It didn’t quite require the donning of tactical gear, but a couple of days ago I ventured into the latest Anita Blake book from Laurell K. Hamilton with more than a little trepidation. After all, her last few books in this series were so packed full of monster-sex that, while I wasn’t exactly squicked, I did feel as if a shower was in order, and not for healthy reasons, but because I felt unclean.

Books shouldn’t make you feel that way.

Happily, however, after about the first fifty pages, Blood Noir had an actual plot, actual character development, setup for a really really big upcoming big-bad, and, oh yes, a sex scene that took place off-camera.

I’ll be doing a real review of it over on Bibliotica.com later this week.

No, really.

Of course, even with a plot it’s still monster-porn.