Author | Laurell K. Hamilton |
---|---|
Cover artist | Craig White (US editions) |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter |
Genre | mystery, horror, Erotic novel |
Publisher | Berkley Books (Berkley edition) |
Publication date | 2003 (Berkley edition) |
Media type | Print (Paperback) |
Pages | 405 (Berkley edition) |
ISBN | 0-425-18836-1 (Berkley edition) |
OCLC | 51150692 |
813/.54 21 | |
LC Class | PS3558.A443357 C4 2003 |
Preceded by | Narcissus in Chains |
Followed by | Incubus Dreams |
Cerulean Sins is a horror/mystery/erotica novel by American writer Laurell K. Hamilton, the eleventh book in the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter.
Cerulean Sins continues the adventures of Anita Blake. In this novel, Anita continues to try to bring some order to her personal life, while simultaneously confronting a power play by Jean-Claude's vampire master, Belle Morte and attempting to solve a series of brutal killings by an unidentified shapeshifter. As with the other later novels in the series, Cerulean Sins blends elements of supernatural, detective, and erotic fiction.
The meaning of the title is not apparent, but may refer at least in part to the sheets in Jean-Claude's bed, which Anita refers to several times as cerulean blue in this novel, and to the activities that occur in that bed.
May also refer to Asher's eyes, which Anita describe as cerulean blue, seeing as the novel has a very Asher-oriented plotline.
It was suggested by Laurell K. Hamilton that Cerulean Sins was the name of another of Jean-Claude's businesses, a store dealing in lingerie and other 'adult' products. However, this was deemed too racy for the books and eliminated before publishing.
Cerulean Sins features the following major characters.
Recurring characters include:
Non-recurring characters include: Two werewolves that were used to track the rapist who was an alpha werewolf from a different country.
The death toll in Cerulean Sins includes: Four murder victims, three women and one man. The man was running from something and his death was a message for others who had tried to hide. The other three were unrelated but by the same bad guy who died in the end after Anita received an execution order for him. He had slaughtered the three women, reduced them to handfuls of meat and other body parts, essentially painting the wall with their blood. (2 police officers also die while trying to apprehend the suspect)
Power struggles are central to this novel, and at this point Anita has become an equal power to the Vampire Council, as discussed in a comparison of the series to Buffy the Vampire Slayer by media scholar Kevin Durand.[1] Durand argues that the power imbalance between men and women in earlier novels, where Anita is still gaining new powers and learning to deal with new responsibilities, is now equalised.[1]