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Life in Denver has settled down as much as it's going to for Dr. Kismet Knight, psychologist to the blood-sucking undead as well as "regular" people. She is invited to speak at the annual American Psychological Association meeting in New York City, to speak on the subject of vampire wannabes. Kismet is delighted, although not necessarily because of the subject of her talk; that's what got her into the whole Denver vampire scene to begin with. Her FBI vampire-hunting buddy Alan Stevens accompanies her to New York, even though there is a lot of suspicious vamp activity in San Francisco. Psychologists who resemble Kismet are being killed; this probably is connected to Lucifer and his fixation on Kismet. Alan is still looking for his mother, and is (of course) conflicted about this. He and Kismet are sexually attracted to each other and there seems to be a cosmic plot in effect to keep them from actually doing anything about this attraction. Devereux is still in the picture. He's romancing her and stepping on her independent toes at the same time. He is also having some problems in his capacity as "Penultimate Badass Master of the Vampires" after his duel at the end of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK. There are those among the undead who would rather go back to the old days, when vamps hunted whenever, wherever, and whomever they wanted, publicity be damned. Being hunted was part of the fun of it, apparently, as much as being the hunter. This is not the way Devereux wants things to go; he much prefers a quieter presence in today's world. All hell breaks loose at the beginning of Kismet's speech. There have been rumblings and disturbances up to this point, and now things get really crazy. If THERAPY started here, the book wouldn't be worth reading; too much crazy stuff all at once. Hilburn has been building up to this craziness, so it works. All the little disparate happenings come together and Kismet's world tilts a little bit as a result. There is, of course, carnage and blood-letting - this tends to happen when very powerful vampires get into a "whose (dick) is bigger" contest. Some of the loose ends from VAMPIRE SHRINK are tied up here, some continue to unravel. Hilburn brings some resolution to the Devereux complication in Kismet's life while still leaving lots of room for more stories. This series presents yet another view of the contemporary vampire world while still remaining (for the most part) true to the historical vision. The eroticism is present throughout the novel, but only graphically described in one scene. The word "lave" is only used once, and not in connection with sex, for a change! THERAPY is a strong continuation of the work begun in THE VAMPIRE SHRINK. § P.J. Coldren lives in northern lower Michigan where she reads and reviews widely across the mystery genre when she isn't working in her local hospital pharmacy.
Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, February 2013
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