Review
My library only had The Laughing Corpse available in this edition, so I decided to give reading the paperback a shot instead of an eAudiobook. I will say that as I read the books the voice I hear telling the story is Kimberley Alexis' voice as Anita.
The Laughing Corpse didn't start as slow for me as Guilty Pleasures. It starts out with a possible new case right off and it gets interesting quick. Anita and her boss, Bert, make a house call where she is asked to raise a 300 year old zombie. This entails human sacrifice and the man asking knows this. This turns into a heated beginning and a crazy chain of events that are seemingly not connected and neatly tied up at the end.
I like Anita. She is a strong character. She knows her bounderies and laws. She has her morals, but her beliefs start to get questioned by herself in this one. A little bit. I even like her stubbornness to an extent. I also feel she would make a damn good cop. What I don't like... when her stubbornness goes overboard and it definitely can. I understand age has dealt with some horrible things and seen some horrible things, but she needs to stop and see that some of those around her that she thinks are horrible may not be so horrible (some of the vampires around her). The way they go about things tends to be a little... midevil, but there is something there. Who knows, maybe I just want to see that. She also tends to annoy me with how ignorant she is with some supernatural things. If she is going to be in the line of work she is in... she should know all she can. With the information we learn about her having degrees to correlate to her work it is surprising.
I like the guys she is around on the police force. They are hilarious. They are also admirable for the work they do and what they see. They also really see Anita as one of their own and care. We see Willie again and this is where we start to see the crack in her belief system. She has sort of a battle with herself and her familiarity with him wins out. I like Willie and I hope we see more of him. Now for the big one Jean-Claude. Yum. We see the banter between he and Anita. I like how they are together and we see the romantic tension between the two get all the more tense thanks to Anita. We do see that he has a major soft spot for Anita though in The Laughing Corpse and see a glimpse with how she acts towards him hurts him. He does truely care, even if he had more reasons than her wellbeing in mind for giving her two marks.
Overall it was agreat storyline and did keep my interest. I really liked this one, much better than the first actually. The only reason I don't give it the fifth star is because there were still moments where Anita drove me a little crazy. But it was still a good book and I am curious enough to continue with series. The library has number 3 as a regular audiobook or paperback. I'm going to try the audiobook, but we shall see.
Quotes I liked:
"The tears were back, stinging just behind my eyes. There was blood all over my penguins. I didn't give a damn about the walls and carpet. They could be replaced, but I'd collected those damned stuffed toys over years. I let the paramedic lead me away. Tears trickling down my cheeks. I wasn't crying, my eyes were running. My eyes were running because there were pieces of zombie all over my toys. Jesus." pg. 138
"I stared up into his blue, blue eyes. "I never forget that you are the walking dead, Jean-Claude."
An expression I could not read passed over his face. It might have been pain. "No, I see the knowledge in your eyes of what I am." His voice dropped low, almost a whisper, but it wasn't seductive. It was human. "Your eyes are the clearest mirror I have ever seen, ma petite. Whenever I begin to pretend to myself. Whenever I have delusions of life. I have only to look into your face and see the truth."
What did he expect me say? Sorry, I'll try to ignore the fact that you're a vampire. "So why keep me around?" I asked.
"Perhaps if Nikolaos had had such a mirror, she would not have been such a monster."
I stared at him. He might be rout. It made his choice of me as a human servant almost noble. Almost. Oh, hell. I would not start feeling sorry for the freaking Master of the City. Not now. Not ever." pg. 186-187
"Dominga Salvador sat in her loving room smiling. The little girl who had been riding her tricycle on my last trip here was sitting in her grandmother's lap. The child was as relaxed and languorous as a kitten. Two older boys sat at Dominga's feet. She was aa picture of maternal bliss. I wanted to throw up.
Of course, just because she was the most dangerous voodoo priestess I'd ever met didn't mean she wasn't a grandma, too. People are seldom just one thing. Hitler liked dogs." pg. 231
The Laughing Corpse didn't start as slow for me as Guilty Pleasures. It starts out with a possible new case right off and it gets interesting quick. Anita and her boss, Bert, make a house call where she is asked to raise a 300 year old zombie. This entails human sacrifice and the man asking knows this. This turns into a heated beginning and a crazy chain of events that are seemingly not connected and neatly tied up at the end.
I like Anita. She is a strong character. She knows her bounderies and laws. She has her morals, but her beliefs start to get questioned by herself in this one. A little bit. I even like her stubbornness to an extent. I also feel she would make a damn good cop. What I don't like... when her stubbornness goes overboard and it definitely can. I understand age has dealt with some horrible things and seen some horrible things, but she needs to stop and see that some of those around her that she thinks are horrible may not be so horrible (some of the vampires around her). The way they go about things tends to be a little... midevil, but there is something there. Who knows, maybe I just want to see that. She also tends to annoy me with how ignorant she is with some supernatural things. If she is going to be in the line of work she is in... she should know all she can. With the information we learn about her having degrees to correlate to her work it is surprising.
I like the guys she is around on the police force. They are hilarious. They are also admirable for the work they do and what they see. They also really see Anita as one of their own and care. We see Willie again and this is where we start to see the crack in her belief system. She has sort of a battle with herself and her familiarity with him wins out. I like Willie and I hope we see more of him. Now for the big one Jean-Claude. Yum. We see the banter between he and Anita. I like how they are together and we see the romantic tension between the two get all the more tense thanks to Anita. We do see that he has a major soft spot for Anita though in The Laughing Corpse and see a glimpse with how she acts towards him hurts him. He does truely care, even if he had more reasons than her wellbeing in mind for giving her two marks.
Overall it was agreat storyline and did keep my interest. I really liked this one, much better than the first actually. The only reason I don't give it the fifth star is because there were still moments where Anita drove me a little crazy. But it was still a good book and I am curious enough to continue with series. The library has number 3 as a regular audiobook or paperback. I'm going to try the audiobook, but we shall see.
Quotes I liked:
"The tears were back, stinging just behind my eyes. There was blood all over my penguins. I didn't give a damn about the walls and carpet. They could be replaced, but I'd collected those damned stuffed toys over years. I let the paramedic lead me away. Tears trickling down my cheeks. I wasn't crying, my eyes were running. My eyes were running because there were pieces of zombie all over my toys. Jesus." pg. 138
"I stared up into his blue, blue eyes. "I never forget that you are the walking dead, Jean-Claude."
An expression I could not read passed over his face. It might have been pain. "No, I see the knowledge in your eyes of what I am." His voice dropped low, almost a whisper, but it wasn't seductive. It was human. "Your eyes are the clearest mirror I have ever seen, ma petite. Whenever I begin to pretend to myself. Whenever I have delusions of life. I have only to look into your face and see the truth."
What did he expect me say? Sorry, I'll try to ignore the fact that you're a vampire. "So why keep me around?" I asked.
"Perhaps if Nikolaos had had such a mirror, she would not have been such a monster."
I stared at him. He might be rout. It made his choice of me as a human servant almost noble. Almost. Oh, hell. I would not start feeling sorry for the freaking Master of the City. Not now. Not ever." pg. 186-187
"Dominga Salvador sat in her loving room smiling. The little girl who had been riding her tricycle on my last trip here was sitting in her grandmother's lap. The child was as relaxed and languorous as a kitten. Two older boys sat at Dominga's feet. She was aa picture of maternal bliss. I wanted to throw up.
Of course, just because she was the most dangerous voodoo priestess I'd ever met didn't mean she wasn't a grandma, too. People are seldom just one thing. Hitler liked dogs." pg. 231
0
