, the older the corpse the bigger the sacrifice needed. In others words to raise a really old zombie, a human was going to have to die.

Anita and her boss have just been made an offer of a million dollars to raise a two-hundred-and eighty-three-year-old corpse. The sacrifice will of cause be provided. But Anita can not accept, despite what you may have heard about her, she is no murderer. However Anita may not have much say in the matter, this was not Anita's idea of good business.

There is a killer tearing up families. Anita has been called in by the police to assist with inquiries, there is a theory it is a killer Zombie on the loose. No one knows more about Zombies then Anita, except maybe Dominga Salvador, the voodoo priestess, who has her own plans for Anita. As does Jean-Claude, the new Master Vampire of the City.

Having never read an Anita Blake book before I really enjoyed this story, Anita is a new (to me) heroine who's tough and smart. There is plenty going on in this story to keep you on your toes. The Laughing Corpse is a creepy mystery full of danger, suspense and the dead; well worth reading. ( )

For some reason, this is always the one that sticks out in my head when I think of early Anita Blake. Anita resisting Jean Claude, fighting a vudun queen, I don't know, this one has it all minus the sex that the series is known for...

Awesome! ( )

In the course of her job at Animators, Inc. Anita Blake routinely raises the dead. There can be any number of reasons for wanting to raise a recently dead person -- to clarify a will, to help in finding a murderer, to be able to finish "unfinished business" of all sorts. It takes a special skill to be able to do it, and Anita seems to have been born with an affinity with the dead. Raising a zombie is not the same thing as resurrecting a whole human being. The zombie is still very dead, but often in the first few moments after the raising, it is able to think and speak, which is what the main attraction is in raising them in the first place. Of course, zombies are also at the complete command of the person who raised them and they are nearly impossible to stop unless commanded by their maker. When a series of truly gruesome murders begins in the suburbs of St. Louis, Anita is called in because the murderer is almost certainly a zombie that is out of control. She has her suspicions about who might have raised such a zombie and even though she herself doesn't consider what she does to be "voodoo," she'll be up to her neck in it before she can find her way out. Plus, much to her chagrin, she's going to have to call upon her old nemesis, Jean-Claude, the new vampire Master of the City, to help.

Another very fast paced story, written with straight forward bluntness. Anita's character is starting to flesh out a little bit and we get to see a couple of her vulnerabilities. These books are probably some of the goriest I've read in recent memory. I'm glad this is on the written page and not a movie or I'd probably get up and walk out. The story is twisted enough to be intriguing and the characters are mesmerizing -- especially Jean-Claude. Plus, I'm just fascinated by the thought of vampires running around on Laclede's Landing in St. Louis. LOL ( )

Pre09: Yea... don't remember much of this one. ( )

The second of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. Still good. Not a lot to say about it. If you liked the first one you'll probably like this one as well. ( )