Review: ‘The Lunatic Cafe’ by Laurell K. Hamilton
The Lunatic Cafe
by Laurell K. HamiltonSeries: Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #4
Published by Berkley on January 1, 1996
SubGenres: Urban Fantasy
Format: Paperback, AudioBook
Pages: 352
Source: Purchased
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Vampire hunter and zombie animator Anita Blake is an expert at sniffing out the bad from the good. But in The Lunatic Cafe-now in trade paperback for the first time-she's about to learn that nothing is ever as it seems, especially in matters of the not-so-human heart.
Dating a werewolf with self-esteem issues is stressing Anita out. Especially when something-or someone-starts taking out the city's shapeshifters.
I first read The Lunatic Cafe by Laurell K. Hamilton in 2009 when I was still in the US Navy. The Anita Blake series is what helped break me back into the Urban Fantasy genre. I was so happy to be back in the earlier books of Anita Blake because these focused on her mostly. Although readers will get to have some love triangle moments in this book between Anita, Jean-Claude, and Richard, be prepared before diving into this book if you do not like love triangles. It gets worst in later books, but The Lunatic Cafe has some heated issues between the Vampire and Werewolf dating Anita.
This book though, dives into some issues with the werewolf pack and how some shifters are getting killed. Anita is brought into investigating with Dolph and his crew, but she also has the pack leader, Marcus wanting her help too. There’s a slight issue between Anita and Richard in this book after discovering that Richard is having trouble with Marcus. He doesn’t want to tell her about it since she’s not a part of the pack. Jean-Claude has some difficulty in this book with a female vampire named Gretchen. Gretchen has it out for Anita for Jean-Claude loving her. Poor Anita hates dealing with romantic drama, and you can tell immediately she wants to live her life without it all. Unfortunately, it’s hard when you have two supernatural beings in love with her.
I don’t want to go into any further detail for readers that haven’t read this book or series. I loved the action in this book because Anita is having to investigate who or what is killing werewolves/shifters. She’ll find out not everything is what it seems to be, especially with whom she has to work on investigating the murders. I love the constant drama between Richard and Jean-Claude. Yup…I’m one that loves love triangle dramas. I’m a big Jean-Claude fan and never liked Richard. He drives me crazy with his jealousy and also having passive-aggressive behavior. He’s a werewolf and doesn’t like having to harm someone. Geez!
Jason is introduced in this book, too, and I forgot how he was at the beginning of the series. He comes off as very clingy in the beginning and scary since he’s new to the pack, although I love how he handles himself in certain situations.
Overall, this book gets five stars from me, and I recommend it to readers of the Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance genres. I’m doing a re-read of this series, and it feels like it’s brand new to me since it’s been a while that I read the books. I love every bit of the re-read.
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About Laurell K. Hamilton
Laurell K. Hamilton's is a paranormal thriller writer and is a regular on the New York Times Bestseller List through titles in her two series Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter and Meredith Gentry: Fairy Princess/Private Eye. The Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, published by Penguin Group under the Berkley Books imprint, spans 24 novels, including Dead Ice, which will be released early June 2015. With over 6 million copies in print worldwide and available in over 16 languages, there is no end in sight for Anita, the professional necromancer and licensed vampire executioner.
Marvel Comics has worked closely with Hamilton to adapt her books in the Anita Blake series into comic book medium with a stunning amount of success. The first installment of the graphic novel, Guilty Pleasures, was released in July 2007 and was the number one best selling graphic novel for that month. The Meredith Gentry series published by Ballantine Books features Meredith Gentry as a part‐human, part‐fey private investigator. Under orders from her aunt Andias, Queen of the Unseelie Court, Meredith is in a race to become pregnant and ascend the throne before her cousin Cel does. The cost of failure will be her own life and that of those who follow her. The latest Merry book, Divine Misdemeanors, debuted December 8th, 2009.
Laurell Hamilton resides in St. Louis County, Missouri, with her husband and partner Jonathon Green, her daughter, and their furbarian horde.
Her education includes degrees in English and biology from Marion (now Indiana Wesleyan University)
My obsession with reading started over 30+ years ago when I went to my first Scholastic Book Fair and found R.L. Stine's Fear Street series. Later, I came across Anne Rice's novels at my public library when I was fourteen when my obsession with vampires started. I was the girl who preferred to be a vampire over a princess any day. My husband says I would leave him a heartbeat for a vampire that looked like Spike or Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. (It's true, though, and he's accepted it.)
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