Anita Blake’s vampire hunter continues strong with book six, The Killing Dance, in which Hamilton brings professional hitmen to kill Anita. The book, first published by Penguin Publishing Group in 1997 and Penguin Audio in 2010, is available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, and audiobook formats, as well as at your local library and through the Libby App. The audiobook, read by Kimberly Alexis, is unbelievable; she’s the embodiment of Anita, letting listeners get to know her as a real person. The audio effects add layers of eerie, dangerous atmosphere at the right moments.

There’s a price of half a million dollars on Anita’s head, professional hitmen are on her trail, and Edward refused the contract on her life, stating:

“I figure I’ll get to kill more people guarding you. If I take the contract, I only get to kill you.”

His math is quite simple. With Edward as her appointed bodyguard and her two boyfriends, Richard, the alpha werewolf, and Jean-Claude, the master vampire of the city, Anita must uncover who took out the hit on her.

Anita is also wrapped up in werewolf politics because the local pack splintered into two, with some wolves following her boyfriend Richard and others following the alpha Marcus and his second, Raina. Richard’s unwillingness to kill Marcus becomes a detriment; his pacifist attitude, thinking he could gain control of the pack and unite all the wolves without violence, is naïve. Anita reminds him of this time and time again, creating a wedge in their relationship.

Hamilton’s love triangle ramps up, and there is a lot of sexual tension all around. Anita’s “no sex before marriage rule is almost laughable. Richard’s no sex before you see and accept my beast rule is a misleading way for him to hide that he can’t accept himself. Only Jean-Claude accepts and wants Anita as is, a fact he doesn’t hide. Got to give the guy prompts for that; his patience is boundless, and Hamilton shows her readers and listeners that Anita is not only another conquest for him. Richard’s jealousy is palpable and annoying. How Anita copes with it is unbelievable, and that she claims to love him and choose him is even more incredible.

A special twist awaits the audience when Anita makes her final choice.

“There was a look on his face that was hard to describe. The devil must look like that after you’ve signed on the dotted line and given away your soul.”

Action-packed, fast-paced plots, obliterated ‘monster’ lines for Anita, and the conclusion of the pent-up sexual tension and a bittersweet ending, all well executed by Hamilton’s descriptive voice, leaving readers and listeners looking forward to more from this frightful, carnal tease of a series. Making this a 4.5-star read or listen.