Jason’s dad is dying – he has to go home to try and make
amends. And make sure his dad knows how very straight he is.
Unfortunately, a case of mistaken identity gets him and
Anita drawn into far more drama than expected. And with the Mother of All
Darkness popping up at random to play with Anita, some drama is always going to
follow Anita around.
Oh lordy, this one’s a doosey, even by the standards set
by this series. Cover me, I’m going in.
The book opens with a heavy wollop of ridiculousness.
Jason is sad. He is doubly sad. One, the girl he likes/loves/is in a
relationship with has dumped him because she wants to be monogamous (how dare
she). Two, his dad is dying of cancer
Anita and Nathaniel deal with this by having a threesome
with Jason. Of course they do. I mean, when one of your best friends says “my
dad is dying” it’s perfect natural to have sex with them, right?
Also because Perdy (Jason’s ex who is female and near one
of Anita’s love interests so is obviously EVIL) is the worst person at sex EVER
(unlike Anita) and so boring and pedestrian and limited (unlike Anita – though you
may prefer Perdy if you prefer your lovers not to shred your skin to the bone
with their nails and not to shriek like a chainsawed banshee while having a seizure
at orgasm. You may find these things not sexy. In fact Perdy is so boring in
bed she is “killing his soul.” No, really, your lover not wanting to be polygamous
and have sex on the television is soul killing). So they decide to really go to
town – by having sex not in a bed and using Velcro cuffs (OH HOW VERY
NAUGHTY!). If this is your definition of edgy kink then you are more vanilla
than an ice cream truck. This stands out as especially ridiculous because one
of the many many many many oh-gods-so-many angst moments in this book is how
desperate Nathaniel was for someone to push his kinky buttons… and this is it?
This is the opening scene and in addition to be
especially ridiculous even for an Anita Blake novel contained all of the long
standing Anita Blake stalwarts – long windedness, angst, ridiculous description
and even when Jason is describing his issues having to take time out to calm
down Anita’s ruffled feathers.
Right with that due warning of the ridiculousness within let
us delve into the plot. This won’t take long. Jason wants Anita to go with him
to see his dying dad (I’ll get back to why in a bit), this is a moment that
will be used in a later book with Micah. In both cases Anita actually spends
almost no time at all on the grieving loved one and dying relative (Jason
actually begs her not to go chasing issues so he can actually focus on his
family for five minutes). Unfortunately, Jason looks EXACTLY LIKE another guy
who is up to all kinds of naughty shenanigans and is also son of a US presidential
candidate who is in town to get married. Hijinks ensue. And by “hijinks” I mean
lots of complaining at said candidates security/press detail, before some
actual action tucked in at the very end of the book when it turns out said
shenanigans are dangerous (and ridiculous).
This is a plot line that your average soap would look at
and say “no, this is far too ludicrous.”
