Kiss the Dead by Laurell K. Hamilton

When a fifteen-year-old girl is abducted by vampires, it’s up to U.S. Marshal Anita Blake to find her. And when she does, she’s faced with something she’s never seen before: a terrifyingly ordinary group of people—kids, grandparents, soccer moms—all recently turned and willing to die to avoid serving a master. And where there’s one martyr, there will be more…

But even vampires have monsters that they’re afraid of. And Anita is one of them…

~~

You know that feeling when you're sure that something doesn't totally suck but you're sure it could have been better? That's what this book left me with. It wasn't bad, I mean I didn't hate it while reading or feel that way about it now, but I know it could have been so much better. I'm not going to lament and wring my hands about all the people Anita's sleeping with but I will say that at this point I've lost track of who everybody is. I also found that I don't really care about her self-doubt about a handful of them. Sex, no sex, Asher, no Asher - let's move on. Anita 'has to' have sex with a lot of people. Ok then I just want to read/see her doing it and stop having to deal so much with her angst. Sigh. Still I actually thought Sin's determination to be seen as an adult and his familial feelings towards Nathanial was interesting. I probably could have done with more of that  than Anita's feelings individually.

Oh and the other thing I could have had more of? The mystery/murderous vampires plot. There were so much that could have been said about these vampires that didn't want to be blood-oathed but it was set aside for emotional drama. Pretty wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am, except for one somewhat exciting scene near the end. I don't have a problem with the sex in this series but I do miss the action/mystery that used to take more of the forefront. 

All in all, ok but I'm still looking for more. I'm glad I got this from the library instead of buying it.

Overall Feeling - C

Series - ...19) Bullet 20) Hit List 21) Kiss the Dead