Book Review, Skin Trade by Laurell K Hamilton

Hi
Its 2011 and the new year is about to begin in earnest. I hope it's going to be a good one for us all. I have managed to read Skin Trade by Laurell K Hamilton over the holiday period. I must admit that the Anita Blake Series is one of my favourite ones in this genre. I enjoy the build up of tension in the story surrounding the psychic abilities of the heroine as she battles to maintain her humanity surrounded by vampires and were animals. I also enjoy the way lots of fantasy and mythical beings are introduced. This happens less frequently in the later books in this series which is a shame. The early books were excellent reading. In some ways the more recent stories are a little more predictable.
The combination of her involvement in police cases and being the vampire executioner work well and provide lots of opportunities for confrontations.
I like the technique used of making the main character appear to talk to the reader. This is done in such a way as to convince you that she is aware that you are sharing the adventure with her rather than merely talking to herself.
In this one Anita finds herself facing an old enemy vampire called Vittorio. She has previously fought this vampire and scarred him with holy water. He is gradually regaining his lost powers and fancies a closer relationship with Marshall Blake. The mother of all vampires makes another appearance with a disturbing effect on Anita's psychic controls. It's all good fun and if this is your type of story then it's a great read.
I have also read a graphic novel of the first story in the series, Guilty Pleasures. I put off reading this since having read so many of the Anita Blake books I had my own mental images of the main characters which I knew would not coincide with the artists impressions. I was pleasantly surprise to find I enjoyed the book even so. The discovery of a new story in the series that came from brief mentions of incidents in Anita Blake's early life called The First Death was an exciting find. I have not really read graphic novels before but will definitely continue to do so.