Harold Gaynor offers Anita Blake a million dollars to raise a 300-year-old zombie. Knowing it means a human sacrifice will be necessary, Anita turn...
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Jun 15, 2011
Darby
rated it: 
I have read all of the Anita Blake series and The Laughing Corpse is the second book in the series. Again it is really great entertainment. I enjoy all the characters and the plot. Anita comes into more powers by being Jean Claude's human servant so you get to see that and also her zombie-raising skills come into play. The second book is definetly one of the good ones.
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Dec 30, 2011
Tilly
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This book took my by surprise!
I have read it twice now, and there are parts that are still heart-wrenching.
In the second book of the Anita Blake series, The Laughing Corpse rips you from reality and tosses you unexpectedly into a world of voodoo, betrayal and forced submission.
Following the first book, this begins centered around Anita Blake and her job as an animator as well as the consulting work she does for the paranormal police division that investiga More...
I have read it twice now, and there are parts that are still heart-wrenching.
In the second book of the Anita Blake series, The Laughing Corpse rips you from reality and tosses you unexpectedly into a world of voodoo, betrayal and forced submission.
Following the first book, this begins centered around Anita Blake and her job as an animator as well as the consulting work she does for the paranormal police division that investiga More...
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Oct 28, 2010
Words
rated it: 
There was something about Hamilton's first, then second book that irritated the hell out of me, but I couldn't quite figure it out. Then one day I saw a picture of her on the book and I understood what it was. It annoys me when authors make themselves the hero/ine of their books, and then just change the name and the environment to make it fantasy fiction. But even more so when you must keep reading about how powerful, and how unconsciously sexy, and how tough that character is (*why* is she tr
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Jan 20, 2011
Kathryn
rated it:
Note: this book is on my gruesome-horror shelf. Certain scene descriptions were disgusting and consequently depressing.
So far, this series is not what I expected. It is slightly grittier and not the least bit upbeat, but more along the lines of what I expect from quality dark urban-fantasy. I enjoyed this book more than the first, largely due to being more familiar with Hamilton's world and characters, something which is typical of long running series. The first books are usually the More...
So far, this series is not what I expected. It is slightly grittier and not the least bit upbeat, but more along the lines of what I expect from quality dark urban-fantasy. I enjoyed this book more than the first, largely due to being more familiar with Hamilton's world and characters, something which is typical of long running series. The first books are usually the More...
Jan 26, 2011
Kathy
rated it:
Laurell K. Hamiltons' second book of the Anita Blake series was a little different from Guilty Pleasures, her first in that series. Different not in a good nor bad way...just different. Unlike the first book there wasn't too much action with the vampires. Seeing how it is an "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel" you would think there would be more vampires in the book. But as I progress in reading the series I see that Ms. Blake specializes in more than vampires. I wasn't disappointed bu
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Dec 30, 2010
chucklesthescot
rated it: 
Anita is having another bad week. A rich man wants her to raise a zombie using human sacrifice but she refuses and this response does not go down well. She upsets a voodoo Queen who decides to have her killed by zombies. A fellow animator is murdered and what he raised is murdering innocent people all over town. Plus Jean-Claude is still trying to make her his human servant. Just another typical week for Anita...
What I like about Anita is that she isn't perfect. She kills vampires but sh More...
What I like about Anita is that she isn't perfect. She kills vampires but sh More...
Dec 17, 2009
Cindy
rated it: 
OK, I did not enjoy the image of one more blood soaked carpet, with a baby blanket or a little small hand left in the coagualting carpet! ACK! I do love the silly world Anita Blake inhabits, where vampires have legal rights and zombie-raising is an acceptable occupation. Will vampires get the vote? Will Anita survive to see the answer? Stay tuned, kids, same bat time, same bat channel! (I loved tv's Batman, too!) This book was so gory, which I mention because it is like the elephant in the room
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Apr 18, 2011
Tori
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Even though I finished the story, I can't rate this book because it just wouldn't be fair to the author simply because I rarely read this genre. Occasionally when I see a lot of Goodreads friends who have similar tastes in books give a book a good review I'll give it a try and usually I'm glad I did. But, after finishing this second book I realize that this series is not for me. The heroine has got to be one of the most obnoxious I have ever encountered and frankly, I was hoping for more romance
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Apr 06, 2008
Wendy
rated it:
This book has some very graphic 'sick shit'. It is a very dark book but at the same time enjoyable. It is the second in the Anita Blake series and I enjoy them enough to keep reading the series. I really enjoy the developing relationship between Jean-Claude and Anita that is in each book. You learn a lot more about Anita Blake and what has made her 'The Executioner' in this book. You also see her potential for darkness and I look forward to seeing where the next book takes us. Well worth the rea
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Feb 12, 2009
Nicole
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For all the Anita Blake books - I started this series with my then friend, Meredith - she actually got me hooked that fateful summer of 2000 when I was living on her wooden floor in Brooklyn. We were both unemployed and bored and got hooked into this series. I loved Anita Blake because it was before I discovered the new genre - what I like to call "badass chicks who kick ass!" written in first person - and so she was all empowering and of course there were hot vampires and werewolves i
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Feb 08, 2012
Mimm
rated it:
Better than the first but I must question, if she's "Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter" then where are the vampires?
I can honestly say that I wasn't enraptured by the first installment of the series, Guilty Pleasures, but what I felt was missing Hamilton remedied with this installment. This time around we actually get the chance to get to know who Anita is and not just what she does...even if what she does involves a fair amount of blood and innocent lives lost in this installment. More...
I can honestly say that I wasn't enraptured by the first installment of the series, Guilty Pleasures, but what I felt was missing Hamilton remedied with this installment. This time around we actually get the chance to get to know who Anita is and not just what she does...even if what she does involves a fair amount of blood and innocent lives lost in this installment. More...
Nov 13, 2011
Kirsti
rated it:
The second in the Anita Blake series. This book is darker than the first, and focused more on Anita the necromancer, as well as her role in the police force. Harold Gaynor offers her a million dollars to raise a zombie, but the person is long dead and requires a human sacrifice, something Anita is not willing to do. Meanwhile, something is breaking into homes and eating the inhabitants, something that doesn't bleed. It's up to Anita to use her animating powers and knowledge of the undead to help
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Aug 06, 2011
Andi
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 29, 2011
William
rated it:
After reading the first Anita Blake vampire hunter novel, GUILTY PLEASURES, I was intrigued enough to return to author Hamilton's world. This second book is at least as good as the first, but I found it immediately falling into a holding pattern. I wanted to learn more about this world where humans and vampires co-exist. But instead, Hamilton briefly skims by the legal and social issues which make the concept so interesting. I wanted to see some sort of advancement between the characters of Anit
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Jun 26, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
Anita Blake returns in the second instalment of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series, The Laughing Corpse. After completing the first instalment I could hardly wait to read this one. I had high hopes for the series and I hoped this book would be just as good as the first.
The Laughing Corpse is told from the first person perspective of Anita Blake. Anita is a animator and makes her living raising the dead. She also aids the police with their cases related to all things supernatural. More...
The Laughing Corpse is told from the first person perspective of Anita Blake. Anita is a animator and makes her living raising the dead. She also aids the police with their cases related to all things supernatural. More...
Mar 17, 2011
David
rated it:
Hamilton's writing makes frightening landscapes and ominous situations come alive. In "the Laughing Corpse" Blake is after some kind of a "super-zombie" that is on a killing frenzy. In one scene she walks over a cemetery and Hamilton skillfully and frighteningly---
Here's a quote to show you what I mean:
"I walked out onto the grass alone. I waited until the only thing I could hear was the grass; soft, whispering, dry. Like it was trying to More...
Here's a quote to show you what I mean:
"I walked out onto the grass alone. I waited until the only thing I could hear was the grass; soft, whispering, dry. Like it was trying to More...
Mar 14, 2011
Amy
rated it:
I liked this one much better than Guilty Pleasures. I can now see why the early Anita Blake books made the series into a bestseller. This one was action-packed, especially the second half of the book. The plot was actually very good and suspenseful. Anita was sarcastically funny and badass, and I liked her. I also want to see how she eventually gets together with Jean-Claude. I'll keep reading this series until I don't like it, since I'm wary of the later books due to lots of negative reviews.
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Feb 19, 2011
Lisabet
rated it:
I'd heard a great deal about the Anita Blake - Vampire Hunter series, but never read any of them, so when a copy of THE LAUGHING CORPSE turned up on sale, I grabbed it. The series began in the nineties, long before the current vampire romance craze. As a result, it doesn't suffer from the cliches so common in the vampire genre today. Indeed, it's not a romance at all. It's a bit difficult to categorize. I'd say horror, but it wasn't really frightening, although it did have some extremely gross s
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Jan 14, 2011
Jessica
rated it:
Being Offered to raise an almost 300 year old corpse Anita knows that no matter the amount of power and animator posses the only way to raise a corpse that old is human sacrifice, and Anita does not do human sacrifices. End of story. That is unless there's an eccentric wealthy man who thinks you can be persuaded with money, and if not money then thugs, and if not thugs, well then there are some things that people shouldn't have power over.
This novel was a great continuation from Guil More...
This novel was a great continuation from Guil More...
Jan 11, 2011
Ithlilian
rated it:
Having read the last few Anita Blake books before I started the beginning of the series skews my view a bit. This book is mainly about zombies and Anita's necromancer abilities. Where Guilty Pleasures succeeded, this books fails. There are no interesting characters and little mention of vampires though there is plenty of bits and pieces of half eaten families. The characters made Guilty Pleasures enjoyable, and make most of Laurell K Hamilton's books great. This book is ok as a mystery read, but
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Sep 28, 2010
Mary Grace
rated it:
The second installment to the Anita Blake series, The Laughing Corpse, is a riveting tale of a female Animator and Vampire executioner Anita Blake. In this book, she is being offered a job by a wealthy millionaire to raise a 300 year old zombie but raising this type of zombie need a human sacrifice which Anita doesn't do however big the reward may be.
In the middle of that, Dolph called Anita to help with an investigation of a murdered family. Gruesome crimescreen but hope of a surviv More...
In the middle of that, Dolph called Anita to help with an investigation of a murdered family. Gruesome crimescreen but hope of a surviv More...
Sep 22, 2010
Supernatural Book Club
rated it:
This book begins very soon after Guilty Pleasures ended, and like it's predecessor, this book begins with Anita talking to a perspective client. This time the client is a wheel chair bound billionaire named Harold Gaynor. Harold would like to hire Anita (who is a professional animator) to raise a 300 year old corpse, a task that Mr. Gaynor will pay a million dollars for, and that requires a human sacrifice. Anita refuses the offer, she doesn't do human sacrifice, no matter how good the money is
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Jan 03, 2010
Larissa
rated it:
Anita Blake is an animator. She makes her living raising the dead; and also slaying a few vampires. There isn't much she does know about the dead, and raising it. The first rule to raising the dead, the older the corpse the bigger the sacrifice needed. In others words to raise a really old zombie, a human was going to have to die.
Anita and her boss have just been made an offer of a million dollars to raise a two-hundred-and eighty-three-year-old corpse. The sacrifice will of cause be p More...
Anita and her boss have just been made an offer of a million dollars to raise a two-hundred-and eighty-three-year-old corpse. The sacrifice will of cause be p More...
Nov 18, 2009
Tez
rated it:
Anita Blake can raise the dead, and is usually willing to pay the price (killing a chicken). However, the older the zombie, the higher the cost, and to meet overtly wealthy Harold Gaynor's requirements she'll have to make a human sacrifice. Anita may be known as the Executioner, but there are some things a self-respecting animator won't do, no matter how many millions are offered to her. And no matter how much she's tortured.
There's a good reason readers have fond memories of these e More...
There's a good reason readers have fond memories of these e More...
Oct 29, 2009
Mishel
rated it:
Not a lot of vampire love and/or slaying in this installment. This one is all about, yep you guessed it, zombies! My first real zombie fix to be honest. Anita is helping the police with some very gruesome murders that have been happening lately. As if being horrifically killed wasn't enough for the poor victims, it seems they have been eaten too. Seems there is a killer zombie on the loose and Anita needs to find a way to put a stop to his rampage. She needs to find out who raised the zombie and
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Sep 22, 2009
Jennifer
rated it:
This is where the series starts to fall into place. There is still the clunkiness when they try and move between the plot threads. Nevertheless, the plot is brimming with good things.
The put-together monster is absolutely horrifying in a good, creepy, pulls-you-into-the-story, way. While Hamilton might spend a little too long describing creepy feelings, her bad guys are not just evil because she says so. Salvador is evil because she will kill and continues to torture souls after th More...
The put-together monster is absolutely horrifying in a good, creepy, pulls-you-into-the-story, way. While Hamilton might spend a little too long describing creepy feelings, her bad guys are not just evil because she says so. Salvador is evil because she will kill and continues to torture souls after th More...
Oct 10, 2011
NicNacNoodle
rated it:
Well I did try to get into this series. I mean I have the first 10 in the series downloaded and ready to read, so I guess I'm not giving up on it just yet, but I think I will take a break from Anita Blake.
Vampire Hunter, that's what the series is called, but she failed to kill a single vampire in this book, and that just rankled with me. Sure, by day Anita is an Animator. She raises the dead, you know zombies. Now I did appreciate that I actually didn't have too much of a problem with More...
Vampire Hunter, that's what the series is called, but she failed to kill a single vampire in this book, and that just rankled with me. Sure, by day Anita is an Animator. She raises the dead, you know zombies. Now I did appreciate that I actually didn't have too much of a problem with More...
Mar 04, 2011
Noelle
rated it:
With the exception of one scene in the book where I felt the writer overstepped certain boundaries and made me really upset (the one where Anita and the Spooks are participating in their little challenge at family crime scene #2, which was just terribly inappropriate for characters who were supposed to value the sanctity of life and death and be respectable human beings whatsoever [c'mon, this is the effing heroin - don't make her such an scumbag!]) I thought this book, overall, was a very enjoy
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Aug 15, 2010
You know, I really wanted to like the Anita Blake series, but after reading the first book, it just didn't sit well. I'm all for strong female leads, but she's just too cynical, sarcastic, and bitter for me. Maybe if I knew just why she had such a huge chip on her shoulder, I could relate.
After a few months hiatus, I tried to read the second book, thinking maybe she gets better, but no, I was wrong. She's still as annoying and perhaps I'm not compatible with Hamilton's writing style More...
After a few months hiatus, I tried to read the second book, thinking maybe she gets better, but no, I was wrong. She's still as annoying and perhaps I'm not compatible with Hamilton's writing style More...
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Jun 14, 2010
Richard
rated it:
A short and fun book detailing the further adventures of Anita Blake. This book deals mainly with Anita's relationship with the new Master Vampire of the City and an ongoing investigation into a new string of murders.
While the vampire storyline doesn't advance much in this novel it does point to some potentially interesting developments later on in the series.
Most of the book deals with Anita's investigation which gets her involved with a powerful Voodoo Witch, Dominga. T More...
While the vampire storyline doesn't advance much in this novel it does point to some potentially interesting developments later on in the series.
Most of the book deals with Anita's investigation which gets her involved with a powerful Voodoo Witch, Dominga. T More...
