Laurell K. Hamilton almost originated the noir female
protagonist in urban fantasy. Over the years, the works
have sometimes strayed from "the mystery" into "the sex."
Although still steamy and ripe with layers of relationship
elements, HIT LIST seems aimed at readers who love Anita
Blake when she's hip-deep in a mystery and discussing
strategy with Edward, the friendly neighborhood assassin
and/or bounty hunter (it all depends which hat he's wearing
and if he sounds like a good-old-boy).
In HIT LIST, Anita seems to have matured in many ways. She
recognizes that she
still has to kick tail and will always be battling her
petite and pretty looks, the rumors and truths about what
goes on between her and the Master of St. Louis, as well as
a handful of others. She understands that not only is
her self-perception most important, it is the question of
how well she can back up that self-perception with power in
order to keep everyone she cares about safe.
In HIT LIST,
some of the people she's trying to keep safe are the
clanless tigers. Anita would have thought that the killings
would have stopped once she and her St. Louis power-base
emphatically demonstrated their claim over the gold tigers
(in the previous novel, Bullet). In addition, Anita and
Edward can't let the normal police powers in on all of the
hocus-pocus for their own protection; therefore, Edward's
got to call in the big guns. Olaf and Bernardo are on their
way, and Olaf is more dangerous than ever. Meanwhile, Anita
is cities away from her power-base, and she needs her own
backup.
Obviously, one should probably read the multiple other
books in the Anita Blake series in order to get the nuances
of character development and growth represented by this
work. As a long-time fan of Laurell K. Hamilton, I was
excited to have Anita back on a longer mission with Edward,
and I was interested in how their relationships and
worldviews has enriched their relationship with each other.
An excellent work, and I'll anxiously await the next!
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