I hate leaving bad reviews. I love Anita Blake. I hated this book. It was at least twice as long as it needed to be. Like many of the more recent books in the series, there is a LOT of dialog about emotions and feelings and therapy and relationships. I applaud the inclusion of all of those deep dive topics, but not to the level that occurs in this book. There are conversations that are nearly the same thing that happen more than once. I hated nearly every one-shot character from the actual story of the book. There was no one to root for. I can't believe I actually finished it. Anita fans should feel free to skip this one.

Check out my five-star spoiler-free review at the link below! An excellent installment in this fan-favorite series! Laurell K Hamilton does it again!

Sucker Punch returns to the roots of of the series as Anita goes back to investigating a murder in a small town. The accused is Bobby Marchand - local boy and wereleopard who reads more as a victim than a killer. Not wanting to carry out a kill warrant on an innocent, Anita and fellow Marshalls Ted and Otto investigate, unearthing some deep anti-supernatural prejudices and family secrets that some would kill to protect.

I was very pleased with the change of direction for this series - the last few titles have been leaving the orgies behind in favor of plotted mysteries - which is what drew me to the first few books in this series. Although I have not seen some of my favorite characters in a while, the large cast makes it difficult to fit everyone in a single novel. If you are not familiar with the series/characters, Sucker Punch might not be the best place to start, but for fans of the early series, it is a bit like a homecoming.

Told in first person POV, 'Sucker Punch' finds U.S. Marshal Anita Blake flying to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for an emergency consult where time is running out on an execution order, and nothing is as it seems.

As Anita searches for answers and tries to figure out why nothing adds up, she's joined by Olaf and Edward who help as Anita races against the clock to try to find out who actually murdered a local billionaire, before they have to kill the leopard shifter they don't believe murdered his father.

With lots of twists, turns and betrayals, I feel like I should have been way more invested, but found the plot dragged until more than midway through, when it finally picked up, only to end pretty abruptly and without a satisfying ending (though I suppose one could argue Olaf gets a happy ending).

Contemporary, paranormal fantasy, with a twisty mystery that keeps the reader trying to unravel the mystery throughout.

2.5 stars

I stopped reading the Anita Blake series somewhere around book 12. For me, I felt the author made a total shift from the mystery/urban fantasy genre more towards erotic fantasy. It was something that did not interest me at that time. Sucker Punch gave me the opportunity to maybe enter the series again with some fresh eyes. I hoped that at that time Hamilton would move to a balance between the two genres. Unfortunately, I do not think that was the case in this book. Despite not reading more than half the series, I found that I was able to read this book a bit more objectively. The characters and dynamics were interesting, but I think Hamilton has moved from one extreme to the other in regards to the sexual content. I'm not sure if this is an effort to move her books and storylines in a new direction or appease fans that she alienated in the past. The story was okay, but I felt that a lot of great opportunities were missed in the plotline. I don't regret reading it but I probably wouldn't have read it if I had no previous experience with her writing.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read the latest installment in the Anita Blake series.

This is definitely a return to her previous style of detective work and investigation. Which was a welcome change. I hope she continues in this vein in the future!

This is such an odd book, I hardly know what to say or where to begin to critique it. There's hardly any time spent with fan-favorite characters, the pacing is terrible throughout, and Anita totally botches the mystery despite the solution being blindingly obvious. I can't imagine a single remaining fan of the series will enjoy this.

First off, can we talk about this cover? If this is a new art direction for the Anita Blake series I am all about it. The tools were ok, but a little too heavy on the horror side, and the original covers sometimes made me hesitant to read the books in public places (side note: don’t be). This one finally seems to strike the right gothic-paranormal-horror vibe.
Second, if you haven’t read any Anita Blake yet, I do not recommend you start with this, book 27 in the series. Go back and start at the beginning if you like the Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter, the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, the Nevernight Chronicle by Jay Kristoff or the Cassie Palmer series by Karen Chance.
Now to the content. I felt like Sucker Punch was a throwback novel in so many ways. It starts immediately with Anita on a case. There is no chapters-long introduction to each and every character, their status as human/vampire/shifter- ehhem, I mean therianthrope- and their relationship backstory to Anita. As a reader of past books, I might need a little refresher but not a full re-introduction to every person in Anita’s life (and you know there are a lot of them at this point). Twenty-six books of backstory is too much to try and catch readers up to. So. It was great not to have that.
The police work is the main plot and drives the story. Sucker Punch opens with Anita by herself, arriving in Michigan after being called as backup for another marshal. Yes, by herself on a plane. You know she loved that. But even deeper into the book, the cast of characters remains limited. Did that bother me? Not at all. It was a welcome change from some of the previous books, even though it meant not getting to see some of my favorite characters appear in this one. And for those of you who read Serpentine, don’t worry. That Sherlockian plot continues (*cackles evilly*).
I also got a chuckle out of the vocabulary struggles from some of our favorite preternatural branch marshals. It is no longer politically correct to say lycanthropy, because that implies wolf, and indicates a bias against all other shifter groups. The lesson here is to use inclusive language, which is something everyone should work towards, but I admit I found it funny to see this lesson applied to were-animals.
With the limited cast of characters, the amount of relationship drama is low, if you go by how many people that drama involves. It is deep, but not tedious. The relationship talk is sprinkled throughout the book, during car rides and over meals, instead of being one continuous scene that takes many chapters. I thought it was a more natural and more engaging way to read it. I stayed interested in the personal developments instead of being bored and wanting to throw things at the characters having these conversations. I thought Anita’s introspection was well done in this book. It fit with her character development arc and also the evolution of the story. Compared to previous books, Sucker Punch has less shooting and less sex, and reminded me more of the early books when Anita primarily raised zombies for a living. It also highlights certain threads that will clearly be brought up in future novels: the wedding, children, Anita’s job as a marshal, and her relationship with other marshals.
Overall I really enjoyed Sucker Punch. I think fans of the older Anita Blake will find it a refreshing palate cleanser and I am curious where the story will go next. A solid entry into a great series. 4 stars.


This review will be posted at https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/ in about 1 week.

Thanks to #netgalley and #BerkleyPublishing for the opportunity to read #SuckerPunch by Laurell K. Hamilton.
I've been reading the Anita Blake series for years. And this one was a good one. For the ones you have complaint in the past that the books were too sexual - then you will love this one because we are back to Anita and her fellow marshalls dealing with a case and trying to get the bad guy. If you haven't read the series from the start, please start there to you understand what's going on and why somethings are the way they are.
I did feel that there was a part of the storyline that just got tossed in and didn't really explain it. But overall this was a good book.

What a fantastical cast of characters. Anita Blake is a very unique character and her job is not just your typical job. If you love vampires and shapeshifters with everything in between and even way out of the box you love the books about her and her crew.

I would suggest starting at the beginning so you understand the characters better. Not sure how things could get more fantastical but they seem to every book. And I'll be looking for the next one.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book 27 in the series!! And the only read book I read was book 26!!
I don’t think you need to read the others, it stands alone pretty well, but you get the feeling some of the jokes or meanings are “in house” so if you’ve read them all, you’ll probably get them. And of course it explains her background and livers in more detail.

So .......
Anita is our main character in all the books. It’s told in her perspective (not a big fan, but it’s not a biggie)
We start with Anita getting off a tiny plane, not her idea of fun, but it gets her to her destination of Michigan.
She thinks it’s better not to get involved with the locals and the guy they have locked up. But chatting to him, Anita can’t distance herself, but is that a bad thing? She thinks he’s innocent, and the more time she spends poking around the small town, the more she’s convinced he didn’t do it. But if he didn’t do it, then who did? And why?

There is lots of technical jargon, some of it explained and some of it gets really explained (page filling? You do have to wonder) there is lots of internal monologue (some of it pretty funny) there is also the fact she’s seeing seven other people (from lovers, to fiancées) the group texting made me chuckle, her griping at the fact she needs to text and talk more to the people in her life. She doesn’t mind, but she does feel a little resentment at being told what to do! (Did we need to know that?)
She likes her weapons, there is lots of weapons, there is lots of talking about the weapons.

As we get further into the book, there are a few red herrings to try to catch you out, there are the usual suspects, but only one in jail. My money was on the family members that tried to rob their dead relative.
And what was with one of the deputies, chip on his shoulder or what!!
The marshal Anita teams up with is a great character, Marshal Newman is an old friend of hers, so it was great to read that interaction. The Sheriff in charge was a bit of an idiot, very singleminded and not open to change. It was fun to watch him squirm under Anita’s stare.

Oh and Anita is trying to get married.... she’s marrying Jean-Claude (a six hundred year old vampire) she’d marry Nathaniel and Micah if she could (shifters) but the alternate universe frowns on multiple people marrying!
Then we have Edward “Ted” not a sexual partner at all (In fact he got married in the last book and Anita was his “best man”)
And what about this Marshall Otto “Olaf” Jeffries?! Creepy guy if you ask me. It goes into a little detail, but I’m assuming there is past history there (don’t think sexual, but you never know with Anita)

So..... a murder mystery story basically.
Well written, very descriptive, and a fast paced read. I didn’t read any characters that didn’t seem unnecessary, they were all well thought out, and I grew to dislike a few of them.
We spend time getting to know the killer, and I really didn’t think he did it. But you’ll have to read it to find out😉
And I really liked it. The author drew me in and kept me there until I was done.


🦋

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this ARC- I have to say- I wasn’t sure about the storyline because I never read any of the other books and I went in blindsided.


I was a little confused- where I had to look up certain things from previous books- but Anita is on a mission to figure out a crime that was committed.

I’m not going to lie, since I went in not knowing much of the story line, I skimmed most of the book and had a hard time adjusting. I’m hoping to read the other books when I get a chance so I can have a feel of the story.

But- immortal forces are always great if you’re a big fan!

Number 2856 of the Anita Blake series has arrived! Didn’t add much of anything for the story line but it was an enjoyable read. Any Anita Blake book that has more of Edward and Olaf in it is a blessing. This is a new Olaf for readers, he’s learning about feelings in order to get into Anita’s pants. And I’m kinda for it because I think it would be hilarious if Olaf becomes one of Anita’s lovers as long as he doesn’t become tame. Anywho, Sucker Punch is about some mysterious murder that seems to already have its suspect in the bag but Anita is still called out on official Marshal business to check it out. Honestly, its more of side quest in this book. It really is all about Olaf and Anita.

While I really enjoyed the story and going back to Anita without the overwhelming amount of sex scenes I felt distracted by the mistakes in the book and disappointed that after an entire book focused on Olaf there was no real conclusion with him. I noted that in chapter 11 and 34 the amount of time the Marshall had been a cop went from 2 years to 4 and in chapter 28 Anita talks about her memory when she shifts, however that is a main character point that she doesn’t shift. It also felt like something was off with Edwards character, he didn’t portray himself like he has in other books especially with not sharing a reaction to possibly getting infected. There were just to many mistakes to completely enjoy the book Without being distracted However the story itself was Great.

I just gave Laurell K. Hamilton two stars. What is going on? I usually love LKH, but not this time. I felt like I was being dragged through mud. When I first started the Anita Blake series I was hooked. It had excellent plot, wonderful characters, and was overall just great storytelling. After awhile the series turned into porn with a sprinkling of plot and became incredibly repetitive.

But, I was holding out hope for this one because in her last few books she was getting back to basics; back to having plot. While this one did have a plot, it was put as a backdrop for Anita to constantly overanalyze every single person, place, or thing. I swear that if I had to read, "What do you mean? or What does that mean?" all defensively every two paragraphs again I would've thrown my kindle at the wall.

Never have I been so disinterested in an Anita Blake novel. This book could've been cut in half by just taking out the descriptions of the nurse's haircut, or how fluffy the pancakes were. There were pages dedicated to just plain unnecessary filler. While it was refreshing to not be bombarded with sex scene after sex scene, I sure could've used at least one to stave off the boredom. And yes, you read that right. There was not one single sex scene. That's pretty unheard of for Anita Blake.

I got through around forty percent of the book when I turned to my mother and sighed. I explained how it was going so slow, but that I was still holding out hope that it would pick up because Olaf and Edward were involved. I thought that maybe this would be the book where the culmination of Olaf's sociopathic tendencies being tempered by his pursuit of Anita would become too much. That he would finally break and force the long-awaited death match between the three that we've all been waiting for. But alas, no. Just Anita ping-ponging with her conscience about being scared, angry, worried, angry, horney, and you guessed it, angry.

Truthfully, I should've given this a one star rating, but somehow I still hold onto that thread of hope that the next book will be closer to her books in the beginning of the series. She's getting back to some plot, but it's a shadow of what it was, of what it could be. I'm too invested in this series to give up on it, but throw me a bone here. I want to like it.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for releasing this ARC to me in exchange for an honest review.

I've spent the last ten years complaining about Hamilton's tendency to digress and to over-explain situations that have absolutely no interest for me. But you know what? That's her style. You don't like it, don't read the books. However, Sucker Punch had less of that than what we have seen for the past decade and a lot more action (no sex!).

Sucker Punch is probably what a lot of fans have been waiting for actually. Anita leaves St. Louis to help out a fellow marshall who is conflicted about his execution warrant--he thinks that the accused is innocent. Anita is quickly brought to agree, and for the first time has to treat a case as a police officer would instead of an executioner or hunter. Though some of her beefcake comes along, mostly they're there for details. The big news is that things get so complicated between the locals and the legalities that both Edward and Olaf are brought in to help out.

Longtime readers of Hamilton will be thrilled with this installment to the Anita Blake series (unless they're just in it for the poly sex scenes), and I feel that even those of us who may have wandered away will find Sucker Punch a good reason to return.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.
I didn’t go in expecting greatness (or decency, or any kind of remotely positive term to describe it) from an Anita Blake novel. The series is far past “going downhill” and has steadily been at rock bottom for the last 15 books, at least.
The same issues with previous novels reoccur in Sucker Punch: the ridiculous explanations of each character and their extensive relationship to Anita any time they’re mentioned, focusing on irrelevant, skim-worthy details for several long paragraphs, repeating the same lines/ideas we’ve seen in previous books over and over again, the rampant misogyny Anita carries around with her and how she treats/describes any female character she comes in contact with, how Anita is 32 years old and still says the “I’m not like other girls, I’m one of the guys” which is frankly pitiful and laughable, but if you guys are still reading this series like I am, I shouldn’t need to continue.
This novel takes Anita to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to help with a US Marshal case. A were-leopard may or may not have been framed for the murder of his rich adopted father. We see Marshal Win Newman, and then Edward/Ted and Olaf/Otto. Anita is fighting the time limit of the execution warrant to try to discover the truth behind the murder.
I will say I’m surprised that there wasn’t A SINGLE SEX SCENE in the entirety of the novel. Not even a gratuitous emergency ardeur feed. Nothing.
With previous books having more sex than plot, I’m shocked and would usually consider that a good thing, but I’m disappointed to say that this book had no sex and no plot.
Most of the actual conflict and content of the book was Anita debating moral dilemmas with various characters: Newman, Olaf, Edward, etc. There was so much dialogue about all these emotional conflicts and truly nothing else happened in the novel. As with all other Anita Blake books, the concept and plot of the novel is forgotten for weird, irrelevant stuff (usually sex, but this time it was replaced with the morals) and only comes back to play in the last 5% of the book in a huge rush.
All the rest of this series is terrible, but Sucker Punch was truly so bad, so numbingly boring, that it had me wishing there were the gratuitous sex scenes.
In the overall arc of the series, I don’t think anything of importance happened in this book at all, so I’d recommend just skipping it. Consider me reading this and reviewing this a favor so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.

The latest Anita Blake book, Sucker Punch, takes Anita back to her roots. The series critics have been pleading for more police procedure and less monster loving, and it seems that Ms. Hamilton has listened. Anita has been called in to help a protege of hers with a tricky warrant he is handed. He doesn't believe the monster did what he is accused of and realized he is in a very grey area of law. It will take three of the four Horsemen of the apocalypse to solve this mystery.

The storyline was well though out. The action was highthroughout. Readers got a whole lot of some character favorites and the pages never got too steamy. This reader was left quite satisfied by Sucker Punch. Well done Laurell Hamilton. Well done.

I…don’t know what to do with this.

I’d stopped reading LKH a few years ago. At the time I stopped, the books felt like 20% plot and 80% icky sticky orgies. I was bored.

But when I was offered a chance to read this, I was curious. Maybe something had changed. Maybe Anita was back to being a monster hunter. I decided to give it a try.

Keeping in mind that I’ve been away from the series a while, and I’m really not aware of what’s happened in recent books, but this…is weird.

There’s no sex. Zip. Zero. None. There’s sexual tension, but no icky sticky. If you love the icky sticky, you may want to stay away from this one. If that’s what made you stop reading it, you may want to try again.

There’s an honest to goodness plot! LKH has given us a pretty solid murder mystery plot and I, while I figured out the *who* pretty early, I was invested in the *why*.

But…

You also have new PC terms for various types of shapeshifters and I was sooooo confused. I can’t even remember them now. My mind mentally stumbled every time Anita would talk about therio-somethings and ailu(um)-somethings and not-bipeds-but-something-similar-somethings.

You also have Olaf. Now, I kind of like Olaf in a makes-me-very-uncomfortable-to-admit kind of way. But Olaf in this book is…extra. Olaf (you know rapist sociopathic serial killer) + Anita might make you very uncomfortable in this book. And if it doesn’t, please stay over there and don’t come near me – ‘cause you kind of scare me.

I already mentioned the lack of sex, but you do have a very boring scene that feels about 10,000 pages long in which a bunch of character gather in a room and read off a laundry list of Anita’s sexual kinks. It’s a very unsexy scene.

I just don’t know who the book will appeal to. If you like the shifter sex shenanigans, you might be disappointed. If you like not thinking of rapists as hot, you might be disappointed.

Yeah, it’s just weird.

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

This! The latest Anita Blake book returns to form. Sucker Punch focuses on Anita investigating a crime and the flaws inherent in the preternatural warrant system. While relationship discussions occur, they aren't the main focus of the book which is welcome relief from previous books in the series that were endless rounds of group sex and BDSM play.

A murder's been committed, the local police have arrested the only local were and a warrant's been issued for his execution. But the marshal with the warrant doesn't believe that the jailed were is guilty. With time counting down to the execution, Anita gets called in to assist with the investigation.

This was small town politics, classism, politics and what greed does to people wrapped around a murder. We get to see badass Anita handle things with her usual take no prisoners approach. What's nice to see is that LKH shows how therapy is helping Anita cope wit her issues. Her go to solution isn't to have a "whose gun is bigger?" contest with other men on the investigation as it has been in the past.

Even creepy Olaf/Otto has been allowed to grow into something other than a psychopath.

It was enjoyable to read a mystery which didn't require Anita to use sex to solve it. While Jean Claude, Micah, and Nathaniel were mentioned, none made an actual appearance so no recreational boinking either. Just some serious smooching.

If you've taken a break from the series, pick up Sucker Punch for a return to the good old days. Fan of urban fantasy mysteries but you've never tried the series, start at the beginning with Guilty Pleasures and enjoy the ride.

This book was a reminder about why I fell in love with the series.