Rating: 
Summary: Another Great Book
Review: Overall the Anita Blake series is very good and The Lunatic Cafe is no exception. However, I did find that it started off awkward and a bit on the lame side. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the series but there several things about the character Anita Blake that annoy the crap out of me: 1) In a previous novel, she was portrayed as homophobic 2) She's a prude- she's saving herself for marriage because of one breakup- come on 3) I have a very hard time she's only 24 and 4) it bothers me she's religious. But I feel those are minor and don't really hurt the series any. What I do like about her character: 1) she doesn't drink alcohol; 2) her love of stuffed penguins despite her tough exterior and 3) she doesn't wear fur on moral grounds.
I think Laurell K. Hamilton does a fantastic job building up the sexual tension between the characters. I love the fact the chapters are short and my favorite thing about this particular Blake novel is that there are other creatures featured besides Vampires. I also love the fact that Hamilton brings up Wicca, although she doesn't really describe it much, nor would there be a point to her doing so. My one major complaint about the plot is that there is no resolution to the up in the air issue that is in Anita's life. But I don't want to spoil it for you. If you like the series, you'll like the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Werewolves & Vampires & Ghouls, Oh Boy! Anita Is Super!!
Review: Animator, necromancer, called by vampires everywhere "The Executioner," Anita Blake is a feisty, independent, 21st century lady who can't seem to get a date with a human being. In "Lunatic Cafe," Book 5 of Laurell K. Hamilton's winning mystery-suspense-thriller-romance series, Anita is in love with Richard Zeeman, a kind and handsome science teacher who just happens to be a werewolf - an Alpha Male. Anita thinks she can deal with his "condition" enough to consider marriage. Then she starts to see another side of Richard - one he has tried to keep suppressed. Lycanthropy just happens to be the principal theme of this novel, so the couple's problem is topical. The charismatic Jean-Claude, vampire extraordinaire, and Master of the City of St. Louis, finds it hilarious that Anita doesn't think Richard is "human enough" for her. Jean-Claude is wildly attracted to Anita, and also lusts to share her powers, but she looks down on his advances because he is a vampire - and the Head Vampire, at that. One thing to remember about Anita - she does not want to be controlled EVER!!
Employed by Animators, Inc., to raise the dead, Anita's sideline is slaying vampires - the ones who murder humans. She collaborates with the police's Regional Preternatural Investigation Team when hunting the criminal undead. A call from her counterpart, Sergeant Rudolph Storr, informs her that a badly mutilated body has shown up in the hinterlands of St. Louis. A crime appears to have been committed, perhaps by a werewolf given the nature of the wounds. Anita is convinced that a supernatural creature is the killer...but what kind of creature? "If there were no prints, could it have flown in? A Gargoyle maybe? It was the only large winged predator that attacked men. Except for dragons, but they weren't native to the country, and it would have been a hell of a lot messier. Or a lot neater. A dragon would simply have swallowed the man whole. Gargoyles will attack and kill a man, but it's rare. Besides, the nearest pack was in Kelly, Kentucky. What else could it be? There were a few lesser eastern trolls in the Ozarks, but not this close to St. Louis." In any event, whatever killed the human, the local sheriff and cohorts are determined to hinder Anita from discovering the truth.
Meanwhile, Anita's greedy boss Bert, always out to make a buck, passes off a missing person's case on her. Several members of Richard's "lunarly disadvantaged" pack have disappeared. Richard is entangled in a fight over the leadership of the pack with fellow werewolf, and present leader, Marcus. And Jean-Claude is growing increasingly hostile about what he perceives to be a lovers' triangle. Rage, vindictiveness and jealousy, anyone? Anita may have removed Jean-Claude from the picture permanently, but according to Jean-Claude's ego, he is way ahead of all the competition.
As if this isn't enough to fill a book, a sub-plot concerning snuff/porn films involving lycanthropes and humans is revealed. The films and murders lead Edward, called "Death" by the vampires, to join the case, to the chagrin of Anita and the undead.
Dominance is a major issue in "The Lunatic Cafe." Aside from Richard vying for "leader of the pack" status with the unlovable Marcus, and Jean-Claude constantly asserting himself as Master Vamp of St. Louis, Anita has to constantly prove that she can take on all comers and still survive. And she is challenged all the time....and gets beat up badly, frequently, but does prevail.
Laurell Hamilton is at her best in "The Lunatic Cafe." She is an excellent writer who, with much flair and pizzazz, mixes fantasy with mystery, romance and dark humor. Her take on this derivative genre is a most unusual one. The mystery is at the fore of her novels and the supernatural takes second place, almost taken for granted as part of Anita Blake's natural world. And Ms. Blake is a delight - witty, savvy, hard-boiled, as in tough, and a major cynic with a tender heart. This gal has attitude with a capital "A." I highly recommend this series. A warning, however - to really enjoy these novels, and the characters' development, the books should be read in order. (at least the 1st four).
JANA
Rating: 
Summary: Okay
Review: I didn't really like this book that much because (like some people have already mentioned) Anita seems a bit arrogant and full of herself. She complains alot about her life too, and that just doesn't help make this book better to read. Another thing is that (like someone mentioned already) the fact that two killings by two different groups of people in the same week doesn't seem credible. I also didn't like how Anita kept Richard hanging, and I can't believe she agreed to date Jean-Claude. Overall, this book wasn't that great, the plot was okay so I rate it three stars.
Rating:
Summary: Now We're Talkin'....
Review: I have read the first three books in the series, and like someone said earlier, I think this is where the story starts to pick up.
I enjoyed the book, no doubt about it, but there are a few things that I saw as 'not fitting' with the description of Anita that Hamiliton is trying so hard to push on us. Someone else mentioned her giving into a proposal by Jean Claude, the way it is written just doesn't mesh with the attitude Anita tries so hard to convey. And the ending is a little too pat, I mean how exactly does she figure out who the 'bad guy' really is? Is she psychic and I missed it?
Despite any issues I may have had with the book, there is no doubt in my mind I am going to read the rest of the series. This was a fun installment, and I can't wait to see what happens next.
Rating:
Summary: Nice
Review: Werewolves, wererats, wereleopards, weretigers, werehyenas, and...wereswans! Although I prefer vamipers to lycanthropes in the Anita Blake series, it was interesting to learn more about the pack and other wereanimals. I'm not sure Anita needs someone like Richard in her life right now but I'm warming up to him. I'll see what happens in the following books and give him a few more chances then I'll judge him.
Rating: 
Summary: There are better things you could be reading
Review: Laurell K. Hamilton's "The Lunatic Café" is a substandard work of fiction with no redeeming literary or entertainment values. Hamilton's main failings lie in her very basic ability to write interesting characters, description, and dialogue. Her characters are broad and stereotypical: the hard, cold, and strong heroine; the sexy foppish vampire; the sensitive but strong lover with a dark side. She fills her dialogue with needless explanations of otherwise subtle observations and recognizable jokes. If, by the end of the book, it is not made clear to you in the most obvious ways possible that Anita Blake is a hard, take-no-guff woman, then there's something wrong. Ultimately, Hamilton simply fails to create erotic/horrific atmosphere. Her love scenes fall limp and her shocks and terrors that could be deeply disturbing and taboo-erotic pass with a terrible banality that plagues the whole book. Because of Hamilton's penchant for conclusions that never conclude the plots introduced in the story, you won't even have the satisfaction of saying you finished reading her book. Like bad fan-fiction that managed to get published, "Lunatic Café" should be seriously avoided.
Rating:
Summary: 1 star is pretty generous
Review: This is a banal text, poorly written in every regard. Though Hamilton may have a sense for action beats in her works (which she should at this point in her incredibly-long career), everything else is marred by her lack of skill at dialogue, description and knowing when to sit back and let the story work, rather than filling it with endless, meaningless "witty" quips from her narrator. The characters are stock and unlikeable, but only because they are completely devoid of originality. If her other works are anything like this one, then she will have a statue erected in her name in the literary hall of shame before it is all said and done.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I havnet read the series, my friends recommended "The Lunatic Cafe" to me so i started reading and i LOVED it! It's face paced, intriguing and a great read! This may be the best book I've read in a long time! I cant wait to read more by Laurell K. Hamilton in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter Novels and her other works! :)
Rating:
Summary: Before Richard got annoying...
Review: One of the better books in the series. This read through reminded me how much I use to like Richard. It made me feel all nostalgic. Sadly, Richard and the wolves get on my nerves in a big way now but I'll always have the memories. I really liked the mystery(s) in this one and it was great to read about Anita interacting with her cop buddies again. Jean-Claude is kind of scarce in this book which may annoy some of his hard core fans. It's not really a big problem for me.
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