Hit List

An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel

By: Laurell K. Hamilton

Narrated by: Kimberly Alexis

Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

A serial killer is hunting the Pacific Northwest, murdering victims in a gruesome and spectacular way. The local police suspect “monsters” are involved, and have called in Anita Blake and Edward, US Marshals who really know their monsters, to catch the killer. But some monsters are very real - and even to speak their name can earn you a death sentence. The bogeymen of the vampire world, The Harlequin, are here in America hunting weretigers and human police. But Edward thinks the serial killings are just a trap - to lure Anita ever closer to the most dangerous vampire they’ve ever hunted...

Love in vein: listen to more tales of Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter.

©2011 Laurell K. Hamilton (P)2011 Penguin Audiobooks

Not as good as the hype

In this installment, Anita Blake is on the job. She and Edward are trying to solve a serial killer case. But don’t get excited. Hit List is not a whodunit. In fact, this book starts with the case already solved and focuses more on assassinating the culprit and feeding the ardeur. Anita Blake books consistently highlight sexism in her field. While this is an important issue, she still reacts to it like a novice with a lack of progression in any of her arguments or efforts to change her environment. Good god, girl! Learn the lessons of our foremothers. Organize a strong argument with numerous and coherent axioms. Then, implement a strategy for cultural metamorphosis or get over it. Obviously, there are a lot of small-minded people out there. Move on and enjoy who you are, what you are, and what you do. Unfortunately over the years, many of Hamilton’s characters have become static, and I just get the feeling that she is bored of writing Anita Blake stories. You may wonder why I even listen to these books? It is a really valid question. Here is my answer. I still listen to these books because the first books in this series are wonderful and showcase Hamilton’s talents in storytelling and hot love or hot like or hot hi there. I keep hoping that Hamilton will get back to writing tight and interesting plots along with the polyamorous interactions.

Waste of a Credit

A long time LKH fan, I was just as disappointed w/ this story as I was Bullet. Nothing happened. None of our favorite characters were present, other than Anita and Edward. I know LKH has been taking a lot of flak lately about the graphic sex scenes, and those were definitely dialed back. (Only one scene) Also, the Marmee Noir situation, that has been a central part of many books, was over and done w/ in just a few pages. And finally, the books seem to be shrinking more and more every year. She went from epic length tomes in her early years, to 300 page novels the past 3 books. Very disappointed.

Lose the music

Once again they added music sound affects...why???? a good writer along with a great narrator is all you need..

As for the book, I was hoping for a little more with this book, 8 hours, even Anita needs at least 10-12 hours to get into real trouble, it was very perdictible, as her books have been with the last 4, I was hoping she would move Anita along more in her life, make some sort of life changing decision...but no... same old . same old..but if ya love AB then its a good listen..

stupid special effects

I'm finding the added "mood music" and special effects (sounds) irritating and distracting. Who on earth thought it a good idea?! Otherwise, a good narration ...

LKH phoned it in

I love the entire series and was so let down by this short and underwritten book. The book could have been great but LKH did not care. I will say that because I have read and listened to this series multiple times and know she is a much better writer than this book displayed. It was word for word repetitive of past books, leaving me to irritated to have to listen to the exact same thing I paid for in a previous book. The storyline, what was there, was okay to a huge let down. The majority of this book felt like filler, which I don't mind if the plot eventually pays off and the book is longer than 300 pages. This did not. A huge villian in the past three books was met and defeated in a few paragraphs at the end, shame on LKH and the editors.

Short and just a bit boring....

If I'd been reading this instead of listening to it, I'd have been scanning pages. That would have been a shame because it's so short, I'd probably have been able to read it in an afternoon.

I think that I've been had. I'm such a fan of her books that I just automatically buy them. I'm not going to buy any more anita books. If she is going to write a story as short as this, she should bundle it with other stories and not rip us off. All my friends, Richard and Jean Claude, Nathaniel and Micah.. will just have to go on without me.

I'd say that she needs to move on and start a new series but now I'm thinking Ms. Hamilton just doesn't have it in her. What a shame.... she was the best.

Back to basics

Anita returns with more plot and less sex. This one is a good read and features Edward significantly.

Good not great

After the other 19 books in this series, I am disappointed. Don't misunderstand the book IS good, but only good. Having read everything published by the author I am hooked on the complex characters and steamy scenarios. Compared to the author's other works, Hit List is either over edited or under developed...or both.

If you're sick of Anita Blake, please stop buying

First about the book. I really enjoyed the book. We had some old characters, Alex (tiger), Edward, Bernardo, Olaf (the psycho). We met some new characters I'm hoping to see more of in the future. In Bullet we learned that the Harlequin had broken up, it seemed to me like it was two groups: backing the Mother of all Darkness or backing Jean-Claude if they thought he could hold things together. This was about tracking the Harlequin on the Mother's team. I didn't think that it reflected a year's worth of work, but maybe LKH is taking time to smell the roses and not writing 24/7. So, it's not so much my business how much she wants to work as it is whether I enjoy the book when I get it. I enjoyed this very much. True, not as much sex, and that was good, some cool plot twists which I won't go into.

About the title of the review? I'm tired of hearing people say "I hated the last eight books and I just bought this to see if I still hate them" and variations on that theme. If you still enjoy Anita Blake you'll probably enjoy this (except for the annoying sound effects). Some of you who enjoyed the early works about tracking and outwitting supernatural bad guys will enjoy this. I thought that was a given but someone on Amazon corrected me to say that this book still wasn't worth the time or money. I thought that it was.

Fantastic

It's so good to dive back into Anita's world. The book is the usual Laurell K. Hamilton dose of sex, violence, and butt kicking Anita! But this is the first audiobook I've heard of this series and I need to commend Kimberly Alexis for doing such a fantastic job. The sound effects are fantastic! I really look forward to hearing more from her!