Vampire Hunter Novel - The Harlequin - An Anita Blake

Unbelievable, but same as Greg (who is the other who wrote a review, and he read it in the same month), I found this book in a corner of my father's in law house, I read it and it was a wonderful reading, it was printed in 1974 and is a very good book, if you see it at your parents house just read it, you will enjoy it.

Goodness, all the whining and complaining, combined with all the hyperboloid praise, would turn any author's head ... into mush. Good thing LKH doesn't read reviews. Frankly, for me, and for many of us quietly enjoying her artistry, the very plot devices and dialogue qualities that people alternately whine and glow about are what simply please us the most.

What if the criticized and beloved characters and plot lines are actually imperfect and growing, on purpose, and neither mistakes nor genre-typical simplistic devices machined to keep the dough rolling in? What if we are invited to grow, too, through the seeming imperfections?

As a human development specialist, I've felt relieved to read LKH's style, to see the ludicrously predictable hyper-drek of this genre meet the deeper, less-attractive qualities of the real human spirit. Oh yes, our favorite characters (and there are many!) are bull-headed, inane, cruel, surprising, narcissistic, passionate, bellicose, stupid, grandiose, ridiculous, insightful, incomplete, cheesy, shallow, tender, and confused. *But then again, so are we all.* And THIS is where LKH shines above and beyond the usual drek of this genre, which I normally dislike intensely. The author gives us more than what we expect - through fantasy, she gives us a detailed mirror of our own selves, warts and all.

Frankly, unlike some of LKH's critics, after the first few novels, I never wanted to read about exploding guts and impossibly studly Anita's many, beloved, penis-oid guns, ever, ever again. Freud, save me from the boredom. But then LKH began developing Anita and some of her relationships. And then more of her relationships, and the relationships between the relationships, aka politics. And despite the surreal surface complexities, the deeper issues that each character faces are surprisingly realistic, in that the politics and politicians are also just as desperate, stupid, pathetic, surprising, smart, defensive, and inconsistent as we and ours are in real life. Again, LKH holds up the mirror for us to consider.

And the rampant sexuality, I find fascinating. Overdone, certainly. But still beneficial, in that the author offers a relatively mainstream readership in repressed/overwrought American society further insights into the variety and possibilities of the human sexual-relational experience. She offers us possibility - we could, if we wanted to, give ourselves permission to be even a little more open, exploratory, and creative with our hearts, minds, beliefs, and bodies. Furthermore, for those whining about what LKH has done so far with the ardeur, notice that it's no different than what *we've already done in our society* - superficially hypersexualized the experience, and wrapped it in a shiny, neurotic bow. So if you don't like what LKH is showing you in the mirror, change the image you offer her.

Blessedly, though, in this novel, the author takes the ardeur one giant step beyond where we are as a society and points to another possibility.... without spoiling the plot, I'll just ask readers to see what happens next.... could it be a growing maturity? A tentative step into a new direction? Can you stand the possibility?

As for the accusation of underdeveloped plotlines, all I can say is, Of Course! Keep us coming back for more - how does character X (whether it's Harlequin, Nathaniel, or anyone/thing else) handle life after getting lucky, or acting stupid, or missing the point, etc? What if not-knowing in one book becomes knowledge-gained in another?

I've read reviews of her next book that suggest that, among other surprises, Jean-Claude gets insecure. I cannot *wait* to see what LKH does to develop this. His impossibly smooth competence was getting on my nerves, and I've been hoping that he'd learn to be human again.

I wonder what would happen if fantasy as a genre became beautifully, imperfectly human again? I know I'll stick around to find out.......

I have read all the Anita Blake books, the last really, really good one was The Obidian Butterfly. That was Anita and Edward at their best! The next five slowly get worse and worse. Everything has gone bad, all sex, sex, sex. What happened to the vampire executioner, Dolph, Larry and really good stories? This last book is the worst, except for Edward and it was over 200 pages into the book before he arrived. The rest was wasted with all this "ardeur" stuff and background chic chat on characters, etc. hard core readers should already know of. I guess this is the last book I will buy, it's too bad because I really liked Anita and all her friends.

I agree with a previous reviewer. I think I got through this book alot easier by deciding the story has turned into a sort of comedy...though un-intentional. Seriously...I laughed alot. I woke my husband when I bust out laughing about the condom apparently falling off the swan king. Are you kidding? But then I forgot how much she enjoys watching all her men *work* if you know what I mean. Of course that would be the only place she would be looking after the guy turns into a swan! I thought I was crazy when I connected the red shirts to Star Trek...haha..glad I'm not the only one. The ENDLESS dialog about Anita thinking everyone is picking on her, and snoozer sex scenes (oh add some additional whinney dialog there too)....wait....wasn't some/most of that passed off as the Harlequin *messing* with them?
Regardless, there are only so many times I can tolerate Anita or any of her men saying what "flat does it for them". I get it...just about anything flat does it for her. When I read that term "mommie dearest" for the Mother of All Darkness, I always want to cry out "no wire hangers EVER!!" I'll probably read the next one. It's like driving and watching a major car crash in slow motion. You know you really need to move on and you can't help but stick around to see how bad it can get.
I guess I can say at least she spent a couple hours at the office this time, Dolph, Zabrowski, and Edward make shadow appearances. I know I won't need to wait for long on the library list to check it out. Stay tuned!!

This book starts off with a great deal of promise. There's a meeting between Malcolm, head of the vampire church, and Anita. And it even takes place in her office where she works as raiser of the dead. It seems Malcolm is concerned about two of his parishioners. They've been accused of murder, but Malcolm thinks they've been framed. And he's sure he knows who really did it. It is someone whose name he cannot speak. Go to Jean-Claude, ask him, Malcolm advises. She does. Pretty soon Anita is thinking of bringing her friend Edward in to help out.

I really didn't intend to buy another Anita Blake novel, that's how disappointed I've been in Hamilton's last few novels. But honestly, I can't seem to stay away. And frankly, I'm glad I read this one. THE HARLEQUIN actually had a plot, not just a beginning mystery, a lot of sex and talking about sex, then a resolution to the mystery. Oh don't get me wrong, there's still a lot of talk. It's almost as though Hamilton sits at her computer and just writes whatever comes into her mind, without editing a thing out of it. But she does seem to be trying to curtail the speakers tendency to go off down side paths this time. There's still a lot of dialog, but, she actually has one character or another saying things like lets get back to the subject. And Anita's inner thoughts still ramble along about things that have nothing to do with the plot. But this book was much better than the last three or four. Anita will never go back to being the woman we all fell in love with, but maybe there is some hope for an entertaining read somewhere down the road. I look forward to that time.

I havent bought a Hamilton novel in two years. For either of her series.
From the rewiew that the store posted, about Hamilton responding to the cries of the fans about bringing back her skillful writing again - I was so hopeful. From other reviews, the plot sounds much better than the tragedies the previous four books have been. And I'm glad to see that Edward is back with his own rich dramas. What happened, Laurell? Bring back the old Anita writing style. Dont end the series writing like this. Its so depressing to see a great writer with such a great imagination take such a twist like this. I will not be purchasing this book, nor the other four missing from my collection - but I will be checking this one out at the library. She made the effort to try and appease us, I might as well read it.

FOR PETE'S SAKE! THIS IS NOT A 3, 4 OR 5 STAR BOOK!!!! At best it is a 2 star book. Yes, it has a plot. YEA!!!!!!! Yes, Anita manages to get out of the bedroom. YEA!!!!!!( THAT'S THE ONLY REASON FOR THE 2 STARS). That's where it ends. If she's not having sex, she's mostly talking about sex. LKH has thrown former characters in like confetti. Yes the cops make an apperance. For like 5 pages(takes longer for the badly written sex). Yes Cheri makes an appearance and it's a very short one. The editing, again, SUCKS. Writers usually improve over time, but for some reason, give them a hard back, more money and the author thinks they are entitled to insult their readers writting what should be tossed. I mean, do you really want to ready about Belle Morte having sex with Anita? Do you really want to read about Anita having sex with a swan? AND YES, THE FEATHERS DO LITTERALY FLY! Sorry, but I don't do beastiality. If one of my favorite authors released one book I don't care for, that's ok. But, when there's 3 books that are bad and no end in sight, I just don't think so. I was teased by the offer of a plot and was stupid enough to bite. NO MORE! I've had it with the series and with her. If I want to read erotica, and I do read it sometimes, I'll buy something that's at least written very well. Kudo's to LKH. Lost another one.

I suppose the first chapter of this book is what had my hopes up from the beginning. I know other fans had complained about the "client in the office" opening, but from my standpoint those were the Anita books that got me reading the series in the first place. I started with "Obsidian Butterfly" and sadly, they've all been trying to live up to that one. The ones before it were good, the ones after featured plots that never went anywhere, way too much emotional hand-holding and hand-wringing, and a series of villains that had great potential but were never fully developed.

While the plot here wasn't as strong as the first half of the Anita series books, it was far better than the more recent forays. There was still too much of the emotional baggage that's weighing the series down, as well as the use of sex just for sex - rather than actual plot - that's also been a problem of late. But that's mostly in the middle. The opening of the book, once we get bast Anita and Nathaniel's relationship, establishes the premise that something nasty and ugly has come to town, and as always Anita will have to deal with it.

Formulaic? Sure. But the villain isn't, and for the first time since "Obsidian Butterfly" the villain gets decent treatment from the author. The climax is satisfying, and there are enough guest stars and references to other books (mostly that last great book, mentioned twice here already) to appease long-time readers, and it only dragged in some places rather than throughout the whole.

It gets 4 stars because there is no half star system, and I'm weighing in optimistically that the author has finally found her way back. I'm all for artists stretching creatively and all that, but I also believe you shouldn't muck around too much with something that's good. Long term fans will have to wait until the next book to see if the series is picking back up, but I for one have hope after reading "The Harlequin."

add a flimsy plot device with a potentially cool sounding name, a pinch of a great character we haven't seen in far too long, an American cheese bland ending, mix & serve and you have LKH's 'The Harlequin'. To say that this book was more of the same is overstating the obvious...but if the shoe fits....

I'm tired of Richard's whiny angst, put a silver bullet in his brain and be done with it. I'm tired of pages and pages of book being devoted to Anita arguing about/defending her lifestyle choices with her friends, peers, professional contacts, the milkman...etc. I'm tired of her personal hangups about sleeping with multiple guys but still finding man 2 man sex uncomfortable and squicking about bondage play with Nathanial. Deal with it or cut him loose so he can be truly happy.

Perhaps if the author spent less time dwelling on these issues (private fanatasies put in print?!?) she might have more time to write the Anita that we all came to know & love. Back in the days when there were zombies to be raised, real threats to be fought and some moments of fun humor in her books. Are those days truly gone? Should we send flowers?

I'm not holding my breath waiting but hope springs eternal!

Remember that and don't waste your money buying this book. I wasn't able to finish TH as I was seriously afraid it would turn me off reading altogether. When will LKH learn that stories need a plot and that sex is NOT a plot. If the sex was well written and erotic then I could almost forgive the weak plots in the past 5 or so books. But it isn't. It's simply bad porn - repetitive and boring. At least TH was consistent to her past few AB books as they have been: 1) consistently bad and 2) consistently inconsistent regarding characterizations and Anitaverse rules.

And stop reading this series....

When you find that you HATE all of the characters in a book....it might be time to let it go.

I really wanted Richard to die....
I wanted Jean-Claude to shut up or just never wake....
And Anita to keep her clothes on or atleast tell atleast one creature/man no thanks...

Will this series ever get back to good old fashion kick butt vampire hunting and killing....nope. It seems the author is a bit kinky and wants to prove just how kinky by messing up one of the most dynamic characters to hit the literary scenes in recent years....

Too bad....I give up.

I stopped buying AB book in hard back since all the sex started. I was tempted back to buy this book because the first few reviewers said that there was less sex and more action. This part is true. This book is better than the last 2 books. Still not worth the price. It is the same all theme recycle. Richard still torn about AB. AB still getting offers from every were species for sex. The main problem with this series right now the only central story line having problem with sex, solving problem with sex. I still would buy this series, but only in paper back.

Obviously most fans have forgotten what a great LKH book goes like. It's not one where Anita plays thumbsy with a serial killer in the chest cavity of a dead vampire. Nor does one half way decent book bespeak a major come back for LKH. It took her five aweful books to trash the entire series. Maybe it'll take that many for a truly great book to be published again. I don't know. I just know it wasn't this one. Until said time, she ain't getting any of my hard earned money, I'll continue to get my books from the library.

It's true, this book is a bit better than the last few books. But, being slightly better than something that bad doesn't make it good, just a little less bad. 'The Harlequin' did have a couple good points, but it also had a lot of really awful points as well.

Yes, there was a less sex. But, that only holds true if you count actual intercourse. There is still the same amount of discussion regarding sex, partners, and relationships. Add to that general angst, guilt trips, and rehashing everyones emotional issues and it doesn't leave all that much room left over for little things, like the plot.

Once again, the actual story takes a backseat to everything else. In the end, the big-bad Harlequin seems to be nothing more than a catalyst to inspire more angsty emotional dialogue, discuss (again) everyone's "issues," and add a couple more sex-partners for Anita to the mix. As actual villains they were an utter failure. They came out of no where, with no back story. They had zero character development, ill-conceived actions, vague and poorly reasoned goals, their actions were often illogical, and they accomplished nothing.

While there were fewer spelling mistakes than normal, the book is still very poorly written. The dialogue is horribly bland and stilted, and the book is very dialogue heavy. The story is superficial and simplistic, and has one of the most anti-climatic conclusions I've ever read.

Edward makes a return but it's not the Edward we knew. No longer is the straight-forward killer we expect, instead he spends all his time acting as confidant to Anita, sharing their issues and discussing their feelings together.

This book isn't a return to the old Anita, and I don't think it represents a turn in the way the series has been developing. It's mostly the same stuff we've been reading in the last several books, all regurgitated and fed to us again, with a tiny amount more emphasis on the plot and a little less sex.

Those who loved the most recent books will probably like this one as well, but perhaps not as much so as there is less actual sex and more gore. However, if you were hoping that this book would rekindle your interest in the series, I suggest you don't waste your time or money--the book just isn't that good. All the things you hoped to see, the things you were promised? They were all hype, very little substance. If you choose to read it anyway, be prepared for disappointment.

It seems that LKH is on the path toward merging the old and new Anita in a way that I might be able to live with...however there were a couple blatant errors that had me questioning what I knew about Anita's world. #1 Sylvie is a lesbian.....#2 Did Willy McCoy get a new GF or shouldn't her name be Hannah. Either way I really think LKH needs to have a group of at least 10 fans read her books before they are printed so that errors like this can be fixed before hand.

My other complaint would be that there was so much repetition in phrases and overall the writing just didn't seem as up to par as usual. Either way, if Anita continues to move closer to her old self (and for the love of God please take some of the power away...)then I may be able to continue reading. I'll give it another novella and one more novel.

I was looking for a new addiction in the book isle at Costco when I came across this book. I picked it up and flipped through a few pages and took it home. I did not realize that this was book 15 of a series, I would later go back and read all of the series! At first I found it difficult to get into the book because I didn't know any of the characters. After about the first two chapters, I was in love! I love LKH and I am in the process of reading her latest three books in the series.

I wish LKH would include Richard without all of the confliction, he is one of my favorite characters but I hate hearing him B@#ch so much... He's the Ulfric for goodness sake!

I haven't purchased an Anita Blake since Incubus Dreams. I should have stopped at Obsidian Butterfly. This book is another casualty in the LKH trainwreck. Yes, she held off on the boring, repetitive sex for a little over 100 pages. Was there a plot? Maybe. It's hard to tell between the self righteous, long winded, tortuous musings about sex. Is it a step back to the Anitaverse that was so enthralling before? Not even close.

She takes a personal dig at her readers...again: "God hasn't forsaken me; it's just that all the right-wing fundamentalist Christians want to believe he has." Right-wing fundamentalist Christians? I'm sure she meant "Readers with taste, for whom substance does not mean genital interaction."

Check out Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, and Kelley Armstrong if you like supernatural books with a romantic subplot and a strong female character.

I had high hopes for this book after reading the excerpt from the previous one. She leads you in to thinking this is going to be another action filled butt kickin book like the last one edward made an appearance in.

What a let down! All that was was bait to get you to read through 250 pages of trash and bad porn until edward arrives and then he doesn't even do anything!

I'm done with this series, it's gone from totally awesome butt kickin vamp hunter to low life trailer trash gutter slut. The only thing even entertaining in this book was the short lesbian scene with Belle Morte, and that was even cheesey.

[..], it's become a disgrace to it's genre and needs to be put in the cheap thrills romance section.

i love this series i probably will always like these books, but i do miss the way Anita used to be she fought and didn't sit around and hold hands with her lovers to kill some thing. she relied on her gun and her own magic to get out of ruff situations and she investigated stuff and had her own life. i miss that i am hooked on the characters and hold on to the hope that Anita may go back to the way she used to be i guess i shouldn't hold my breath .

Okay - number 15 - running out of plot ideas, are we? A few name changes and such, and !poof! you have "The Harlequin", a book that eerily seems familiar to all the other Anita Blake books, and not to far off from anything written by Laurell K Hamilton. If you liked her other books enough to read them again, go ahead and read this one. For everyone else, there are enough books out there that don't have that deja vu feeling to waste your time with repeat #15.

Finally! The old Anita is back. Well, not exactly the old Anita but close enough. There is page after page of plot, not sex. Monsters abound with Anita and the gang fighting their way through super bad vampires. There are a few sex scenes and discussions about sex, which is OK, but maybe LKH learned you can have sex and the old elements of the series at the same time. She could probably win all of her old fans back and sell even more books now if she pleased everybody. This book is a step in that direction.

The first half of the book is mostly dialogue but the old Anitas were
like that, too. I was more than ready for Edward to make his appearance. It felt like old home week. Other reviewers have outlined the book so I won't do that. I just want to tell the old fans that they may want to give this book a try. If we show LKH how much we appreciate the old elements of the books, maybe she will include them in the next books, too. Heck, maybe we will even see a few zombines raised ;)

Finally a bit of a plot; the series needs more plot less sex. The books started of as crime/mystery series and have become soft porn. I'm surprised the author is number two on the New York Times List. I wouldn't pay the paper back price for LKH's newer works. I checked mine out of the library. I keep reading in hopes that the old Anita will come back and the crappy sex will stop. The author needs to kill off characters and Anita needs to go back to work. Tracking the killers was interesting. People showing up to kill/do the main female character not interesting.

this was so much better than more recent books, but still not up to par with LKH's earlier novels. the good news - this book mostly has a plot - we are returning to books that have a plot, how great is that! the bad news is that the plot kind of fades in and out around having sex with anita and just plain boringness...

***SPOILERS BELOW***

so, we see where the next books are going - we see peter growing up (hopefully he stays away from anita) we see more of edward (great!) and we see olaf again (good for plot, bad for anita) and we see a plot that can continue. however, we see where more sex is going and to be honest it is getting old. but, there may be a reprieve from some of the sex - the adeur can be friendship now - hopefully that goes somewhere positive..

I enjoy all the Anita Blake books including this one. I buy them and will read them over and over again. This is one of my go to series when I need something to read and have nothing new.

The author is not the best writer, but these action filled books have me addicted. If the writer could improve upon her skills, cheesiness, and repetitive use of the same descriptions. The dialog can drag on and become nagging making you wonder how you can like characters in a book that seem so ignorant and lacking in sense.

this book is bland, horrid at best...proving that yet again laurel, i mean anita, is the center of the universe and all life, such as it is, revolves between her spread thighs. i made the mistake of purchasing this worthless pile of papers in the hopes that something would catch my waning interest only to be horribly disappointed and rather ticked off. I apologize to Ms. Hamilton if my lack of ego stroking offends her, but this series has moved from brilliant to bile inducing. as it stands now, i will not purchase another laurel k hamilton book. As it was so aptly put in (of all movies) SheDevil: "fans are fickle, disappoint them once and they'll never forgive you." Lament all you'd like about your true fans. Your true fans were the people who were shelling out their hard earned money for your work. I no longer count myself amoung your true fans and I am sure there are other writers who would like to have my support and my cash.

I had been an LKH fan since her first book came out. And like others, I stopped reading when the excessive yet somehow extremely boring sex scenes outweighed whatever enjoyment the plot and the kick butt main character used to give me.

But then there was hope. People were saying Hamilton was back on point. Anita was kicking butt and taking names with a vengeance- and the mechanical sex was at a minimal!

Don't be fooled. The only thing more boring then reading about pointless sex scenes is reading about people endlessly talking about pointless sex scenes. At length. For absolutely no reason.

I DON'T CARE.

Laurell, please, please, just stop. The sex isn't that great. Really, it isn't. No need to talk about it, let's just forget it and pretend it never happened and make Anita celibate for a year or so. Then, perhaps, we can even concentrate on this little idea called a "plot".

The last readable book of this series was Cerulean Sins. After that you better tell yourself that there are no other Anita Blake's books out there, it is better for you and your economy, really, that garbage is not worth anyone's time.

A fan since childhood, I've ridden out the funky turn that the Anita Blake series has taken. I always loved it for being a more adult Buffy the Vampire slayer meets paranormal investigation kind of thing. When it turned into soft porn...I have to admit, I became morbidly fascinated, until I got bored with pitiful excuses for tons of mindless sex.

So how's The Harlequin? Actually, it was a bit of an improvement. Hopefully my favorite character will gradually come back someday... what can I say? I'm a glass-half-full girl.

The 15th installment in Hamilton's train wreck series Anita Blake is surprising for a few reasons.

Hamilton has been heavily criticized for taking books with plots and turning it into bad porn. The author appears to be aware of this criticism and has toned down the sex to only a handful of scenes. What is surprising is that they are -still- so badly written, serve no purpose except to titillate desperate housewives or teens and are with 2 dimensional characters that no one really cares about (certainly not the author who cannot be bothered to remember the basics like names, heights, ages of these characters). Hamilton has heard half of the criticism of too much sex scenes but has missed the other part - too much BADLY WRITTEN sex scenes.

The other aspect of this novel that is surprising is that Hamilton attempts to fill the pages with plot. The criticisms in the past have been 'sex in lieu of plot'. Again her plot is carried on by long conversations which tell and don't show any action. These conversations are shotgunned with unnecessary descriptions of clothes, eye color, hair length and color to pad the slim page count in this novel.

But what Hamilton lacks in action she makes up with inconsistencies. The plot consists of stringing together completely illogical events that defy reason. For instance, The Harlequin (vampire cops) are hired to assassinate Anita and crew. So they follow Harlequin protocol and announce they are there to observe at the Vampire Councils behalf but just magically mess with Anita's emotions instead. The Harlequin has signed their own death warrants by announcing their presence and then not following their own rules to observe only. They also never attempt to assassinate anyone themselves.

Character motivation changes without reason from page to page. An example is that Anita needs to sex someone for power and on one page we're told it is to fuel the weaker vampires (which goes against cannon the author sets up at the start of the novel) but a page later we're told it's to save a werewolf and other vampire. Obviously the point is to get Anita into bed with someone and Hamilton does not care about the reason.

The author does seem to become aware of her glaring plot holes and tries to patch them but lacks the imagination and conviction to truly try. When their doctor miraculously (and conveniently) escapes being knocked out it with everyone else, it is explained with an 'I don't know'. When someone asks why the Harlequin (conveniently) never attacks while all the big guns are in coma's, again the answer is 'I don't know'. The next question is 'why bother reading this lazy author' and the answer is 'I don't know'.

In sum, Hamilton has now re-defined herself. She is no longer an author who delivers badly written porn in lieu of plot but now delivers badly written porn WITH a laughable plots.

Don't waste your time or money. I don't get all the good reviews that say The Harelequin harkens back to the earlier book in the series. Maybe they're reading something different than what I read. Yes, there are only three love scenes in the book, but they are very long and dull -- and this does take place in a 24-hour period, so that's a lot for one day, esp. with three different guys. When the characters aren't in bed they spend an inordinate amount of time angsting and whining about being in bed. Edward and Raphael seem to have gone the way of Dolph and Ronnie -- characters that used to be fascinating but are now one dimesional. The writing style and sentence structure is not very sophisticated either. Plus, there are major errors that should have been fixed prior to the book's release. I continue to be saddened by the rapid decline of a formerly fantastic series.

...considering what the few previous books were like. I loved the Anita Blake series for years and couldn't wait to get to the next one but lately it's just another addition to my TBR pile. The Harlequin was enjoyable, even with its various scenes of repetitive sex, and the mysterious harlequin group featured as the villains made the story very interesting. If you were a fan of the series I would suggest you read the book, but don't expect much progress with the ardeur or Jean Claude.

I don't know if I started Hamilton's latest effort with a bad attitude because the last 2 or 3 books were a definite disappointment, but I'm on page 160 now and it just seems like I've read it all before. No one seems to have grown or changed and I've flipped through several pages to avoid the tedious sex scenes (Richard, get a life). From reading other reviews, I gather there is a plot, but it seems to have been put on hold while we get to hear Anita's even more tedious stream of consciousness go on and on. Not sure if I'll finish reading it, but I'm definitely returning The Harlequin to the bookstore and getting my money back. I don't know if Hamilton has backed Anita (and friends) into a corner and can't figure out how to get them moving again, but this is another major disappointment.

I had to force myself to read this book, which I checked out from the library, and I only read it because I was curious how far Hamilton has fallen this time. Instead of endless repetitive sex, as her other new books, we get endless repetitive TALKING about sex. The result was so boring that I bailed halfway through the book.

She has lost me completely as a reader, I won't even check out her next one from the library. Complete waste of time.

The Harlequin (2007) is the fifteenth fantasy novel in the Anita Blake series, following Danse Macabre. In the previous volume, Anita forced Merlin to just ask his questions instead of playing mind games. After a few honest answers, he volunteered some useful information about Marmee Noir.

All the discussions had drained Anita and she had been draining Damian in turn. Asher volunteered to feed her ardeur. They enjoyed it so much that Jean-Claude forbade them to do it again without spotters.

In this novel, Malcolm -- head of the Church of Eternal Life -- makes an appointment to talk to Anita. He wants to discuss a warrant in her hands to execute one of the vampires in his congregation. Malcolm is sure that someone has framed her. He is also certain that one or more powerful entities have attended his services while hiding themselves from him.

Actually, Anita has two warrants for members of his church, but she has already served one death warrant on the grounds in full view of the congregation. She really doesn't want to do that again, even though she had few doubts about the guilt of that vampire. She tells Malcolm that she will check into it and starts asking about the case among the supernatural community.

Everyone seems to be unwilling to discuss the situation. Even Jean-Claude is close mouthed. Anita infers from their hints that a vampire council group is involved and that open discussion of the group could lead to the death of her informant.

Later, a package addressed to Anita appears out of nowhere. Within the package is a white mask. Apparently this signals that the mysterious vampire group is only investigating some matter and that other vampires are now provided some leeway in discussing their existence.

In this story, the vampire court has an enforcement unit called the Harlequin. These vampires were primarily the bodyguards of the Mother of All Darkness, but had other duties as directed by Mother Dear. When the Mother fell into a deep sleep several millennia ago, the Harlequin continued as bodyguards, but the extra duties became more significant.

The Harlequin have powers greater than most vampires and a few mundane tricks. One of these powers apparently induces a tiger presence among the Were spirits within Anita, but her bodyguard has thought to include a Were tiger -- Soledad -- in the staff to assist her in controlling a tiger spirit. The Harlequin has also bugged the Circus of the Damned.

Anita calls Edward for assistance and he agrees to come immediately. Unhappily, he brings Olaf and Peter as backups. Olaf is a serial killer, raping and dismembering women as a hobby. Peter, however, is Edward's teenage step-son; he is well trained, but inexperienced.

This story delves deeper into the vampire hierarchy and traditions. The Harlequin is new and disturbing to Anita. She later has a dream in which Mother Dear explains their role and current infractions.

Anita is also having doubts about the vampire execution process itself. Although vampires are now entitled to a trial of sorts, these legal protections are still very skimpy. Once a death warrant has been issued, there is no appeal process and a Federal Marshall may perform the execution at any time and place.

She understands the practical problems of keeping any vampire in custody. Still, they ought to be allowed due process like everybody else. Maybe her growing familiarity with the vampire community has led to these misgivings.

Anita has other concerns, including selection of her pomme de sang. Rafael -- the Wererat king -- wants one of his subjects to be selected for the position. He claims that the people around Anita become more powerful just by their relationship to her. Could be that he is correct!

This novel continues the pace of the previous tales, but with less emphasis on overt sexual activities. Not that such activities are totally lacking, just less frequent. Nonetheless, her bodyguards are now color-coded, black shirts for regular guards and red shirts for emergency sex partners.

Highly recommended for Hamilton fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of preternatural creatures, sexual relationships, and a feisty heroine.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I was happily surprised by The Harlequin. It had a balance that has been lacking in the other books since the ardeur first appeared.

Okay, yes, if I think hard enough I can pick apart all sorts of inconsistencies, but overall this book blended the old Anita with the ardeur. The plot moved, there was less arguing (no you have sex with her, no you, no you do it, no you do it etc...) and a lot less 'therapy'. There's some serious peril in this book to Anita,Jean Claude and Richard that really ramps up the tension and suspense. And Anita finally tells Richard to take a hike (which I liked, but really made me wonder about the fate of the triumervate and the 'rules' by which it operates).

The editing was much better as well. Or I was that much more tired as I have a newborn at home. Either way, I didn't find any silly typos or other gauche errors.

I think LKH is on the right track. This was a really well-balanced story with strong elements from earlier in the series blended with all the changes Anita has gone through.

Even the most obscure books at the store have a revue, however, Harlequin does not. I found it in a box in my home, in the garage, full of books from my grandma -- to be discarded. I love the book. The synopsis' of the book make it sound very lame and cheesy, but it is very good, and if anyone ever chances upon Harlequin: read it. The publishers should reprint it, so the store can sell it. One day i am going to make it a motion picture.

Better than the last one, still not good. And typos nonwithstanding (and they are there)... I thought her name was Hannah, not Candy, and didn't Silvie have a girlfriend earlier in the series? I don't want to go into more detail because I imagine many people reading the comments haven't read the story yet and don't want it spoiled, but at this point I would think this series would have better editing/reviewers.

Way back Anita compared her life to a mix of Preturnatural soap opera "As The Casket Turns" and Rambo. Then it went to "As The Casket Turns and "Debbie Does Dallas". This was a slight upward turn as Anita becomes a cross between "As The Casket Turns" and Dr. Phil.

It probably reads better if you like your men totally emasculated. I don't. A couple of decent villains would make Anita look better too. Anita looks better when someone else is ordering the deaths and she's trying to stop them.

I began the novel; have interrupted it to read (and finish in 6 hours) the new Charlaine Harris novel (Southern Vampire series)and The Harlequin is still sitting on the passenger side floor of my Mini Cooper with 100 pages or so to go and I don't care if I finish it or not. Does Anita ever think of anything else but sex? What is with her police buddies? Why would they work with her again--now that they have Larry, and others? I stopped pre-ordering Laurell Hamilton's books-- I think I will wait to hear what you all say first before purchasing her next endeavors.

I'm in the middle of The Harlequin (page 189), just put the book down and signed on to save prospective buyer's money. LKH has accomplished what I would have thought was impossible. In this her latest offering Vamps, shapshifters and sex are made mind numbingly BORING, SLUGGISH & SLOW.

I grab up all the the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, books as fast as I can. Many people complain about her change in style (more risque) in some of her last blooks. I must say this one is an attempt to go back to her earlier style with a good blending of her style.

My only problem is it was too short. I am worried that she is trying to kick out book after book with shorter, less complete or compelling novels (see Micah). I hope this isn't going to be true of future novels.

It feels like I've been listening to richard whine since the 2nd or third book, everytime he makes an entrance its like nails on a chalkboard. not sure if I'll be able to finish this book. I'm about halfway through and so far its been almost all plotless fluff with a whining richard constantly thrown in for more tedious pointless dialogue. ive liked every book so far, but please for the love of god find a way to kill him off.

I'd have given this one 2 1/2 if I could have, but it pretty much falls into the better than the last couple, not as good as the first 8...not as much sex (yay!), but still alot of agonizing over the sex (sheesh), and although there was finally a plot, the villain was not "villainy" enough, since now Anita can beat just about anyone; she really needs someone to give her a run for her money. So, it was a fairly enjoyable read, I didn't skip as many pages to get through the boring parts this time, and hey, we got to see Edward, which gets a thumbs up from me (even if he did virtually nothing, it was still good to see him!)

this series is basically my paranormal encyclopedia. . . it always seems like every book i read after is just a book but these are the "real way its supposed to be" hahahah. . . .definately the best vampire/paranormal series ever written i think

I was getting tired of the constant sex scenes and was flipping through them in some of the earlier books. This book was a good read. Just hope the Mother of Darkness theme that is building up is not to close to the Queen of the Damned story. I would recommend the purchase.

There was a time when you picked up Anita Blake books and actually had plot and action. That has been disappearing now for a while. I can handle the typos. And if LKH wants to go in a direction where the main villain does not even appear for the first 200 or so pages that is her choice. (I gave up after about 200 pages). Anita belongs to LKH not to me. However I do not need to waste my time on this series when I could be reading nightside or dresden or sookie stackhouse to get my supernatural mystery fill. I wish Ms Hamilton luck with her series but I will no longer participate in reading it.

I gave up reading LKH a few years back because, while I like a good sex scene as much as anyone, I'm not really into twenty such scenes in a single book. Especially when half of them didn't seem to need to be there for plot reasons. But I still thought LKH was a good author, simply someone who had decided to take a different path with her work than I was comfortable with. But I heard a lot of good comments on this one, so I decided to give it a try, and I'm happy with the decision. It still has a LOT of sex, but it has a decent plot, too, and Hamilton's usual fun writing style. I was happy with the buy.

I began reading The Harlequin with much trepidation. I am one of the original fans of the series who, I admit, has not been pleased with the latest offerings.
The first hundred pages or so were not that bad and had me thinking that maybe there was some hope for our heroine and the author. Alas, it just wasn't meant to be. The action in the book was limited to a few scenes, only a couple of which Anita actually participated in and frankly they weren't that exciting.
The sex scenes themselves were written better than they have been in the previous books, but they were pointless to the storyline and often had me thinking "what the heck was THAT all about?". And once the characters let the genie out of the bottle by having sex that was all the book rotated around; not necesarrily actually having sex, but talking about sex, thinking about sex, arguing about sex, having sex again... you get the picture.

The Harlequin (as the bad guys) could have been scary and just weren't, especially at this weird moment at the end when everyone stood around talking about their "feelings" while the bad guys just stood around and twiddled their thumbs. Of course, Anita used her metaphysical mojo and miraculously vanquished them just in the nick of time.

I also found myself suffering from deja vu. Every chapter had at least one character repeating some cliched phrase from previous books over again. There were some conversations that I swear were lifted straight from the other novels. Maybe this is so new readers can learn the characters but it was pretty annoying.

Probably the worst thing for me though is that I just don't like the characters anymore. I used to be able to immerse myself in an Anita Blake book to the exclusion of everything else around me because I liked the characters and the world they lived in. The charcters were original, they had thier own personalities, and the stories were exciting.
Anita has become a self-righteous bully, Richard is a whiny bas**rd, and apparently Anita carries the male bits of all the other male charaters around in her pockets because they are all wusses and defer to her in everything. Dolph is a mean spirited bigot. Edward is OK, but he's not the same now that he's in LUUUUVVVVV. About the only charcter that was remotely likeable was Zebrowski and he was there for about 2 pages. There is no conflict among the characters, Anita says jump and the men say "how high". The plot was at least recognizable in this book but there was no tension and no mystery.

I used to wait eagerly for the next Anita Blake book to come out, would buy it on the release date and have read it at least twice within the first two weeks of owning it. I got The Harlequin from the library and am very pleased that I didn't spend any money on it. This will be my last Anita Blake book. I've tried to wait around for LKH to get her act together but it doesn't look like that is going to happen so I'll be spending my time and money elsewhere on more deserving books and authors.

i liked the harlequin - it goes into the vamp politics ,which i enjoy more than the blood & guts (see enough of that in real life) - i agree with one of the new lovers she takes and understand why he volunteers , the other new lover was asked what his deepest wish was and , i am not entirely sure but the way it was written seems like he got that wish - i hope so. the 3rd new lover was a dream and it was not written very well at all (i skimmed that part) it should have been way more erotic than written . i liked edward and olaf (sick,sick man ,kinda reminded me of american psycho) i wish edward would have had more things to do in this book . the harlequin's power is to intensify the emotions and doubts you already have . that plot should have been explored more . the thing with nate - we will see where that is going - it takes more to being a "top" than just slapping around your lover . this book seems to be going into more "were" politics and that within it's self is very interesting . i have recomended this book to 4 people @ work and they have read it all with diff. opinions . i gave this book 4 stars because i did enjoy most of the book . thank you for reading this review and happy reading (all books)

The first 4 or 5 Anita Blake books were mind candy. They were creative, fast paced, funny and had fairly good plots. Then something very bad happened and keeps happening. Harlequin was a bore-fest. I've had enough of the sex already. What happened to the work and the mystery? I've given up on Anita. Hamilton should too.

I used to love this series but I was hesitant to pick this one up because the emphasis has been so heavily on Anita's "dating." 65 pages in so far it has been 90% about her boyfriends. So far absolutely nothing has happened, it's all relationship stuff.

Hopefully it will get better but I won't be taking a chance on one of the author's books again.

I had almost bought the latest Simon R Greene book over this as I have not bought a Laurell K Hamilton book in 3 years and have been reading the new ones from the library only but I decided to give it a shot and I am glad I did.
I got tired of the nearly endless and mindless sex with this series and the last book was truly horrible however this one was better.
True there is still alot of sex but not nearly as much as in the past books but unlike those books this one had a plot!!!
Yeah I know its wierd to see an anita blake book lately with such a thing but it was there.
Anyway I give this 3 stars, if it had no sex scenes being used as filler by the author then it would be an easy 4.

Please, Hamilton write Richard into a car accident or something. The rest of the story was pretty good, but Richard manages to screw up everything! He is such a crybaby. Finally, Jean Claude issues the smack down on Anita and Richard but it doesn't last. Thank god very little Asher in this installment. Intersting introduction of a new villian, but too much time spent in the hospital for me. Rafael was a friend in earlier books, what happened? A good read but still a little too much sex and too much of Richard and Nathanials problems. Grow up boys and act like men or go find a new vampire slayer to shag.

I was about to give up on Laurell Hamilton after Danse Macabre... Okay, that's a lie. I WANTED to give up on her, but I just couldn't because I love Anita Blake. The Harlequin was very satisfying. I felt like there was a good balance of sex, violence, humor and everything that makes Anita such an amazing heroine.

Edward is back in this book. Hooray!

The Harlequin tied a lot together and was very solid in its story line compared to Danse Macabre. I'm looking forward to reading the next one!

I love Laurell Hamilton's work. Anita Blake is such a compelling heroine. Sexy, tough, vulnerable and honorable. Quite a compelling combination. There were a few times in this book when her inner conflict seemed forced, but otherwise another worthy title in this long-running series.

I have been a devoted Anita Blake fan from the beginning, but the complication of the story is getting a little too much. Half the time when a new book comes out, I have to backtrack to previous books to remember certain characters or past actions.

I've also noticed that the dialogue has weakened a lot! It feels like I'm reading chapter after chapter but not getting anywhere in the plot of the story.

I do love Laurell's books and plots, and I will continue to read whatever she publishes in the future. But I guess by Book 15, I expected something different.

This book felt like a layover. Something bigs coming... I can't wait to find out where it's going. I've read all of Laurell's books, and enjoyed them all (some more than others), what I don't understand is the nastiness of some of the reviews. This is fiction, meaning "Not Real"! These books are a product of the writers imagination. If you don't like them, Quit Reading Them!!!!! As for me, I'm still a fan and can't wait for Skin Trade.

OK, so I slammed the last book, "Danse Macabre" even though it was the first time I ever read any of Hamilton's books, and to start at book 14 in a series probably wasn't the way to introduce myself to a new author, but it was one of those airport buys. Anyway, I didn't like Danse Macabre and swore off any of Hamilton's other books, but after a couple weeks went by I found myself still thinking over some scenes in Danse so I decided to start with Book 1 of the Anita Blake series, and boy howdy am I glad I did. I love this series. I quickly read each book one right after the other and by the time I caught up with Danse Macabre, I decided to re-read it and I got a whole other level of comprehension and appreciation for what Hamilton did with that book, which was to lead right into The Harlequin. I was very happy that Hamilton took us back to her successful formula of mystery and action and some interesting sex scenes. Can't wait for the next book! I might just have to re-read the entire series again so that I get the non-stop flow of Anita's life into the new book.

THE HARLEQUIN, for me, redeems the Anita Blake series. Although there's still sex (which in itself has never been a problem for me), the ratio of sex to story has finally turned. There's an actual plot in THE HARLEQUIN, and it's a pretty dang good one.

The Harlequin, what is akin to the vampire police, has come to town -- presumably just to observe. It soon becomes apparent, however, that at least some members of this elite and uber-scary group have harsher things on their mind.

The usual characters are all here, as well as reapperances by Edward (aka Tod Forrester) and the serial killer, Olaf. Peter, the teen who was rescued several stories back, is also there.

Some typical things happen -- Richard (once again) has serious problems with Anita and the ardeur. Some new plot lines develop -- the local lion king refuses to help in a moment of need, and the swan leader comes to the rescue.

Overall, THE HARLEQUIN was a quick, satisfying read that I totally enjoyed. I have renewed faith in the Anita Blake series, and hope that the next book doesn't take away that feeling.

I don't want to reveal too much about the book because that would spoil it but I am going to list the good & not-so-good things about it.

Good news = Anita is back! Ms. Hamilton did reduce the number of exotic scenes and filled it with dialog and a little bit of action. The dialog is A LOT better than the last Anita Blake book. I really like that Ms. Hamilton answered the question of: What happened to Olaf; the serial killer that assists Edward sometimes?

Bad news = The shapeshifters had more of a role than the vampires. Vampire Asher maybe had 2 sentences throughout the whole book. (Asher is my favorite of the vampires so I was disappointed with that!) I also felt that Jean-Claude seemed a little bit too weak; considering that he is the Master of the City. I would've also liked to see the vampires have a knock down, dragged out battle scene. (Which hasn't been done lately with the Anita Blake series.) In addition, I think that there should be a resolution with Anita being infected with so many different kinds of lycanthropy. I think that she should be able to shapeshift. That would open the door to so many more opportunities for the character to grow.

==== Overall, I did like this book and would recommend it; however, just make sure that you read the series from the start or you will be lost. This IS NOT a stand alone book.

this is a sequel in the anita blake series and all i have to say is please go buy one of them any of them and start reading it cause you will love it and if you dont then send it to me cause ive about worn all my copies thin from reading them over and over again..

Of LKH to compare herself in the blog above to Khaled Hosseini! Let alone Stephen King, Nora Roberts and Janet Evanovich who even they don't exactly write literature, at least manage to put out something with a consistent plot, correct grammar and spelling.

Well, The Harlequin may have been better than the last few novels, but I don't know since I had to stop reading after about 3 chapters. It was just to stupid for me. I think I am going to give up on LKH.

Very enjoyable. However, this novel, like all others in this series, since Obsidian Butterfly, reads like prelude to a final conclusion of the franchise. Decend character developement, and complications emerge. Still waiting for the last chapters of Anita Blake's adventures, with eager anticipation.

Hmmm...this book was better than the previous too many. There was more plot (plot that was actually carried through for the most part to the end). Still too much sex, bad sex; there's too much "thinking" by Anita about politics that wasn't there in the beginning of the series. It was nice to see Dolph back in the series, and nice to see Richard stop being so wimpy towards the end...finally making up his mind about what to do was such a RELIEF. Anyway, here's to hoping that Hamilton will finally get back on track and start to write actual books again.

Like the majority of reviewers here, I was prepared to not like this book so much. The last three books in the series have been ho-hum to me. I don't mind hot sex scenes, am fascinated by the politics of it all, and the metaphysical stuff is interesting but can get tedious. This book found a balance of them all.

Yes, Anita is pushing sexual boundaries in herself and me, as a reader. But the evolution of the metaphysics of it has finally reached a satisfying place in my opinion. Plus, some very definitive things have happened to several significant relationships around her. Gone is all the hemming and hawing, Anita has made some decisions and I think it's great. I read some spoilers beforehand and was dreading the Rafael development (because I love that rat king), but once I got to it, I was alright. And the Richard ending was a huge relief to me. The back and forth between them was killing me, and the ending didn't make either one of them out to be the "bad guy." I was impressed. I thought it was great story telling.

Plus, it was nice watching their group work together to defeat the bad guys. It wasn't all about Anita. It was a real team effort (furry and vamp alike), and I enjoyed how they complimented each other.

If this is your first time to Anita-Land, start with her early books. You'll need the relationship background to understand all the twisted plots in this one.

Thank goodness, Anita is back!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read it all in one night-sitting and was very pleased with the result. Sure, its got your recent sex-driven back plot, but this book goes beyond that, and really Anita makes a comeback in this one. If you've made it this far, don't trot away yet! This one is the one you'll want to read. :) I've liked it much better than the last three!

Finally!! This book was more than just sex scene after sex scene. There was more meat to the book. I enjoyed the story, and it was nice to see a bit more character development with some of the other characters -- like Edward. I am hoping that the Merry Gentry series will cut down a bit on all of that sex. It must get tiresome writing it. The story lines are good, but they get way too bogged down with the Erotica. This book was refreshing after the last few books.

Here's the Anita Blake I know and love! She's not being the prude she was when I first met her, nor is the story bogged down by too much erotica as the later stories were. The balance along with the tension of all her relationships makes for an excellent story.

The average number of stars for this one is a bit higher than for most of Laurell K. Hamilton's recent books, but there aren't a lot of threes. Most are giving it either five stars, one star, or at the most, two stars. The readership seems to either love it or hate it. The ones who love it, do so for the usual reasons: passionate sex, interesting--even riveting--characters, kinky situations. The ones who hate it also do so for the usual reasons: kinky situations and not much plot.

I like this book. It does have a plot, considerably more so than her last few, and what is has more than any of her recent is a definitive moral stand, which I find intriguing. The author states clearly here that the number of one's sexual partners and the nature of one's sexual acts has nothing whatsoever to do with being a "good" person. Okay. I can buy it. She also makes it clear, by the ultimate disdain, even banishment from Anita's affections, of Richard, that it is acceptable to do absolutely anything if that is the lesser of two evils. Anita has done a lot of harsh, even disgusting things in the course of this series, but her cross still glows. God still loves her. Fifty years ago, these would have been subversive, even revolutionary ideas. Now, they're simply grist for the cultural mill, a bit more shocking than most, perhaps, but people are not shocked as easily as they used to be.

In this book, Anita's powers once again grow. A new threat is handily dispatched, some new lovers are gained and at least one disgarded (temporarily, most likely). The overall arc of the series is going nowhere fast but Anita Blake still has the power to hold my interest. A couple of books ago, I wouldn't have bet that I could still say that.

I gave this book four stars mostly because I couldn't give it a 3 1/2. I thought the book was a little more that ok but not great. The Harlequin reminded me of why I used to like Laurell Hamilton in the first place. I thought the story was pretty good in general. Sometimes I thought there was too much talking and explaining and not enough action, but it didn't turn out to be just a sexfest and that made me happy. Maybe this book will be a start of her getting back to her good storytelling. Oh yeah and she brought Edward back, one of my favorite of her characters besides Anita of course.

Anita Is Back and in Black. That would be Nathan's fault!
This is the return of the babe I missed, my Hero Anita Blake. The book is full of old gags, great plot twists, and a whole lot of guns!
The book starts out with dealing with Malcom at Anita's office. Last time we were there wasn't there lost of Sex, well none this time. After that a date with Nathan, and no sex there. Just Nathan becoming what Anita wanted him to become, a Man. Then off to Guilty Pleasures, no sex for awhile, just politics.
Yes, there is sex as it's own self in the book, sex into feeding, sex into REAL Love, sex into friendship. And I was not happy with the sex partners this time, still to high. But that's what LKH wanted, it is her books! But the Sex this time furthered the plot. And it was useful!
And finally the best part of the book is.. There's a hint that Richard is FINALLY out of her bed, or at least coming to terms with himself.
I truly believe this is one of her better books!
Anita's Back!

All 15 of the Anita Blake books are on my keeper shelf. I absolutely love Anita's world and eagerly anticipate jumping into it again. If you like a paranormal read with plenty of kick [...] action, and very hot/totally spicy relationships then this is for you. LKH's writing is explicit in all details and is one of the many things I love about her books. Check out her Merry Gentry Series for more great paranormal reading!

Well what do you expect at this point beside sex, guns, leather and more sex??? I must say you still cant put any of Anita's series down. I mean really who of us does not skip ahead and see what Jean Claude will do to her next. I cant wait for the next book!! Hurry Hurry Laurall.

I've read all of Ms. Hamilton's so far, and I'll admit to having some doubts about a couple of them. To say I was pleasantly surprised by The Harlequin would be an understatement.

The Harlequin in my opinion is the best of the lot so far.

In this one, Anita has more control over her power(s), comes to understand them a little better. Anita also proves that love is stronger than lust. There is a LOT of action in this one and mystery is back as well. Old favorites are brought back, new characters added. The plot in this book is tight, and everything that happens, happens for a specific reason. The last chapter helps explain a few things from not only this book, but from previous ones.

The book starts with Malcom, the head of the Church of the Eternal Life (the vampire church), asking Anita for help. Why? Because someone or something was masking itself during one of Malcom's services and Malcom could only think of one entity that could do that - The Harlequin. The Harlequin is so scary and secret that vampires can't talk about it unless dealing with it at the time, otherwise it's considered a death sentence. The rules state that the Harlequin must make contact with the delivery of a mask (one of 3 colors) a white one to indicate they are watching, red for pain, black for death. Anita receives a white mask, but if what happens next is considered just watching, then the St. Louis vampires might not survive. Turns out that The Harlequin has changed the rules to suit themselves, instead of being neutral they want to rule. Even the Mother of All Darkness has to step in to help Anita and company survive.

I have to say that this book takes a giant leap in giving us back the Anita we loved. There was a plot in this book, not just a lot of sex and over analyzing of the sex. It left me asking questions about the next book instead of just questioning when the torture of this series will be over. It took me to a new level of loving Edward (I would really love a new series on him and Peter...). It left me with new questions about Richard and JC. I found it strange the direction LKH is taking them in Anita's life, but I can't wait to see where it leads. I think we see that Anita is getting the much needed control we have been hoping for. I hope this is the first step in welcoming back Anita, our (...) kicking vampire slayer with a heart and honor.

I discovered LKH several years ago when she came to the bookstore I was working for. It was the first time I had read this combination of monsters, mystery, and erotica.

Things went downhill for a while, but I am pleased to say that I really enjoyed The Harlequin. This book struck a balance that was lacking in the last one. I am hopeful that this is a trend that will continue with this series.

I won't go into story line too much - enough of the other reviews have given a lot away already - I hate that!

Any way! Good story line - more of the old Anita is seen. A great improvement over the last book or two.

Is there sex? Of course! Dah! You are dealing with a story line that involves incubus/sucubus type characters - soooo - then you are gonna have sex in the story line. Gonna happen just get over it and adjust! This book does improve greatly in that the sex is not the ONLY story it is once again in a supporting role.

And although there is a complete story in this book there are still plenty of questions that are left open and set you up for the next book. I can't wait!

R Walker

I think the title says it all. The last few books in the series were wonderful in depiction and scenes of passion and magic, but it seems as if with Edward returning that the series is leaping forward at highest speed. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book. Will we see more of Edward, the Harlequin, and Mother Night?

I have to say that the worst thing about this book was that is is a good deal shorter than the other 14 (witht the exception of Micha) in this series.

Laurell K Hamilton, once again, guides us through a dark underworld and comes out on the other side unscathed. Twists and truns of events that are sometimes predictible but most often unforseen. You think that you have figured out the tale at hand but something come out of the dark and spins your head arond and then you see where you are going.

As for Richard, out poor lost Richard...If I had not heard Laurell K Hamilton say at a book opening that she would never kill Richard off I would not have believed it. I still don't believe it...

Each of Ms. Hamilton's books just keeps getting better! The characters keep growing with each chapter of the series. New facets keep emerging from the men in Anita's life. Richard has some real hang-ups that can really bring problems to that triumvirate if they are not resolved soon. He is their weak link and can be exploited by their enemies if discovered. Anita's growing control over the ardeur is a plus. I look forward eagerly to the next chapter of this saga.

In this book Ms. Hamilton finally returns to plot, mystery, and gets rid of the 300 or so pages of straight porn she's been loading each book starting with #7 on, with. I had quit reading her books about 10 books ago because of it. She's back to major plot and new enemies. Hooray!

I enjoyed this book & I own all of the Anita Blake series a few sucked but this one kept me glued to my seat reading, there were a couple places in the book that you could of skimmed over and wouldn't of missed anything significant, like when she dreamed of jean claudes' creator who is a woman and had sex with her that kinda lost me. What I don't like i just look at it has personal development and Anita is been doing alot of that, it may not be the way I'd do it but it's not me. I enjoyed getting back with the gang and visiting and can't wait for the next.

Nothing like takeing a break from the real world and visiting a different one.

I admit it, freely - I'm one of the fans Ms. Hamilton hates. The ones who read every book, then gripe because it's not what I hoped it would be. Why keep reading? On the off chance that my patience would eventually be rewarded with a return to the way Anita used to be. Finally, the book I've waited for is here.

There's still plenty of hot, steamy sex - and I never had a thing against that. In this book, unlike recent outings, it's all in service to the plot, or furthers the emotional development of the characters. Speaking of characters, some faves we haven't seen much of in a while return - Edward, Dolph, Zerbrowski, Malcolm, the gang's all here. The only person I'd have liked to see more of is Asher. As to the plot? There actually IS one, involving Anita's vampire executioner job AND vamp politics. In a special treat, the whole Anita/Richard relationship actually changes a bit, instead of staying in the same "what are we going to do? Oh woe is me" mode that we've been reading for ages.

To the author - thank you. While you dislike us "negative fans", clearly some of what we were saying made sense to you. I'll happily read through a batch of just-okay Anita books any day for the possibility of a treasure like this.

...along with the rest of the crew. The "vamp police" have broken their own rules, and it's up to the Necromancer, with the help of her triumverates to battle it out and win. It's a true test of power, and we see just how untrained Jean-Claude, Richard, and Anita are. Relationships, some newer, some older are also tried and tested. However, with LKH, there are always many twists and turns, but the ending has you feeling both satisfied yet wanting more. It was a great read, can't wait to see what's next!

Very much back on track. Yes, lots of sex, but also back to the detective work, the sardonic humor and less angst all around. Definitely worth the read. Brings back alot of what was good about the early books.

All I have to say is thank you LKH for finally bringing back Edward and getting this series back on track! This is the first Anita Blake novel that I've really enjoyed in quite a while...now I'm sure someone is going to rip me for that statement so let me qualify it - I've enjoyed all the books, however when the sex scenes run beyond three chapters at a time, it gets a bit old!

LKH seems to have picked back up on the vibe of the first few Anita Blake novels and given her main characters back their spines, which makes the reading oh so much more enjoyable.

the latest installment in the anita blake series goes back to her beginnings with ths book. this one reminded me of the series before obsidien butterfly. less sex more crime fighting. anita goes back to her roots.

Very good audiobook version of Laurell K. Hamilton's book. The actress reading the book does a great Anita, but her Jean-Claude and Richard are not as convincing. I always pictured Richard with a deep voice, but the way it is done on the audiobook just makes him sound very stuck up and pretentious. Still, the audiobook is definitely entertaining enough that it makes my commute much, much more bearable.

This series started of great than fell off by spending too much time on sex and not enough time on plot. Well I am happy to say that the series is back on track with a very good plot and great charecter development. It made me eager to read the next entry in this series

I hoped that Nathanial would be more prominent in this book. Edward was nice to hear from but his character seemed weaker to me in this book. Anita really needs to slim down the little black book a bit, I can't keep track anymore. Where the hell has Damien been? The book was good but it made me dizzy sometimes trying to keep things straight.

I bought these for my home bound daughter (age 21) and she loves them. She now has the complete set thanks to the store. Definitely have to be a reader of vampire stories to enjoy these but they are a great set. I am already looking forward to future releases in this series.

One more fantastic episode in the life & times of Ms Anita Blake & her fabulous family. In this installment, I felt that the characters and/or situations were evolving to a breaking point. Kind of a put up or shut up in base terminology. I don't know how new readers may react to this book on its own, since my views come from reading & rereading the series several times. I did recall wishing a few times for the scene to just "get on with it, we know all this already", so I suppose new readers will be up to speed on the story lines & all that jazz. OK I love that Cookie is back in the picture & while he may cause a bit of drama for himself just due to his personality, I look forward to seeing his personal growth as well as the developing relationships within the family. Good job Nathaniel on standing up & showing himself to be one of the strongest members of the family, & everyone calls you the weakest link! Ha on them. & since I'm raving on the characters, let me just add that its about time Richard gets his behind handed to him. Arggg. He drives me nuts.
I still think, even after considering how much I get into the storyline, it's rather odd how uptight people get in regards to this particular series. If you don't like it, don't read it. So what if there is sex? What, are you a prude or something? I mean, if you aren't being forced to do it, why do you care? Again, stop grousing. It's really mean spirited and rather childish to post all of these uber-negative reviews & get huge conversations going about how much you dislike the direction the story has gone. If you don't like it, don't buy it or read it. Me, I LOVE her story & am glad she takes it as far as she can. Her brain is incredible. I'm happy to fork over my hard earned money for her hard work. Keep it coming LKH! THANK YOU.

I thought this book was very well written and exciting. It was hard to put down and it scared me a lot in places which was actually a good thing. Not many stories actually get to me like this. It made me feel as if I was right there in the midst of it and I was afraid.

I liked it a lot more than the last few and I think she's finally getting Anita back on track. What I had the most trouble with was too many characters. I couldn't remember who was a werewolf, who was a wererat or who was a vampire. All the characters were just a little confusing. But, all-in-all, I really enjoyed this book, am still a fan and will purchase then next one that comes out.

I was pleasantly surprised by The Harlequin. As with many Anita fans, I have been disappointed with the recent books. Not that I don't mind good sex, but when that's all there is and no plot, it is very unsatisfying. It's like expecting a steak dinner, getting very excited about it and then getting served a full plate of parsley garnish---or to use a sex analogy, all foreplay and no climax. I thought this was going to be the last one I tried before having to give up on Anita and move onto another series, but LKH didn't disappoint. Apparently she heard a lot of us and our complaints, and she responded---and responded well.

I have to admit that there was a point, after the first 100 pages or so, where I thought the book was going to break down into another orgy, but it didn't. It delved into further vampire politics and intrigue, explored more lycanthrope issues and Anita continued to evolve--all with a new and original plot which just makes you want to read the next one to see how the story develops. It was fast-paced, exciting and left me wondering what was going to happen next.

LKH also moved along Richard's story vis-a-vis Anita and Jean-Claude. He's still up in the air, as always, but it looks like she is going to do something definitive with him finally. Richard used to be one of my favorite characters, but has turned into one of the ones I most loathe because he's such a whiny, self-loathing hypocrite. I simply can't handle his hand-wringing anymore and apparently, neither can Anita (I couldn't have agreed more when she said to him simply, "I'm tired; I'm done."). I don't know how LKH will reconcile that with the triumvirate, but I'd definitely like a conclusion one way or the other----he either finally gets fully with the program or leaves entirely, no more back and forth.

I think that if anyone complains about this book having too much sex or not returning to its past and well-deserved glory it's because they don't want Anita to evolve, especially regarding her sex issues. They'd prefer the more formulaic early books where Anita stays puritanically black-and-white. Personally, I'm glad she's evolving past the sex and looking at the right-and-wrong of situations to determine her moral code. I think LKH hit it right on the end when Anita explains her own views on the whore/witch issue---that it's easier to judge a person by their sexual acts than whether they are a good person who follows the golden rule because it's easier to judge yourself by such easy standards.

Well done, LKH! Brava!!! My only real complaint is that I wish there were more. Another year waiting for the next installment will be so, so hard. But, I suppose, that's exactly what an author (and her publishers) want to hear:).

I appreciated this one more than most of the past 4 or 5 books. She gets 4 stars alone for bringing back Edward, even if he didn't get to do much. Didn't much see the point of the cops. Almost like they were back because there wasn't much to transition one scene to the other. But Edward came back, so i'm happy. It's a good read. The sex is the sex, it's just a part of LKH's books. Either get used to it, get over it, or skip them, but let it go folks, she's not going to change.

First, I'll say I don't get why everyone doesn't like the sex in the LKH books. Call me a perv, but I like how the series has turned out. I like the sex, but don't get me wrong I like the other parts too such as slaying vampires, fighting the bad guys, etc. I like it to be a mix of both.

With that said, the last book before The Harlequin was a bit of a disappointment to me so I was happy that this one was better. I think the last book didn't have enough of everything but this book seemed to be headed back into the right direction. While there was still some sex in the book, it didn't over power it. I can't wait for the next one to come out. I can honestly say I hope this series never ends!

As Anita Blake discovers more about her growing powers she becomes more uncertain about what life will hold for her. It is enough for now to draw her friends close and support those she loves who were once considered to be in the ranks of the enemy.

The vampire culture pre-dates her birth by many centuries, and it is no surprise that Anita's exploits and abilities have not escaped the attention of those outside her own city of St Louis. Even with her own vampire lover Jean-Claude being the Master of the City, Anita knows that this would not be protection enough if anyone were truly to wish her dead. Discovering the existence of the Harlequin, the ancient vampires that have policed their own kind for millennia is frightening, more so when she discovers the range of their influence. It seems, for now, that they wish to observe, as indicated by the delivery of a white mask. She learns that the Harlequin are required to act in certain manner, with any breaches being punishable by death. When fear and uncertainty strikes Anita, it's apparent that someone is abusing their powers. She has enough to deal with two sanctioned orders in her hands to execute rogue members of the newly formed Vampire church. Those that need her help are the ones least likely to ask, but this has never stopped Anita Blake before. It just requires a little more diplomacy and the help of some old and equally vicious friends.

No doubt about it, this series has moved far, far away from its beginnings. We've watched the character of Anita Blake evolve (if you accept this) from being the hunter of monsters to becoming one herself with few apologies offered for doing so. The reader can either accept this metamorphosis and continue to enjoy Ms Hamilton's very inventive fantasy writing or choke on the moral high ground with their cease and desist.

A strength of these novels has always been the well-established structure of Hamilton's alternate world with its rules and monster regulations. Accepting that vampires, werewolves and the like will act in a certain fashion and be governed by a certain set of rules is a given. THE HARLEQUIN, thankfully, spares the reader from as many multiple sex scenes as previous novels (which, in their gratuitous inclusion, bored more than entertained) and offers instead more a plot to delve into. Anita's character remains that of a survivor which while obviously having embraced some more of the dark side, remains strong and worthy of her own series. Pretty much all semblance of a normal life has been abandoned and there is very little "official" work being conducted by Anita or her various consorts. All thirteen previous Vampire Hunter novels have been read by this reviewer and it's something of a relief not to be barraged with an array of yet more beautiful young men that need to be catalogued into the memory. It's hard to bond with any of them when there's simply so many to remember. These novels required some serious trimming, and THE HARLEQUIN has managed to achieve this without any significant loss to the read.

There seems to be no end of possibilities to where this author can take her fantastical creations. It was once that Anita Blake represented the human element amongst the beautiful monsters but the shift from that to where she is placed in THE HARLEQUIN has killed that stance. Fans should continue to flock to these books for their vivid descriptions of all that's terribly beautiful and deliciously frightening.

Laurell K. Hamilton is the author of many best-selling works of fantasy including the urban faery series featuring Meredith Gentry.

Before you read this please take note I HINT at a couple of concepts in the book so if you do not want to know anything about the novel, wait to read this review until after you have read the book. I must admit, the last few books have been lacking slightly in action, but this book brings it back...with a bang!!! An added plus is Edward (one of my favorite male characters for this series) is featured in this book. Plus, Olaf, Peter, Dolf, and other characters are also shown as the plot progresses. The Harlequin, the vampire police are causing trouble for our main heroine and Anita must seek the help of friends in order to combat this enemy. Richard, unfortunately, is in this story alot and he is just as annoying (possibly even more) in this novel as in the previous ones. Sorry Richard fans, but even you will feel ready to kick him to the curb as you near the end of the book. I was so happy with this story that I have recommended it to my other friends. I cannot wait for book 16. I hope Edward is in the next as well!!! I urge people who are or were a fan of Laurell K Hamilton to try this one.

This book had twist after twist like only in a Laurell K. Hamilton book. Also some past characters from previous books updates their lives and brings them in with a new cast of villains. I can't wait for the next one after this read.

Great story line with interesting crime investigation. still the the occasional steamy sex scenes. I am was a little worried after the most recent Anita offerings but I am once again eagerly awaiting the next novel.

In the Harlequin, LKH goes back to Anita's roots - violence, ruthlessness and not all about sex this time around! Not to say there isn't some pretty darn good and steamy scenes (LKH would never let us down!), but it doesn't dominate this book. ALL your favorite characters from previous books make an appearance in this book and you will love visiting with them again. Plenty of the questions posed in previous books concerning the 2 triumvirates (sp?) Anita is a part of will be answered and you will definately be waiting for the next book with plenty of impatience!! Well worth the time and money to read this installment of Anita's world!!

After reading Danse Macabre I was begining to wonder where LKH was taking her Anita Blake series. I'm not one to scoff at erotica or overly done sex scenes, but when they make up nearly the entire book it gets old. But having been a loyal fan for so long I was willing to give LKH the benefit of the doubt and power on through the next book.

I was very pleasantly surprised and enormously pleased by this book. The Harlequin in my opinion has been the best of the more recent books. In this book Anita has gained more control and a better understanding of her powers. She almost has the juggling of her multitude of lovers under control (although adding new ones never seems to be out of the question). She and others are beginning to see that its not about being a sex fiend, or about simply needing sex to control her powers, she truly loves her partners. She protects them, cares about them and is willing to kill and be killed for them.

This plot moved along, it moved the series along. It brought out new and interesting characters, like the Harlequin and we saw the return of old favorites we've missed like Edward. There was action in this book, and not just of the sexual variety. With the return of Edward and with the introduction of Otto the serial killer obsessed with Anita things were definitely interesting. I felt that everything, including the sex happened for reason. This book did not have nearly the amount of gratuitous sex that previous ones did. There is still a strain between Richard and Anita and her multitude of partners and his refusal to be a team player, but I don't know if LKH will ever resolve that, though I wish she would. I'm a sucker for happy endings. There were a couple of areas I felt stalled a little bit but they picked right up and kept on going.

The Harlequin are the independant and powerful enforcers of the vampire council, to be contacted by them is a very bad thing. Malcolm, the head of The Church of Eternal Life (a church for vampires) comes to Anita seeking help with an entity that visited his church. The only thing he can think of that could hide in plain site like this entity did are the Harlequin. However to speak of them without having been contacted by them is punishable by death. Needless to say he cannot tell Anita much of anything other than to speak with Jean Claude knowing that he would understand what Malcolm was speaking of. The rules of the Harlequin state that they must contact you by using masks of one of three colors. White is for watching, red is for pain, and black is for death. Anita receives a white mask while out on a date with Nathaniel and this is when the fun begins. The Harlequin claim to be observing, but are not behaving like observers, but more like the bringers of pain and death. Its up to Anita, Jean Claude and the gang to figure what the heck is really going on and who is behind the Harlequin's visit.

All in all this book ties everything together nicely. No loose ends, there is plot to continue moving into and the characters are continuing to evolve and contribute to the story line. If you have had your doubts about this series, this book should prove to you that it still has the potential we all saw in it when we began reading it. Its nice to see that LKH still knows the art of writing with a plot line. I throughly enjoyed this book and am anxiously awaiting the next one.

I have been a big fan of Anita Blakes/ Laurell K. Hamilton's for awhile now. I also got a little tired during the last few books of all the erotica- this book brought Anita back, this book was a breath of fresh air, this book had it all! We had action, we had mystery, we even had a little erotica but it didn't even last that long and there wasn't a lot of talk during those particular scenes! During The Harlequin, Laurell K. Hamilton also gave us back all of our most beloved characters- all in the same book! I can not say enough and that is why I had to write a review where others who had begun to wander might check before buying- BUY IT- its' worth every penny and every minute! Thank you, thank you, thank you Ms. Hamilton!

The Anita Blake series started off well, continued for awhile, then took a sharp plunge down into the literary abyss of bad porn.

Well, "The Harlequin" scrabbles PARTLY back out of that abyss, but Laurell K. Hamilton's fifteenth Blake book still suffers from a surfeit of squickly sex, constant sexual ramblings, and a promising plot that gets swamped by the sex-with-Anitacentric politics of vampires and weres.

First a vamp cleric tells her of a threat so terrible that he can't name it, then a movie night with Nathaniel leads to a strange warning -- a white mask. Jean-Claude reveals that it's the warning of the Harlequin, a cruel vampire police who can warp their victims' minds. And apparently Anita and her string of adoring lovers (plus the still-upset Richard) have upset them.

And the politics of the situation are getting quite nasty, with alliances between weres and vamps getting nasty as they try to all have sex with Anita for power and influence, and Anita repeatedly getting hit by her various "beasts." And if they don't manage to kill the Harlequin soon, then Marmee Noir will reawaken -- and the Harlequin will be working for her.

"The Harlequin" sounds promising at first -- it's almost a hundred and fifty pages before Anita has sex with anyone. It's been several books since Hamilton could boast a length like that, and at first glance it seems to be promising a return to prior form.

Unfortunately, the sexless parts are duller than actual sex: talking/remembering/agonizing about sex. There's two long chapters devoted to Nathaniel wanting Anita to tie him up and hurt him during sex, and Anita getting squeamish about it. And halfway through, she starts having public ardeur sex, bloody sex, lesbian vampire dream sex, feathery sex, and Hamilton seems to be paving the way for sex with Edward's sixteen-year-old stepson.

None of this would matter quite so much if the plot were good -- and some parts of it are excellent. Edward's family vs. job struggle, the were politics and their tenuous relationship with the vampires, the fight between Richard and Jean-Claude, and the whole threat of the Harlequin itself is pretty thrilling, and pared down, it could have been a truly excellent book.

Unfortunately, these promising plots are bogged down in -- you guessed it -- sex. Everyone wants sex with Anita, and chapters of arguing about who gets to is just stupefyingly dull. As if that weren't bad enough, Hamilton takes another jab at her former fans, by announcing disdainfully that, "God hasn't forsaken me; it's just that all the right-wing fundamentalist Christians want to believe he has." Nice that now Anita is God's mouthpiece.

And though Anita doesn't come across near the levels of arrogance in books past, she still comes off as annoying, hypocritical (she likes rough bloody sex, but squeaks at the idea of tying a guy up?) and ridiculously superpowerful. While expecting us to like her, Hamilton has Anita trying to bully a werelion into having sex with her, and having him bumped off when he stays faithful to his wife.

As if that weren't enough, turns out that she's also powering anyone she has sex with. The long-haired, anime-style femmemen worship and fight over Anita, and the few who don't are either banished again (Richard) or are pale shadows of their former selves (Edward).

"The Harlequin" takes some baby steps back toward quality, but the obsession with sex and long-winded arguments drown the promising plot points. Better keep the mask on this one.

I have been an Anita Blake fan for the last 4 years. These books are awesome, and The Harlequin has got to be one of the best books in the series, though I am quite partial to Incubus Dreams. I love Laurell K. Hamilton's style and storylines. If you haven't read these books, you need to start. Buy this book--I know I plan to re-read the entire series again.

As others have mentioned, there seems to be more to this novel than the other recent ones. That has to do with a much stronger story arc, both identified and unidentified bad guys, and a main character who knows what she wants. My one complaint is the way LKH describes why one of the characters wasn't at the big battle; it was too short and too easy.

I have to say the past books I have read in the series didnt interest me as much as this one. I loved the fact that we got to see a definite plot and more about Anita struggling to convince herself its okay to love more than one man. I actually had a hard time not finishing it one day because it was that good and reminded me of how I felt when I first read Anita. The character development in the book is something I can relate to and enjoy. Good going on this one such a great read for long time fans of the series.

After reading Danse Macabre I was begining to wonder where LKH was taking her Anita Blake series. I'm not one to scoff at erotica or overly done sex scenes, but when they make up nearly the entire book it gets old. But having been a loyal fan for so long I was willing to give LKH the benefit of the doubt and power on through the next book.

I was very pleasantly surprised and enormously pleased by this book. The Harlequin in my opinion has been the best of the more recent books. In this book Anita has gained more control and a better understanding of her powers. She almost has the juggling of her multitude of lovers under control (although adding new ones never seems to be out of the question). She and others are beginning to see that its not about being a sex fiend, or about simply needing sex to control her powers, she truly loves her partners. She protects them, cares about them and is willing to kill and be killed for them.

This plot moved along, it moved the series along. It brought out new and interesting characters, like the Harlequin and we saw the return of old favorites we've missed like Edward. There was action in this book, and not just of the sexual variety. With the return of Edward and with the introduction of Otto the serial killer obsessed with Anita things were definitely interesting. I felt that everything, including the sex happened for reason. This book did not have nearly the amount of gratuitous sex that previous ones did. There is still a strain between Richard and Anita and her multitude of partners and his refusal to be a team player, but I don't know if LKH will ever resolve that, though I wish she would. I'm a sucker for happy endings. There were a couple of areas I felt stalled a little bit but they picked right up and kept on going.

The Harlequin are the independant and powerful enforcers of the vampire council, to be contacted by them is a very bad thing. Malcolm, the head of The Church of Eternal Life (a church for vampires) comes to Anita seeking help with an entity that visited his church. The only thing he can think of that could hide in plain site like this entity did are the Harlequin. However to speak of them without having been contacted by them is punishable by death. Needless to say he cannot tell Anita much of anything other than to speak with Jean Claude knowing that he would understand what Malcolm was speaking of. The rules of the Harlequin state that they must contact you by using masks of one of three colors. White is for watching, red is for pain, and black is for death. Anita receives a white mask while out on a date with Nathaniel and this is when the fun begins. The Harlequin claim to be observing, but are not behaving like observers, but more like the bringers of pain and death. Its up to Anita, Jean Claude and the gang to figure what the heck is really going on and who is behind the Harlequin's visit.

All in all this book ties everything together nicely. No loose ends, there is plot to continue moving into and the characters are continuing to evolve and contribute to the story line. If you have had your doubts about this series, this book should prove to you that it still has the potential we all saw in it when we began reading it. Its nice to see that LKH still knows the art of writing with a plot line. I throughly enjoyed this book and am anxiously awaiting the next one.

I have been a big fan of Anita Blakes/ Laurell K. Hamilton's for awhile now. I also got a little tired during the last few books of all the erotica- this book brought Anita back, this book was a breath of fresh air, this book had it all! We had action, we had mystery, we even had a little erotica but it didn't even last that long and there wasn't a lot of talk during those particular scenes! During The Harlequin, Laurell K. Hamilton also gave us back all of our most beloved characters- all in the same book! I can not say enough and that is why I had to write a review where others who had begun to wander might check before buying- BUY IT- its' worth every penny and every minute! Thank you, thank you, thank you Ms. Hamilton!

The Anita Blake series started off well, continued for awhile, then took a sharp plunge down into the literary abyss of bad porn.

Well, "The Harlequin" scrabbles PARTLY back out of that abyss, but Laurell K. Hamilton's fifteenth Blake book still suffers from a surfeit of squickly sex, constant sexual ramblings, and a promising plot that gets swamped by the sex-with-Anitacentric politics of vampires and weres.

First a vamp cleric tells her of a threat so terrible that he can't name it, then a movie night with Nathaniel leads to a strange warning -- a white mask. Jean-Claude reveals that it's the warning of the Harlequin, a cruel vampire police who can warp their victims' minds. And apparently Anita and her string of adoring lovers (plus the still-upset Richard) have upset them.

And the politics of the situation are getting quite nasty, with alliances between weres and vamps getting nasty as they try to all have sex with Anita for power and influence, and Anita repeatedly getting hit by her various "beasts." And if they don't manage to kill the Harlequin soon, then Marmee Noir will reawaken -- and the Harlequin will be working for her.

"The Harlequin" sounds promising at first -- it's almost a hundred and fifty pages before Anita has sex with anyone. It's been several books since Hamilton could boast a length like that, and at first glance it seems to be promising a return to prior form.

Unfortunately, the sexless parts are duller than actual sex: talking/remembering/agonizing about sex. There's two long chapters devoted to Nathaniel wanting Anita to tie him up and hurt him during sex, and Anita getting squeamish about it. And halfway through, she starts having public ardeur sex, bloody sex, lesbian vampire dream sex, feathery sex, and Hamilton seems to be paving the way for sex with Edward's sixteen-year-old stepson.

None of this would matter quite so much if the plot were good -- and some parts of it are excellent. Edward's family vs. job struggle, the were politics and their tenuous relationship with the vampires, the fight between Richard and Jean-Claude, and the whole threat of the Harlequin itself is pretty thrilling, and pared down, it could have been a truly excellent book.

Unfortunately, these promising plots are bogged down in -- you guessed it -- sex. Everyone wants sex with Anita, and chapters of arguing about who gets to is just stupefyingly dull. As if that weren't bad enough, Hamilton takes another jab at her former fans, by announcing disdainfully that, "God hasn't forsaken me; it's just that all the right-wing fundamentalist Christians want to believe he has." Nice that now Anita is God's mouthpiece.

And though Anita doesn't come across near the levels of arrogance in books past, she still comes off as annoying, hypocritical (she likes rough bloody sex, but squeaks at the idea of tying a guy up?) and ridiculously superpowerful. While expecting us to like her, Hamilton has Anita trying to bully a werelion into having sex with her, and having him bumped off when he stays faithful to his wife.

As if that weren't enough, turns out that she's also powering anyone she has sex with. The long-haired, anime-style femmemen worship and fight over Anita, and the few who don't are either banished again (Richard) or are pale shadows of their former selves (Edward).

"The Harlequin" takes some baby steps back toward quality, but the obsession with sex and long-winded arguments drown the promising plot points. Better keep the mask on this one.

I have been an Anita Blake fan for the last 4 years. These books are awesome, and The Harlequin has got to be one of the best books in the series, though I am quite partial to Incubus Dreams. I love Laurell K. Hamilton's style and storylines. If you haven't read these books, you need to start. Buy this book--I know I plan to re-read the entire series again.

As others have mentioned, there seems to be more to this novel than the other recent ones. That has to do with a much stronger story arc, both identified and unidentified bad guys, and a main character who knows what she wants. My one complaint is the way LKH describes why one of the characters wasn't at the big battle; it was too short and too easy.

I have to say the past books I have read in the series didnt interest me as much as this one. I loved the fact that we got to see a definite plot and more about Anita struggling to convince herself its okay to love more than one man. I actually had a hard time not finishing it one day because it was that good and reminded me of how I felt when I first read Anita. The character development in the book is something I can relate to and enjoy. Good going on this one such a great read for long time fans of the series.

The city's vampires have a secret. Even scary monsters can be afraid. Afraid of the harlequin: neutral vampires, with tremendous powers, hiding behind masks and out to get you when they hit your town.

Anita's in trouble. The harlequin show up and no one knows why. Rapidly people get hurt. Seriously hurt. Which makes Anita pretty angry. And angry is when she fights best.

This Anita Blake is excellent. Not only because of the good, solid story. Also because its author addresses one of her most important themes explicitly: what makes a monster a monster? Is it acting immorally? Is it acting unlawfully? Anita's answer is clear: everyone who hurts the ones you love is a monster. And you can't love enough, as long as you can make it work.

I think these are (maybe only equaled by Terry Pratchett) the best books fantasy has to offer and Harlequin is a very fine book in this series. Funny is the link with the continuous 'too much sex?'-discussion here: are reviewers the harlequin? Like them, they pass faceless judgments from the balcony, meddling moral verdicts with artistic taste, preoccupied with the physical expression of love rather than the essential gift of love itself.

This book is excellent. Really.

I have been an LKH fan since I started her Anita Blake series...and then kinda feel off the wagon for the past 3 or so books...but this one I was actually suprised with. Not too much sex at all in it and an acutal story line to boot!

Not once has Laurell ever disappointed me and this book was no exception. This book was action packed and full of suspense (Yes there was some sex, but you don't have to read it). I will say that I have never disliked Richard more and never loved the others more. *Small Spoiler ahead, sorry!* It is about time that everyone turned on that childish insecure uncompromising twit. It couldn't have made me happier. It is just too bad he cant be replaced in the triumvirate. Anyway, if you like her work you will LOVE this book! It was really hard to put down. =)

I'm not sure what other people thought they were going to read with an Anita book, but this was a great one. Story started right off, the politics were great and it's always fun to see Edward. I was late to work finishing it.

THE SHORT OPINE/FIRST IMPRESSIONS-
This book should come with a warning to sit down, strap in, buckle up, then hang on tight before reading this breathtaking ride that is The Harlequin! So much happens in this one, and much of it could effect many future books. I can tell you that I gasped, my heart broke, I giggled, I was horrified, I forgot to breathe, I laughed out loud, I was moved to tears, and at one point, I actually threw my fist in the air and squeaked "YES!" out loud. In other words, I loved this book!!

THE REALLY LONG OPINE-
WARNING: TEASERS AND POSSIBLE MINOR SPOILERS TO FOLLOW. FOR THE MOST PART, SPOILERS ARE LIMITED TO REFERENCES MADE IN LAURELL'S BLOG ENTRIES, WHAT SHE SAID AT BOOK SIGNINGS AND THE PREVIEW OF THE HARLEQUIN FOUND IN THE PAPERBACK RELEASE OF DANSE MACABRE!! Also, please be aware that these comments are based on an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) and the final book release may differ.

I've finished my second read through of The Harlequin, and I think my first impressions were an understatement! So much happens in this book that, while I was still processing some of the jaw-dropping scenes, I wasn't absorbing some of the nuances. While I was trying to relearn how to breathe and was rushing forward to read what happens next, I missed important details.

--> This book may be as pivotal to the series as Narcissus in Chains. The Harlequin, which appears to take place in early December, probably a week after Danse Macabre, is about truths, and revelations and discoveries. Masks are ripped away and souls are bared. New enemies are identified. We learn of unexpected new allies. Menace and danger become more specific and more personal. This one book could easily be the catalyst for several new story lines or new directions in current story lines. <--

Compared to professional reviewers, I'm pretty sucky at giving formal reviews. So I thought instead that I would rather organize my comments in a way that's similar to how I would excitedly tell a friend about The Harlequin.

-Anita-
I should first explain my interpretation of Anita's ardeur. The best analogy I can come up with is, when first diagnosed with a chronic medical condition, your life is turned upside down, you're angry and you want to fight back, you're overwhelmed by it, consumed by wanting it to go away, it seems your life has been taken over by it. But eventually, acceptance comes and dealing with it becomes a part of your day to day life. In Danse Macabre, Anita finally realized that trying to defeat the ardeur or beat it into submission wasn't going to work. And it wasn't just HER life impacted by the ardeur and her response to it. In The Harlequin, we see that, by accepting the ardeur as part of her life, she no longer must let it RULE her life. In fact, she discovers that the ardeur has nuances she never suspected.

Of course, the ardeur still necessitates sexual encounters. In this book, one encounter serves to reveal some very naked truths (excuse the pun). One is scary and shocking. One is written in a way that we're able to feel the characters' awkwardness about the act's necessity. And one is so freakin' hot that we, like the participants, are consumed.

Now, Anita's asymptomatic lycanthropy? Well that's a whole `nother ball game. It's getting a bit crowded in Anita's "den" (okay, SHE refers to it as a dark cave, but that just seems to give a whole different meaning to the point I'm trying to make)! And the lycanthropes and vampires aren't the only ones that are concerned about it!

-Jean-Claude-
Even though Jean-Claude is not physically present in a pretty big chunk of this book, his presence is still felt in nearly every scene. He shows that there can be strength in what, on the surface, appears to be weakness. And events in The Harlequin reveal, without a doubt, who the Master is- of the kiss, of the triumvirate and of the entire St. Louis preternatural community! I know, I know- cryptic and not very informative, but Jean-Claude is more action oriented in this book and I can't comment on his actions without revealing too much of the story.

-Asher-
Asher is not front and center in this book. Yet we still learn some very interesting, and potentially important, information about him.

-Micah-
I was afraid, after the revelation in Danse Macabre of the ardeur's manipulations, that we would see doubts in Micah's relationship with Anita. But in The Harlequin, all doubt about their true feelings for each other is removed.

We also see that Micah has earned respect in the lycanthrope, vampire and human communities. Even, albeit grudgingly, from Richard! Now that's not to say that Micah and Richard are suddenly BFFs- far from it! In fact we get another one of those snark sessions between the two of them where Richard tells him to stop being so perfect. I LOVE their snarkiness! And I have to admit that I've wondered whether those remarks from Richard to Micah are Laurell's wink and a nod to some of the reader complaints that Micah is too perfect.

Now me, I see Micah as the character that can best be described as the most true to life man in Anita's life. He goes to work, he takes care of his family, he's there when he's needed, and he does whatever needs doing. He's the one that Anita can let down all her defenses with and just simply be a woman loving a man. He possesses a quiet sort of strength and love that doesn't seek or require the spotlight or drama. He's like millions of men whose names and lives will go unnoticed by everyone but his friends or family, but to them he's a true hero.

Although, my real life may color my perceptions of Micah. I've been married to someone very much like him for nearly 25 years. They're the kind of men you can go the distance with.

-Nathaniel-
I need to preface this by explaining my feelings about Nathaniel. I don't dislike him, I just am not attached to him, I've yet to connect with him. I've just never thought of him as a permanent character like Anita, Jean-Claude, Richard, or Micah. In my mind, he's more than a secondary character, but not quite a main character. He's easily dismissed by me. (Good grief, I sound like Richard, don't I?) After he stepped up to the plate in Danse Macabre and now The Harlequin, I find him less easily dismissed, still not quite permanent, but not as temporary either. I have no doubt that he loves Anita and she loves him, but, particularly after some revelations in The Harlequin, I'm just not sure what flavor of love exists between them. Anita even refers to Micah and Nathaniel's reaction to her pregnancy scare in what, to me, is a revealing way. Instead of saying that they were ready to step up to the plate and be daddies, she says they were ready to be daddy and NANNY. So, my interpretation is that even Anita may not see Nathanial as one of the "heavyweights".

When we first met Nathaniel, it was tough for me to get past his meekness, his dismissal of himself, and the fact that he was just so damn young. I just didn't, and still don't, have a point of reference to understand him. I pretty much had to ignore his age completely and make him older in my head. What has made that even more necessary is that he is now 20 years old, and because of book chronology versus real life chronology, my oldest son and daughter are now the same age. EEK! So I think I'll have to leave the interpretations of Nathaniel in The Harlequin to those readers that DO connect with him- and I know there are a lot of you. I still have to make him older in my head, which is more difficult to do with this book, and I know I'm not capable of forming a fair assessment of him or his actions.

-Richard-
Richard is still one of the most amazingly complex characters I've ever "met". I adore him even though he pisses me off, he tears my heart out, he frustrates me. He is trying to get his head together, but with Richard it seems like, for every step forward, he takes three steps back. Going back to the analogy of a chronic medical condition, Richard, unlike Anita, is still at the stage of NOT accepting that his life is now changed permanently. Of still being angry that this lycanthropy has happened to him and necessitated a profound change in his life and his perceptions of himself. The "Why me? I don`t want this!" stage. Adding to his conflicts, part of him embraces and revels in his new life, but he just can't seem to let go of his original visions of the future he always assumed he'd have. And he can't create a new, whole Richard until he accepts his new reality.

Many of the most important revelations in this book are Richard's. Some so painful that I felt like I had been punched in the gut. I actually found myself cringing and thinking "No, Richard, don't do it!". Through both his actions and his words, he reveals some truths so profound, that I'm not sure if, now that the poison has been ripped from his wounds, whether healing can now begin, or whether the wounds will remain raw and bloody. Only Laurell knows. Although I suspect that even she won't really know for sure until her characters tell her.

-Jason-
Jason is a bit wrapped up with his new girlfriend and so isn't on stage except for a brief, but emotional, scene. BTW, I can't remember if this was ever revealed before, but Jason is wolf because of Raina.

-Edward-
Edward finally learns the truth about Anita's current life. But ever practical, he gathers information from several sources, digests it, then proceeds to deal with it's effects on his current objectives. We do get glimpses of the effect that Donna and her kids have had on him. VERY interesting glimpses! And yes, as Laurell said in her blogs, Peter does come to St. Louis with him. And it's a very different Peter than we saw in Obsidian Butterfly.

-Olaf-
Yep, as Laurell said at some signings, Olaf and Edward had a deal- Olaf would stay away from Anita so long as Edward promised to bring him in as backup the next time Anita needed it. Let's just say that Olaf's parting gift to Anita by the end of The Harlequin is a new recurring nightmare. *shudder*

-Belle Morte-
Creepy, scary, unpredictable. Fortunately for everyone, she doesn`t spend too much time visiting Anita in this book. `Nuff said.

-Marmee Noir/ Mother of All Darkness/Mommy Dearest-
Scary revelations. A specific threat arises because she knows that the Anita/Jean Claude/Richard triumvirate has not exchanged the fourth mark. Oh, and let's just say that I'm pretty sure Anita hopes Marmee Noir never pulls her name in the Christmas gift exchange.

There's also a revelation so profound that I whispered a gasping "oh. sh!#." We now know why Mommy Dearest is waking up. Truly a gasp worthy moment.

At the Las Vegas signing for Danse Macabre last year, Laurell said that there IS someone else out there like Anita. But we haven't met him because Anita is not aware of him yet. I just hope that when she does meet him, that he turns out to be an ally- she's going to need all the help she can get!

-Malcolm-I've gained a whole different perspective on him. A complete 360 in how I view him, his motives, and his objectives.

-The Deaths-
Sorry, but no, I am soooo not saying who dies! I will say that the death that Laurell blogged about, the one that effected her so much, does cause grief in the characters, too. Interesting though that, while the other characters truly mourn that death, it is another death that effected me more. Although I suspect it was more emotionally wrenching for me because it was colored by people in my real life.

-The Pard-
Cherry does have some scenes in this book, but unfortunately, we don't catch up with the rest of the pard . They are mentioned as a group though.

-The Kiss, the Wererats, the Hyenas, the Swans, the Lions, the Wolves, and others-
Members of all have important placement in The Harlequin.

I think that covers everyone. One final comment- the very last paragraph in the book opens the door to a possibility that alot of us have said we'd like to happen. Whether it does happen, or it goes as far as we were hoping, is anyone's guess- even Laurell's, I suspect. She did say at a signing that it wasn't going to happen, but I'm hoping the characters tell her otherwise!

Oh, and did I mention that another character from an earlier book makes a surprise appearance and their presence in this book has a huge impact? Yep, and I actually threw my fist in the air and squeaked "YES!" out loud. Hoo-yea!

So hopefully I've piqued the interest of those readers that had been feeling a bit disenchanted with the ABVH series. And for those of you like me, that still eagerly anticipate each new thrill ride that Laurell sends us on, who, while reading her books, lose all sense of this reality and become a part of Anita's reality, you're gonna LOVE The Harlequin!

This is Laurell K. Hamilton at her best! The Harlequin is engrossing from the first page on. I, for one, am thrilled she hasn't allowed her vocal nay-sayers to sway her from continuing this series in the manner it is currently flowing. I'm spellbound!

The book was exactly what all her other books have been...an enjoying read.

It was a piece of fiction that allowed my to explore another world. I will continue to read her books and I have and would continue to encourage others to read them as well.

When I first started reading this series, I fell in love with the action, the excitement and the supernatural element. Anita was the cop I wanted to be. She had strong morals and values, but kicked a lot of supernatural monsters, vampires and other creatures. The last few books in the series have trailed off into orgies, sex and emotional problems, and had less and less of the hard, cruel and tough Anita we all adore.

The Harlequin brings out beloved Anita back from the grave, so to speak. Gone is the whining and complaining, which is replaced with thinking and action. Edward (nicknamed Death) returns to help Anita fight a large scale vampire "problem". He brings along backup: his "son" Peter and Olaf, the serial killer we met in Obsidian Butterfly.

The Harlequin are the police force of the vampire community. They are like a vampire myth that hunts down other vampires when they've broken the vampire laws or displeased The Mother of All Vampires. In this book, the Harlequin have come to Saint Louis and are breaking the laws themselves. This leaves Jean-Claude and his vampire gang in a deathly situation. The Harlequin are in town to deal with The Church of Eternal life, and the fact that its members are not all blood bound to their master, and head of the church. This goes against the vampire laws.

Besides all that, Anita is still dealing with emotional problems and needs from her growing harem of men. Nathaniel wants more of his needs met, meaning he wants Anita to participate more in BDSM, which she feels uncomfortable with. He makes it clear that those needs need to be met either by her, or by a new partner. And we know how Anita feels about sharing.

Like Obsidian Butterfly (the best in the series, I think) this book kept me on the edge of my seat. The action scenes were well done and exciting. Anita returns to dealing (slightly) with police business and has a fight of her own to deal with.

I still enjoyed the last few books in the series, but I am glad to have the stronger Anita back in business. I highly recommend picking up a copy and enjoying the latest installment. My only complaint is that the book wasn't long enough!

i loved it!what can i say?i adore nathanial&micah,i'm fascinated by edward and boy was olaf horrifying!!i read this book in one night and don't regret the lack of sleep.please,don't miss this great book by LKH!