Book Review: Incubus Dreams

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Incubus Dreams     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Laurell K. Hamilton
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Fantasy   Vampire   Hard Boiled
Series: Anita Blake # 12
Berkley, Oct 2004, $23.95, 672 pp.

On an alternate earth vampires and shapeshifters exist with the same legal rights as mortals. Vampires who break the law can be killed as soon as a federal marshal, who is a vampire executioner, catches them. One of the most feared vampire executioners is Anita Blake, a necromancer whose powers just keep growing thanks to the triumverate she is part of. The other two members are St. Louis master vampire Jean-Claude and Richard the werewolf, who desperately wants to be human again.

A group of vampires, one of them a master vamp sneaked into the city unnoticed; they are killing strippers so the Regional Preternatural Investigative Team of which Anita is a member is assigned the case. When Anita is not looking for the rogue master vampire, she somehow forges a new triumverate in which she is the master and the vampire and the shapeshifter add their powers to hers. Richard, Anita and Jean-Claude try again to make the triumverate work because they know the whole is greater than the individual parts.

The heroine’s life is obviously never boring as she jumps from one lover to another and one crime scene to the next one always knowing this could be her last leap. Anita Blake is one of the most original characters around and she remains as fresh as if this is her first appearance. INCUBUS DREAMS is highly erotic with plenty of sex scenes that add to the plot and the prime player as it enables the audience to see her growing power and its impact on her two lovers. This gender bender will appeal to romance, fantasy, and mystery and of course horror fans.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner