Rating: 
Summary: More Reasons to Never Date a Werewolf
Review: In Laurell K. Hamilton's fourth installment of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series, Anita gets a glimpse of boyfriend Richard's furry side. His werewolf side, that is. After 7 shapeshifters go missing, it is up to Anita to try and find them. While doing that, she is having to deal with a marriage proposal from Richard, a dating proposal from Jean-Claude, and a murderous proposal from the werebeast community. Busy, busy, busy.This is not the best book I have read so far in the series. I took a long break from reading it in the middle of it, but I started back up the other day and had it finished off fairly quickly. I think maybe one of the reasons it seemed slower is because I'm not a huge fan of Richard. He's a nice guy and all, but a possible romance between Anita and vampire Jean-Claude seems much more exciting. This is definitely an Anita/Richard novel. Still, this book was fast-paced, fun and creepy all in one. This is all you could ever want in a series.
Rating:
Summary: Great pulp noir/vamp fiction
Review: Normally, I can't stand this genre; instead of something new, the cliches are just tossed together in a hash. But Laurell K. Hamilton keeps me coming back. Part of it is the ongoing plot threads that go from book to book. Although these novels can stand alone, there are larger threads. Anita Blake's "romance" with Jean-Claude, the master vampire, for example, or the hints that Anita is something much stronger (and dangerous) than she or anyone else knows. Another part is Anita. She isn't just a hard rock, lacking any humanity; she's really truly affected by the blood and death she's constantly surrounded by. She doesn't casually walk up to corpses, she has to compose herself before she looks. She's not callous, she's just able to hide her horror, fear and sadness better than most people. We only know because we're in her head. "The Lunatic Cafe" is where the series, in my opinion, REALLY starts to pick up (read the other books "Guilty Pleasures", "The Laughing Corpse", and "Circus Of The Damned" first, it WILL help.) The soap opera kicks into high gear with a rather twisted little love triangle, not to mention some unfinished business between Anita and a vamp named Gretchen. Plus we get more of an introduction to the lycanthropes (werebeasts) of the city, their social structure, and the whole host of problems that go with THAT. The novel itself is also pretty good, with the mystery at its center rather clever. Although she doesn't really play fair (we're not given much in the way of clues to possibly solve this mystery on our own), Hamilton does have a satisfactory solution. Like the other books so far, it's got a lightning-fast pace; poor Anita NEVER gets any sleep, something always happens to her. This is, in the end, fun junk, great for airports, beaches, and the living room. They aren't classics, although they'd make great action movies, but the Anita Blake series is worth an occassional $7 now and again.
Rating:
Summary: Fourth in the Anita Blake series.
Review: As with the previous three books in the series, this book is a tremendously fun read, mostly because the character of Anita Blake is one of the best characters in fiction since Randall P. McMurphy in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". The background world, the other characters, the plots and such are all okay, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary. It is Anita that makes this series work, and boy, does she. This book was at least as good as the first three in the series, although I suspect that some fans will feel that it spent too much time (that is to say, any) on the soap opera that Anita's personal life is becoming, at the expense of the cover-to-cover action that we've come to expect. Others, myself included, will find the closer look at previously unexplored aspects of Anita's character fascinating, and will point out that there is no shortage of action here. Although this is book four of the series, and I have read the previous three, I have the impression that one could read this book without having read the others without being hopelessly confused. Hard to say, though. Probably best to start with "Guilty Pleasures" and be safe.
Rating:
Summary: Hugely Entertaining!
Review: "The Lunatic Cafe" is Laurell K. Hamilton's fourth Anita Blake - Vampire Hunter novel and it is an enormously entertaining and fun-filled read. Non-stop action, stylish horror, and sensual delights mix seamlessly to create a page-turning novel readers won't soon forget. A word of warning though - all it takes is one visit to Anita's violent and seductive world and you'll be hooked. This addictive series will leave you craving more, until you've bought all 10 Anita Blake books regardless of whether you can afford them or not (it happened to me!).
This instalment in the series finds Anita, hard-boiled necromancer, animator, and vampire executioner, enjoying her budding romance with Richard Zeeman, junior high science teacher and alpha werewolf. But when she finds out that Richard is involved in a life and death struggle for leadership of the pack, she is furious with him for not telling her about it. However, Anita doesn't have long to dwell on it because, as always, more trouble comes her way.
The police beep Anita, requesting her expertise on a preternatural murder, but on her way to her car, Anita has a nasty run-in with Gretchen, one of Jean-Claude's vampires. Gretchen is hopelessly in love with the incredibly sexy Master of the City, Jean-Claude, and she sees Anita the one thing standing between her and her true love. Anita manages to get away, but not before Gretchen has promised to kill her!
Anita finally makes it to the murder scene, where the deceased appears to be the victim of a lycanthrope attack. Unfortunately, however, Anita has walked right into the middle of a police turf war between the local sheriff's dept. and her squad. Guns are drawn and harsh words exchanged before they come to a tense agreement and allow Anita to see the body.
Arriving home ready to end her night, Anita is forced into a meeting at the Lunatic Cafe with the current werewolf pack leader, Marcus. Surrounded by dozens of other were-creatures, Anita doesn't feel too secure, but Marcus has a strange request for her. Eight shapeshifters (lycanthropes) have disappeared recently, and Marcus wants Anita to find out what happened to them. She reluctantly agrees to look into it, and quickly becomes entwined in the strange and violent world of lycanthrope politics.
The story really takes off from here, sending the reader on a fabulous adventure alongside Anita as she deals with the two men in her life, fights off Gretchen the jealous vampire, helps the police solve their murder, and tries to find eight missing lycanthropes.
With so many different things happening at once, one might think that the book would become confused and hard to follow, but Hamilton skilfully ties all the different threads together into one fantastic story. Anita's adventures are always thrilling and suspenseful, sometimes quite sensual, and will keep readers glued to the pages.
Every visit with Anita and the gang is like a holiday to a magical new world, where you can forget all your troubles and get completely caught up in the alternate reality Hamilton creates so brilliantly. With its compelling characters and red-hot storylines, this is a series you do not want to miss. "The Lunatic Cafe" is a fabulous chapter in this exceptional series, so buy it today!
Rating:
Summary: A Crazy Good 'ol Time
Review: No more marks should equal no more powers, right? Sure, whatever. But alas, Anita is getting stronger, much more so than anyone realizes. The fifth book in the series is more of a soap box love triangle thing than about the gore and raising zombies. After the bloodyness and violence of the 4th book, it's a nice change, which came at a perfect time. Although Anita gets really beat up in this book and there is violence and death, the usual. Oh, yeah... Finally, for the second time, Anita Blake-tough as nails Animator a.k.a. The Executioner-has found love. Really, she has. We all know him as Richard Zeeman a.k.a. jr. high teacher; a.k.a. werewolf and second in line for the pack. Who could resist an idealistic-at times really annoying, strong, dark handsome werewolf? Anita sure can't, she can't get enough of him. Hmmm, yeah. Of course Jean-Claude is duly pissed and there is some...tension...between the two. By some occurrence, the current pack's leader Marcus, whom Richard is fighting for leadership, offers Richard's services to Jean-Claude. Since the wolf is Jean-Claude's animal-each master vampire has power to call their own animal like Oliver had with snakes-he can also control werewolves as well. Basically, Richard is supposed to do what the Master of the City wants. I emphasize supposed to. Of course, that doesn't happen. A lot of anger and jealousy happen' here. To add to the chaos of confusion, Marcus, the leader of the wolf pack and Raina, the alpha female wolf wants, needs Anita's help in finding out who is killing lycanthropes, werewolves specifically. In the past weeks, 8 werewolves have disappeared or ended up in violent death. With help from Edward and some reluctance help from Richard, Anita plunges forth. Mind you, there is one part of the story line dealing with porno/snuff film. That's Edward's reason for being, he's been hired to kill the lycanthropes involved in the killing of a human girl in a film. It's not crude, it's just frankly stated. While not necessary, it does reveal a little part of Richard's character, which is really important in the story. The sacrifice? Her new relationship with Richard as well as Jean-Claude. As Anita learns more and more about the world of werewolves, she rethinks Richard's proposal of marriage. Yeah, he asked her to marry him. Jean-Claude of course is very pissed and threatens to kill Richard but Anita complies with his terms of dating BOTH of them at the same time, he may let Richard live. Oh, yeah, it gets really interesting. It's the only reason I like Richard; you'll enjoy what Richard brings to the story if your a Jean-Claude fan. It's interesting how Hamilton is able to only give small bits of information and yet maintain such intense interest. You really don't know Jean-Claude or Anita, but each gives a small glimpse of who they are and what they are, what they believe. Great writing at its best. Great sci-fi fantasy with elements of moral, ethics and belief aspects about everything, yourself, the world. All the humor, sarcasm, intelligence, the aura of the other books is still ever so present. You won't be disappointed; it just gets better and better.
Rating:
Summary: Werewolf or vampire, that is the question
Review: Up until this point, the main character in the series, Anita Blake, has been staying away from love. Anita is an animator and vampire slayer, who has been wooed for quite some time by the master vampire of the city, Jean-Claude. On the previous book, "The Circus of the Damned", we saw Anita moving away from the enchanting vampire to start searching for love in what she thought was a normal human. She was surprised when, after a vampire tore out the throat of his suitor, he did not die. Richard is a werewolf, and Anita is trying to reconcile this information with her own feelings for him. Anita's reluctant acceptance of love may have to do with the moment in time in which Laurell K. Hamilton wrote this book, since she was pregnant and delivered a baby girl named Trinity. With each book, the reader gets a clearer idea about what the place in which Anita lives in is like. For example, we find out that there are creatures that we did not know existed in this world, like dragons, gargoyles and trolls. Also, we learn that discrimination against lycanthropes is illegal but existent nonetheless. In this case, everything starts when the husband of one particular lycanthrope shows up at Anita's office looking for help, since his wife is missing and he cannot go to the authorities for fear she will be fired if the "secret" comes out. In addition to this, Dolph, who works with the preternatural unit of the police department, summons Anita because there has been a murder of suspicious nature. Anita determines that the murder was committed by a shapeshifter, denomination that includes werewolves. Besides the "usual" type of situations Anita faces, she has to deal with her relationship with Richard, and his battle for the leadership of the wolf pack with an alpha male called Marcus. Jean-Claude will not go away without a fight, and he is trying to get Anita to date him instead of the werewolf. To complete the picture, there is a female vampire that is in love with Jean Claude and thinks that the only way to get her prize is to eliminate her competition. Anita describes this situation perfectly: "Bully for me!" Hamilton is perfecting a world and a character that grab the attention and the heart of the reader without letting go. As the story progresses, we learn more about Anita's past, her relationship with her mother, her previous experience with love, etc. Also, the reader comes to cherish some of the characters that at first seem unlikable, like Edward, the "gun for hire". A friend told me that the series will get kinkier as it progresses, and I already saw this happen in this book, but this change in tone matches perfectly the mood of the main character. The truth is, I cannot get enough of Anita Blake!
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not the best
Review: Anita Blake is a definite favourite of mine. But Anita! You really disappointed me in this one. The story and the storyline was, as usual, great. Anita has to deal with some horrible murders with a distict supernatural touch, and from the beginning it becomes clear, that this book is not so much about vampires as it is about shapeshifters. There is something wrong about these murders, apart from the supernatural aura about them. Someone or something is on the loose, and pretty soon, Anita is too close to the trail for comfort. And on the same time, she is having major second thoughts about her boyfriend Richard. In the last book, she found out that he was a shapeshifter, and in this book, she is trying to deal with that fact. Another reviewer has written about Richard and the difficulties for the reader accepting him as Anita's boyfriend. I agree. I find Richard disgusting, no matter how beautiful he is supposed to be when not being a werewolf. This is why I can 'only' rate this Anita Blake book with 3 stars. But, apart from this, Lunatic Cafe is a light, funny, scary and good read.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not great
Review: This book is still good entertaining fun, just as the rest of the Anita Blake series. And plenty of body count for those who keep count ;) However a key element in stories is for the reader to identify with the main charecter. In this book that means we have to see the new love interest 'Richard' in the same dreamy light that the main charecter Anita Blake does. The relationship is stressed enough in this book that there's no just ignoring it... I could not bring myself to follow along with Anita where Richard is concerned. Richard gets an enthusiastic thumbs down from me. The fact that it is so imensely frustrating should tell you that Hamilton know's how to write and hook the reader. But her main charecter lost me in this book. I gave some of her other books higher ratings. still a worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: A Favorite!
Review: Lunatic Cafe is one of my favorite Anita Blake novels. This one lets us delve deeper into the lives of werewolves. Anita finds herself sucked into a power struggle between alpha werewolves and on the run from a vampire who wants to kill her out of jealousy for Jean-Claude. Life is never easy, or quiet, in Anita's world. The book juggles several plot points, but Ms. Hamilton handles deftly -- her writing style and technique continues to improve. I really enjoyed learning more about the world of the werewolves, and this book really establishes Richard as a strong, but troubled, leading man in Anita's life.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book
Review: I've been reading this series for a while - Ms. Hamilton's spin on a world where the supernatural (vampires, werewolves, etc) are real and part of every day life is very cool. Main charcter: Anita Blake, vampire executioner, is a deadly babe herself and when she falls for the boyscout type of guy (and finds out a few interesting details about him) you wonder how these two will get along! (but that's for the next few books to cover). Although, relationships play a strong part in this story. This is not a girl book - the body count and mayem will appeal to a very broad audience. Though I do have one question: What the heck is up with the new book jackets? Until you reach book nine, there really is no explicit sex, but it certainly seems that's what the publisher is selling the whole series as!
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