The Harlequin
Book 15, Anita Blake series
Laurell K. Hamilton,

The Harlequin's warning to Anita Blake is presented in a gift box, left where she'll be sure to find it. Inside, carefully wrapped in folds of pristine tissue paper, is a white mask, utterly plain. The fact that it's white, Jean-Claude tells her, is the good news. White means they are only being watched.
The flow of power that connects Anita Blake with Jean-Claude, vampire Master of the City, and with Richard, Ulfric of the werewolves, has been growing and changing, increasing exponentially. Their power seems to have attracted attention, and it's a kind of attention no one would desire. Jean-Claude and Richard need to be strong allies now. Nathaniel and Micah need to give all their love and aid. And Anita will need to call on Edward, whose utterly human ruthlessness in her defense makes him the right man for the job.
Anita Blake has the authority to pass judgement on vampires. The Harlequin have the authority to pass judgment on her. It is forbidden to speak of the Harlequin unless you've been contacted.
And to be contacted by the Harlequin is to be under sentence of death.

Finally! A plot! A plot that goes beyond the usual bizarro-sex! This is the first Anita Blake novel in quite some time that I have truly enjoyed.

Yes, there is the supernatural sex. Yes, Anita adds on to the list of her loves yet again. But, the sex has finally become either entwined with or secondary to the main plot. The plot in this novel is that even though the Harlequin have sent both Anita and Jean-Claude a white mask (white means you are being observed, red means pain, black means death), they are not only messing with Anita and her friends, but trying to kill them as well.

I also love the fact that Edward comes back in this novel (the fact that Olaf is with him again also helps). I don't know why, but in the novels that Edward is in, the sex seems to always take a back seat to the plot.

As with all of these novels, this one was well written, descriptive, and had well fleshed out characters. The fact that there was a real plot throughout the book made me enjoy it much more than the other ones and therefore, this will be getting four snails. I would recommend it, as long as you have read the rest of the series (otherwise this novel will make no sense) and as long as you know that while there is a good plot here, the supernatural sex is still included.

My rating: Four out of five snails.