Kiss the Dead

It’s a few more typical days in the life of Anita Blake, U.S. marshal and vampire hunter, and in her fast-paced if formulaic 21st adventure, that means an even balance of bloody police work and athletic preternatural sex. When Anita and her fellow marshals respond to the kidnapping of an underage girl seeking vampirization in their alternate St. Louis, they uncover a coven of rogue vampires whose terrorist fringe will put readers in mind of certain displaced contemporary cultures. The premise extends the series’ depiction of vampires as second-class citizens seeking equality in their human-dominated world, and illuminates the difficulties of Anita’s life as a mortal who takes preternaturals as her lovers. Anita’s interactions with those lovers are fraught with just as much tension as the violent S.W.A.T. assaults. There’s nothing here that Hamilton (Hit List) hasn’t done already, but there’s enough to sustain readers until Anita’s next escapade. Agent: Merrilee Heifetz, Writers House. (June)