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Imagine a world just like ours but one in which vampires not only exist, but have been given constitutional safeguards. Wereanimals and demons and zombies also hang around. Anita Blake lives in this world, in St. Louis. She is a licensed vampire killer, can raise the dead, and has spent the last six months learning how to harness and use her powers of necromancy. Returning from an evening out, she learns that a were-leopard is being held against his will at a dominance and submission club called NARCISSUS IN CHAINS, on the other side of the Mississippi river. Anita knows she cannot help him on her own, so she calls Jean-Claude, the vampire master of the city and asks for his help. He promises to meet her at the club but not before he phones Richard, the Ulfric, the head werewolf, of St. Louis. Anita hasn't seen either of her lovers for the six months she has been away, in New Mexico, and she doesn't feel she's ready for it, but in order to save her leopard, the three of them must merge their powers. Anita is Lupa of the wolves, mate to the Ulfric. She is also Nimir-Ra of the leopards, their caretaker and leader, even though she is neither a werewolf or wereleopard. Anita, Richard, and Jean-Claude, with other assorted shapeshifters, go to the place her Gregory, her leopard, is being held, and, after a fight with the Snakemen holding them, rescues her leopards, the swanmanes, and anyone else who is being held and tortured. She is badly hurt during the fight, and is surprised when she beings to heal as quickly as a wereanimal. Anita has to fight not only the bad guys in this one, but her own moral sense. Her strength of character is tested many times. During the fight, one of her leopards accidentally falls into one of her open wounds and has, perhaps infected her with the shapeshifting virus. Her relationship with Richard is as difficult as ever. She feels lust for Jean-Claude, and the Nimir-Raj of the Leopards is another complication. Hamilton is at the top of her form in this, Anita's tenth adventure. The alternate world she has developed obeys most of the physical laws of the one we are used to. Although this book stands on its own as a fast moving exotic erotic enterprise, in order to enjoy the full flavor of Anita and her other-worldly activities, one should really start with GUILTY PLEASURES, the first in the series. All 10 seem to still be in print.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, October 2001
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