The Harlequin

April 30, 2007
At the start of bestseller Hamilton’s solid 15th adventure to star vampire hunter Anita Blake, Malcolm, the priggish head of the Church of the Eternal Life (the vampire church), is so desperate for help in dealing with the Harlequin, a troop of vampire enforcers and spies so feared vampires are forbidden to speak its name, he turns to those he considers sinful and corrupt—Anita and her sweetie, Jean-Claude, St. Louis’s Master of the City. The Harlequin may have targeted Anita and the powerful triumvirate she has forged with Jean-Claude and Richard Zeeman (aka Ulfric of the werewolves). According to the rules, the Harlequin must make contact through delivery of a mask—white to indicate they are watching, red for pain, black for death. Anita receives a white mask, but the members of the Harlequin aren’t playing by the rules. Shorter and more tightly structured than the previous entry in the series, Danse Macabre (2006), Hamilton’s latest should prove more satisfying to longtime fans with its straightforward supernatural politics and steamy (but not extreme) sex.

May 15, 2007
Anita Blake (Dance Macabre) and her vampire lover Jean-Claude know they are being threatened by a powerful force. Each has received a package containing a plain white mask signifying that the Harlequin has arrived in town. This sinister and secretive group, whose members are anonymous, is the closest thing to a police force that the Vampire Council has, and it is not used lightly. The 15th entry in Hamilton's popular "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" series starts with this intriguing premise, which comes to the fore at various times throughout and brings things to an exciting conclusion. But too often the threat of the Harlequin is put on hold while Anita sorts out her very complicated sex life. Hamilton's current fans will be pleased with this latest offering, but a more satisfying story would have put more emphasis on the evil machinations of the Harlequin. For most fantasy collections and where paranormal fiction is popular.Patricia Altner, biblioinfo.com, Columbia, MD

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