Move Over, Buffy

Move over, Buffy. There’s a new vampire slayer on the block, and she’s here to stay. Not that Buffy will likely complain, mind you. Surely, there must be enough vampires to go around for everyone. So without further ado, please allow me to introduce you to Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, who makes her very first appearance in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Guilty Pleasures. First printed back in 1993, Guilty Pleasures has spawned nine sequels and has become so popular that even more installments in the adventures of Anita Blake are sure to follow.

In Guilty Pleasures Hamilton introduces us to a very unusual world where vampires and the supernatural are accepted as a fact of everyday life. Vampires have even established their own religion, The Church of Eternal Life, as a means to recruit followers who will slake their unholy thirst and eventually join the legions of the undead.

Enter Anita Blake. An animator by profession, Anita is very familiar with the supernatural and earns her living raising the dead as zombies. But she is also called on by the police from time to time to assist with their investigations of the supernatural. More often than not, she comes into conflict with the vampires and consequently destroys many of them. Because of this, she has earned the title “The Executor” among the undead.

When master vampires start turning up dead (or deader?), Anita would seem to be the last person a nosferatu would turn to for help in tracking down the killer. But when a 1000-year old blood sucker of great power called Nikolaos threatens to put the bite on one of Anita’s close friends if Anita refuses to help, she has no choice but to comply and attempt to solve the vampire murders.

Chock full of vampires, zombies, ghouls, and were creatures, Guilty Pleasures has enough supernatural action to please even the most hardcore horror fans out there. Toss in a cast of interesting supporting characters, a clever plot, and a steady pace and you’ll get a book that is pure fun to read and almost impossible to put down.

To be sure, it becomes fairly obvious who the killer is about midway through the novel, but don't let that fool you. There are still plenty of plot twists awaiting you, and an inevitable confrontation with Nikolaos makes for an edge-of-your-seat climax. There are thrills, chills and lots of spills (of blood) throughout Guilty Pleasures’ 266 pages.

Touted as a horror romance novel, I never found Guilty Pleasures to be sickeningly sweet. The romance angle is definitely not overdone; in fact, it only really appears a few times throughout the book. Instead, Guilty Pleasures is really much more a vampire tale with a bit of mystery thrown in. This series was recommended to me by a female coworker, and it seems that most of the reviews posted about Guilty Pleasures here on Epinions were written by women. But hey guys, don’t let that stop you from reading. This is definitely a fun read that male readers will enjoy too.

If you love a good vampire novel, then Guilty Pleasures is definitely for you. They just don’t come any deader than this.