The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #2) By: Laurell K. Hamilton (Book Review)

 (This review will contain spoilers)

Summary:

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 turns him down. But when dead bodies start turning up, she realizes that someone else has raised Harold's zombie--and that the zombie is a killer. Anita pits her power against the zombie and the voodoo priestess who controls it.

The second book in the series and we are yet again given another phenomenal mystery novel. The first one we were definitely not eased into Anita's world, we were thrown in but it was a awesome wild ride. This time around there's even more gore, we get to experience Anita's powers as a necromancer and just how much of a badass she really is. 

In this book there was barely any mention of vampires and we only got a few scenes with Jean-Claude. I found that we got to learn more about Necromancers and just how big and complex their world really is. There are necromancers and then there are also voodoo priestesses that practice voodoo and can cast spells. Although, not quite the same as witchcraft. Dominga Salvador is the godmother of voodoo who is very powerful and is feared by everyone. She bastardizes zombies, keeping them around like her little pets. She also has been trapping human souls in their bodies once they are raised as zombies. And she created this huge creature made of human and animal pieces. Read that again. Made of human and animal pieces. It wouldn't be that disturbing but Hamilton has an uncanny ability to be very descriptive and truthfully I got nauseous quite a few times reading this book. Whether describing the zombie creatures or the left over pieces of human chunks either way makes me a little queasy. 

I liked that the story wasn't focused on just one thing. We had multiple new characters, multiple suspects that kept us guessing where the story was leading and who was behind the random killings. Not only did Hamilton expand on necromancers and voodoo priests but also on psychics. It's really cool that in this world the legal system had to change and adjust for all the new abnormalities taking place. Can't really lock up a zombie who killed a family. Makes me wonder just how many different supernatural creatures there are and if there is a concept of multiple worlds as well. 

One thing I definitely appreciated the most was that you should never overlook the smaller person in the fight. You might be shorter and weigh a lot less but you should always try to defend and fight yourself out of a situation that is deadly. I believe that women should learn a martial art of some form just in case something bad happens. Whether you get kidnapped or attacked by someone knowledge is power and can help in the long run. Anita admitted that she's not the biggest or heaviest in a fight but you still have to go down trying. She was able to fight her way through Gaynor's bodyguards by her wit and understanding of which vital places she should aim for. Add in her necromancy powers and she's just overall an awesome protagonist that women should have nowadays. And the fact that this series was originally released in the 90's makes it so much more awesome. I hate protagonists that need a man to save them. Not once did Anita ever think to herself that she needed Jean-Claude to save her. She kicked ass all on her own. 

Both Harold Gaynor and Dominga Salvador were in cahoots. Dominga raised one of Gaynor's ancestors but because they used to be a Necromancer it made him go all wonky and go on a killing rampage to satiate his craving for human flesh. It was an insane moment when the zombie started speaking to Anita and asking her to help him be put back in his grave. He never asked to be raised nor to become what he was. He did end up getting destroyed but not long afterwards Anita gets kidnapped and is forced to raise another of  Gaynor's ancestors. The problem with raising a a zombie that old is that a human sacrifice is needed. The only way to get Anita to comply was by Dominga doing a compulsion spell. But of course there are always loopholes. Anita ended up killing both Dominga's and Gaynor's bodyguards but not the intended target. Either way, the sacrifice was done and not only did she raise his ancestor but she raised every zombie in the graveyard and killed Gaynor and Dominga. Dominga might have been powerful but Anita outwitted her every step of the way. 

Rating:

I think it's pretty obvious the rating I'll be giving The Laughing Corpse 5 stars on 5! I absolutely loved it. I'm happy that Hamilton expanded more on Anita's abilities and to witness just how powerful she is. She not only stopped that creature made of human and animal parts that Dominga created but she was also able to raise a whole graveyard. Normally it's one human sacrifice for a really old zombie so the fact that she raised a whole graveyard of old zombies is a testament to how powerful she is. I wonder if her abilities will grow and we'll see her be able to control vampire seeing as how they are sort of dead. Hands down loved this book and definitely recommend for y'all to give this one a read!