As always, there are several subplots in this book that ultimately get woven together. One has Anita learning there's been a half-million dollar hit placed on her. Another involves a request from one of Jean-Claude's vampiric rivals, Sabin, to heal his disfiguring disease. And then there's Richard, who finally grows a pair and decides to go forward with his coup of his werewolf pack, throwing out the old leaders, Marcus and Raina.
If, however, you're like me and you care more about the characters than the eighty-seven guns Anita carries and exactly how she uses them, all you're going to care about is that Anita finally makes her choice between her boyfriends, after several steamy scenes with each (and one with both!). The relationship between all three takes a surprising turn, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it's handled in forthcoming books.
The only downside is the often-interminable descriptions of werewolf culture. Every time we turn around, there's another (often contradictory) point of protocol that has to be explained to Anita. Frankly, Hamilton gets carried away, instead of making it a simple hierarchy. It's all an effort to make the final showdown between Marcus and Richard a fairer fight, but it gets in the way of us believing that lycanthropes live normal lives three and a half weeks out of every month.
On the other hand, maybe reminding us that the werewolves aren't human was Hamilton's point, since Anita's acceptance of Richard's double life is key here. After nagging him for months to accept violence, can she really handle seeing her maybe-fiancé rip out someone's throat with his teeth? What about Jean-Claude, who looks like he may be willing to give up on ever being with Anita? (And this may be the first time, apart from a kiss in the very first book in the series, that I really believed how in love with her he is.) Oh, yeah, and someone wants Anita dead, bad (although the revelation of who took out the hit is anticlimactic at best), which brings mysterious hit man Edward back to her side in the dubious role of protector.
The best book to date in an above-average series. Very high on sex and violence (sometimes at the same time).
