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Blood Noir, the sixteenth book in the Anita Blake series, was heralded to be an epic movement in the series' progression. Sadly, this was not the case. Having been a fan of the Anita Blake series since book one, I have had rather high expectations with previous additions to the series. However, as the series has gone on those expectations have become lower and lower as the quality did the same. My expectations for this novel were so low that almost anything could have surpassed them. I was disappointed however when I finished this novel and felt that I had just wasted a week of my life and not gotten anything out of it.

It seems that Ms. Hamilton has lost her focus as the Blake series becomes longer. There was virtually none of the vampire-hunting, zombie-raising, kick-butt action that readers have come to expect from Anita Blake. Over half of the novel took place in a hotel room, and seemed to resemble a porno transcribed to paper than a horror novel. There was not a single vampire beheading in several hundred pages. Nor did we see any sign of a zombie, ghost, ghoul, or indeed even much of the wereanimals.

Also gone from the scene were many of the regular characters that we have come to know and value as highly essential to the plot. Nathaniel was absent through all of the novel excepting two chapters at the beginning. Micah was merely mentioned in passing, Jean Claude got a whole two pages with a phone call. Richard, who has taken more of a backseat role, showed up to throw yet another temper tantrum before storming out of the scene again. Instead Jason, who is not as large of a character by any stretch, is the front man for this novel. We travel with him to his hometown, where Anita is helping him visit his dying father and posing as his girlfriend. The main plot seemed to revolve around Jason resembling a well known socialite and future presidential candidate's philandering son.

Once again in this book, sex has gone from being a minor shadow alonside the main plot to being the entire plot on its own. In this book, Anita once again racks up a few more lovers before even becoming aware of their names. There is a brief appearance of the recurring Mother Of All Darkness storyline, but it is only a few chapters and does not hold one's interest very well.

Overall, this would have worked better as a novella and an addendum to the rest of the series. It added little to nothing to the continuing story. But perhaps the saddest part of it all is that I will continue to read the Anita Blake novels with a heated passion. Maybe I am overly optimistic, but I cannot give up hope that the Anita Blake we all know and love will return.

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