WARNING: This book is twisted and brilliant! Review contains certain details that are upsetting and some sexual reference is used. Thus .. the review will touch on a few details that are disgusting and unacceptable to sensitive and closed minds. If you are either of the above, please do not continue to read this review I love this book! The Anita Blake series is AWESOME! Unfortunately, there are a few books in this series that just flat-out stink. The Lunatic Cafe is most definitely NOT one of those books.Filled with skinned and gutted victims, bestial pornographic snuff films, and forced romantic tangles, The Lunatic Cafe is by far one of the most interesting books in the Anita Blake series .. the first half of the series anyways.I’ve always been a little twisted. Curiously intrigued by things that make others gag. What can I say? I’m a little weird. With that said, keep in mind when you read this book that although left intrigued and wondering .. that is not an implication of preference or justification of lifestyles by others. To each his own I just needed to explain this little bit to avoid confusion and concern by loved ones. I was so excited to read this book, that I completely forgot to highlight some fun parts for previewing pleasure. I did however, highlight a paragraph from one of the crime scenes. I think it’s totally rockin’ awesome. You may wrinkle your nose and find yourself disgusted. Woo hoo for individualism!Ragged furrows ran down the right side of his face. One claw had sliced over the eye, spilling blood and thick globs of eyeball down his cheek. The lower jaw was crushed, as if some great hand had grabbed it and squeezed. It made the face look unfinished, only half there. It must have hurt like hell, but it hadn’t killed him. More’s the pity.The handsome Richard viewed as a monster? The sexy Jean-Claude grasping leverage to hostage intimate moments from Anita? A sexual-sadist, Raina, an alpha werewolf to the local pack and Richard’s former lover, climbs under Blake’s skin and wiggles around, leaving Blake disgusted with the idea that Richard could ever be involved with such a monster.Nasty, manipulative witches. Nagas seeking rescue. Shapeshifters missing. This book has a wide range of plots that continually catch you off guard. Just when you think you’ve figured it all out, you’re blindsided by something entirely unexpected and delicious.I recommend this book to curious minds, those pushing lines of moral reality, and those with their feet firmly planted on the ground. There is more to a normal life, and this book covers several aspects of life that are shunned and ignored by a society of manners and a certain set of acceptable sexual standards.ADULTS ONLY! I highly recommend you store this book away from curious little hands. Although open-minded, I strenuously object to younger minds reading this book. And even so .. here on out .. ANY book from this series.Filled with beautifully crafted and blood dripping crime scenes, obscenely provocative and perverted sexual content .. The Lunatic Cafe will leave you wondering just how far other people will go to satisfy their needs and desires!“There are more roads to monsterdom than most people realize.”Woo hoo! HAPPY READING!!
Anita Blake has a new case brought to her through several angles – shapeshifters are going missing, disappearing without a trace. And when you’re a person who can change into a vicious predator with a grip that can rip a person in half, it’s difficult it disappear without a trace.The police also have a man, a human, who has been savaged by a massive, wild animal with human intelligence. Unfortunately the shapeshifters and police aren’t sharing information, leaving Anita to work both sides as best she canBut there’s also Anita’s love life. Her relationship with Richard has depend but she has her own doubts about settling down – and, the more she learns about lycanthropes, even more doubts about being with Richard at all. And that’s without the complication of Jean-Claude, master vampire of the city who is determined to win Anita’s affections one way or the other; Gretchen, a vicious vampire who is besotted with Jean-Claude and determined to remove the competition and, of course, Marcus – Richard’s packleader who would love to see his second in command deadI love how the story works in this book. We think it’s answered – but no, there’s more! And there’s more! Ok maybe 3 is a bit of a stretch for coincidence, but I like that there isn’t just one pat answer. That just because you’re working on one dramatic mystery doesn’t mean that the whole world will now centre on that mystery to the exclusion of everything else and not everything has a single, simple, clean answer.And, again, it’s paced well – with enough twists and revelations to keep things interesting without it being convoluted. We have side-plots but they all come elegantly together. We also, unfortunately, have the Gretchen storyline that adds nothing – I think it’s a clumsy insert to drag Jean-Claude into the story somehow rather than serving any story purpose. Still, despite that the story flows, is never boring, is coherent and keeps you reading without pause.I love the world still and there’s some wonderful development into the nature of shapeshifters and shape shifting – the many methods and what each means. We continue to have suggestions of supernatural creatures from around the world, from every culture and every mythology, albeit we still have a western focus on the dominant characters. In all it’s broad and it’s exciting.I’m increasingly clinging to Ronnie as a character in these books because Anita is surrounded by a lot of men. Lots and lots of men. Lots and lots and lots of men. Other than Ronnie and bit parts, the only other women we saw in this book were Raina (evil and tangentially attached to Anita’s man) and Gretchen (unstable and jealous of Anita’s man). Admittedly part of this stems from already having read the series and knowing what’s coming so I can see the early pattern emerging - but here is the foreshadowing of the future women of Anita Blake’s world.Read More
What do You think about The Lunatic Cafe (2005)?
So I just finished it. I have to say I've started to not like Anita already. First of all, there was hardly any Jean Claude and the bits we did get pretty much sucked. How can she prefer a wolf over a vamp? Reading about how Werewolves changed was pretty gross. They don't just blow up into a ball of fur like in the Twilight series. LOL. Besides no Jean Claude, I noticed how she just kills people just because. Richard noted that and although I think he sucks with her, he had a point there. A gun
—Ranata
It's a bit sad how Hamilton has some decent storylines, but manages to deliver them so poorly and secondary that the main point of this novel is a date-off between Jean-Claude and Richard. It doesn't really get any more superfluous than this - I hope! Considering there are still 13 more books to this series, I fear it probably will. Anita went from "ok, she is not Buffy, but at least she's a bit kickass" to being just an ass. She's completely self-righteous and probably the biggest monster of th
—Sabrina
This latest instalment of the Anita Blake vampire hunter series was an odd one... I think I liked it the least of all 4 that I have read so far. I found the mystery part was a bit lacking, it became a filler in between the romance/love triangle issues. I feel it needed more than the last 20 pages to round up what was actually quite a good idea for a story. It also required no sleuthing, it was a bit of a cookie cutter ending where everything fell into place a bit too neatly just so that the book could end nice and tidy.The love triangle is bizarre, Jean Claude was odd in an effeminate Fabio / Evil torturer way, he lacked his usual pizzaz. Richard needs to man up and grow a spine, an alpha that follows her around like a beaten dog with its tail between its legs? Anita... well Anita just came across as moody, uncommunicative, slobish and overly emotionally damaged, so much to the point that I couldn't actually understand why these two attractive men were after her. Yes she can shoot, but, seriously? Having a conversation let alone a relationship with her would be as much fun as beating your head against a wall. To end this rant: A date-off? Really? I guess it keeps the drama going and no one dies but it was a bit of a junior high cop out for an author that is usually a bit more original.Overal it was a fun, light read and the information on other supernatural creatures is interesting, but its not the best book and I think I'll scream if I have to hear about her black nikes with a blue swish one more time!
—Emma
