As Incubus Dreams opens, Anita Blake may be America's most powerful vampire hunter and necromancer. So it's no surprise that the Regional Preternatural Crime Investigation Team seeks her assistance when a St. Louis stripper is murdered and the evidence points to unusual serial killers: a group of seven vampires. It appears a master vampire has gone rogue--and may prove too powerful for Anita Blake, even if she can gain help from not only her vampire consort, Master of the City Jean-Claude, but from the wereleopard king Micah, her other lover, and the alpha werewolf Richard, her bitter ex-lover.

It would be an exaggeration to say that Laurell K. Hamilton's Incubus Dreams is just one sex scene after another. This twelth novel in her bestselling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series presents a wedding, a murder, and a lot of relationship angst before getting down and dirty on page 89; and the sex scenes pause on page 377 to let the mystery plot resume. The series deftly blends elements of alternate history, horror, romance, erotica, and mystery, but anyone reading Incubus Dreams for the murder plot is going to be frustrated. However, Incubus Dreams is a considerably stronger and more interesting book than its talky predecessor, Cerulean Sins, and fans will enjoy the many new developments in Anita's complicated love life. --Cynthia Ward

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Interview with the Vampire Writer
With two bestselling series featuring supernatural heroines under her belt, one has to wonder if Laurell K. Hamilton is truly in touch with a world beyond ours. Hamilton spoke with Amazon.com about her work, her characters, and her plans for the future.

From Publishers Weekly
Fans of bestseller Hamilton's vampire hunter Anita Blake will be thrilled with at least one aspect of this transitional 12th installment (after 2003's Cerulean Sins): Anita finally resolves her relationships with werewolf ex-boyfriend Richard Zeeman and vampire boyfriend Jean-Claude. They'll also be pleased to see Anita finally get comfortable with her own behavior, despite crossing many lines—sexual, psychological, professional, paranormal—that she previously thought uncrossable. In her role as vampire-executioner and preternatural-crime investigator, Anita pursues a band of serial-killing vampires who prey on female strippers, but much of the novel focuses on her responsibilities as a leader in St. Louis's vampiric-lycanthropic community. Those obligations are often intertwined with sex, the basic tool of her ever-growing magical powers. The ardeur that compels her to have sex in order to fuel her two "power triumvirates" must now be fed with increasing frequency. Old foes threaten as new enemies emerge. There's plenty of life (and undeath) left in this series, and Hamilton's imagination is apparently as inexhaustible as her heroine's supernatural capacity for coupling. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Anita Blake, vampire hunter, is back. In this adventure, a vampire serial killer is murdering strippers, and Anita is called in to assist police with the investigation. As Anita juggles lovers and relationships, frequent coupling refuels her "power triumvirates," which are in need of constant attention. Cynthia Holloway's performance captures an insouciant, wisecracking Anita, whose libido is her principal motivation. However, Holloway uses the same sassy bad-girl tones that work well in early scenes for the overly long, steamy sex scenes, and that "attitude" misses the mark. Laurell K. Hamilton's twelfth visit to the vampiric/lycanthropic wilds of St.Louis is ponderous to the point of tedious, and desperately in need of a good edit. Even so, Hamilton's fans will clamor for more. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
The latest Anita Blake novel is almost twice the length of the previous one, Cerulean Sins (2003). Per usual, Anita is surrounded by more lovers than she can handle. She wrestles with the decision to consummate her relationship with her pomme de sang, Nathaniel, who wants to be more than just the outlet of her ardeur (intense supernatural desire). Before she knows it, she has taken two other lovers as well. Her work as an animator is heating up as well--a couple wants her to reanimate their slain son, something she resists doing, and she has also been tapped by the police to investigate the murders of several strippers, which may be the work of a vampire. No one can top Hamilton's steamy supernatural sex scenes, but there are so many in this installment that one can't help but wish Hamilton had edited them a bit (they often go on for dozens of pages) in favor of the murder mystery. Not the strongest Anita Blake outing, but Hamilton's devoted fan base will be clamoring for it. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
No one is as good at stripping bare the dark desires of the inhuman soul as Laurell K. Hamilton, something she has proven time after time in her New York Times bestselling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. Now, in Incubus Dreams, Anita's life is more complicated than ever, as she is caught between her obligations to the living and the undead.

A vampire serial killer who preys on strippers is on the loose. Called in to consult on the case, Anita fears her judgment may be clouded by a conflict of interest. For she is, after all, the consort of Jean-Claude, the ever-intoxicating Master Vampire of the City. Surrounded by suspicion, overwhelmed by her attempts to control the primal lusts that continue to wrack her as a result of her passionate contacts with vampires, werewolves, and the shapeshifter Micah, Anita does something unprecedented: She calls for help.

About the Author
Laurell K. Hamilton is a full-time writer who lives in a suburb of St. Louis with her family.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Devout followers of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake saga who think that they have the sexy vampire executioner finally figured out are in for a big surprise in Incubus Dreams, the 12th -- and steamiest! -- installment in the wildly popular series.

Already metaphysically connected to master vampire Jean-Claude and to Richard, the Ulric of the St. Louis werewolf pack, Anita finds herself in another supernatural triumvirate, this one with the seductive, shape-shifting stripper Nathaniel and the beautiful bloodsucker Damian. With so many preternatural bonds, Anita finds herself struggling to come to grips with the potentially deadly disadvantages -- and the mind-blowing benefits -- of the complicated arrangement. As Anita is just beginning to understand how to utilize her newfound powers, a series of brutal strip club murders forces her to come face to face with her most terrifying foe to date: her own conscience.

Stylish, witty, breakneck paced, and filled with enough supernatural sensuality to surprise even the most hard-core fans, this novel, simply put, will blow readers away. As implausible as it may seem, after genre-transcending novels like Obsidian Butterfly, Narcissus in Chains, and Cerulean Sins, Hamilton has found an ingenious way to further complicate one of the most complex and compelling female characters in the history of speculative fiction.

While other series tend to lose energy -- and readership -- after numerous installments, Hamilton's saga is just hitting its stride with the 12th novel. After reading Incubus Dreams, Anita Blake fanatics all over the world will be rabidly waiting to sink their fangs into the next novel, to see what happens to the newly liberated and supernaturally enhanced vampire hunter. In a word: Wow! Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER

No one is as good at stripping bare the dark desires of the inhuman soul as Laurell K. Hamilton, something she has proven time after time in her New York Times bestselling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. Now, in Incubus Dreams, Anita's life is more complicated than ever, as she is caught between her obligations to the living and the undead.

A vampire serial killer who preys on strippers is on the loose. Called in to consult on the case, Anita fears her judgment may be clouded by a conflict of interest. For she is, after all, the consort of Jean-Claude, the ever-intoxicating Master Vampire of the City. Surrounded by suspicion, overwhelmed by her attempts to control the primal lusts that continue to wrack her as a result of her passionate contacts with vampires, werewolves, and the shapeshifter Micah, Anita does something unprecedented: She calls for help.

Author Biography: Laurell K. Hamilton is a full-time writer who lives in a suburb of St. Louis with her family.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Fans of bestseller Hamilton's vampire hunter Anita Blake will be thrilled with at least one aspect of this transitional 12th installment (after 2003's Cerulean Sins): Anita finally resolves her relationships with werewolf ex-boyfriend Richard Zeeman and vampire boyfriend Jean-Claude. They'll also be pleased to see Anita finally get comfortable with her own behavior, despite crossing many lines-sexual, psychological, professional, paranormal-that she previously thought uncrossable. In her role as vampire-executioner and preternatural-crime investigator, Anita pursues a band of serial-killing vampires who prey on female strippers, but much of the novel focuses on her responsibilities as a leader in St. Louis's vampiric-lycanthropic community. Those obligations are often intertwined with sex, the basic tool of her ever-growing magical powers. The ardeur that compels her to have sex in order to fuel her two "power triumvirates" must now be fed with increasing frequency. Old foes threaten as new enemies emerge. There's plenty of life (and undeath) left in this series, and Hamilton's imagination is apparently as inexhaustible as her heroine's supernatural capacity for coupling. Agent, Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House. (Oct. 5) Forecast: The trend toward emphasizing the erotic may lose some established fans, but is likely to gain the author many more new readers. A 14-city author tour will help keep the momentum going. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Anita Blake returns in this third series entry, still the same gutsy, no-nonsense female unafraid to take on anything that the preternatural world throws her way. Her sex life is as extraordinary as ever: one lover, Richard, is leader of a werewolf pack, while another, Jean-Claude, is the vampire Master of the City. These and other complex physical relationships strengthen Anita's psychic powers and enable her to help the cops track down a gang of serial killers; strippers from local clubs have been murdered, their blood-drained bodies covered with multiple vampire bites. The final chapters become a page-turning adventure as Anita and the police zero in on the perpetrators. Fans of the series will not be disappointed; recommended where the series is popular.-Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Columbia, MD Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews