"Death didn't bother me much. Strong Christian and all that. Method of
death did. Being eaten alive. One of my top three ways not to go out."
-Anita Blake
Laurell K Hamilton's The Laughing Corpse is the second book in the Anita Blake series and it also has a comic book series based on it. Anita survived the events of the first books, but her troubles are far from over. She still has to deal with vampires that refuse to leave her alone, and now she has problems stemming from her job and animator abilities. To top off all of that, she's once more involved with a murder investigation that is hard to crack. Anita manages to juggle everything that comes her way and survive it with a mix of her wits, allies, and trusty guns.
“I decided not to answer on the grounds that I might piss someone off.”
-Anita Blake
Like the first book, Anita's humor and wry observations make the book for me. She is constantly quipping about the people around her and the situations she finds herself in no matter how bad it is. And Laurell K continues to build her world in interesting and engaging ways. Everything that had to do with zombies was awesomeness personified as she got the perfect mixture of creepy, horrifying, and sympathetic. The vampire issues were also great because Anita, unlike so many other heroines, refuses to just roll over and let Jean Claude, now the master vampire of the city, have his way with her and their back and forth play was fun to read. Anita also grows as a character in terms of abilities and views on the world.
"Hope is a lying bitch."
-Anita Blake
Another great thing about this book is that it could be read as a stand alone. Yes, the experience would be richer if you read Guilty Pleasures first, but you don't have to in order to understand and enjoy The Laughing Corpse. And while it has the same elements as the first book, vampires and the crime case, it does not come across as formulaic like some series do.
Overall, this book is one of my favorites of the series. The vaundun priestess Dominga Salvadore was an arresting character and great foreshadowing for Anita. Edward doesn't show up, but Anita is badass enough on her own, taking out people in a variety of ways. And although she tolerates Jean-Claude more than she did before, I loved the fact that never once did it seem to be a given that they would get together. Jean-Claude tries one of the typical 'force you into loving/belonging with me' type gesture which is very popular in urban fantasy and Anita does her best to get out of it. I supported this fully because Jean-Claude is one of my least favorite characters and I had no desire to see Anita end up with him.
“Stupidity isn't punishable by death. If it was, there would be a hell of a population drop.”
-Anita Blake 
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