"The older the zombie, the bigger the death needed to raise it."
1994 U.S. Paperback Cover		UK Cover 2000

After a few centuries, the only death "big enough" is a human sacrafice. I know, because I'm an animator. My name is Anita Blake.

Working for Animators, Inc., is just a job - like selling insurance. But all the money in the world wasn't enough for me to take on the particular job Harold Gaynor was offering.

Somebody else did though - a rouge animator. Now he's not just raising the dead....he's raising Hell.

And it's up to me to stop it.....

I felt bad. Itchy, grumpy, restless. I was mad at Harold Gaynor for victimizing Wanda. Mad at Wanda for allowing it. Angry with myself for not being able to do anything about it. I was pissed at the whole world tonight. I'd learned what Gaynor wanted me to do. And it didn't help a damn bit.

"There willk always be victims, Anita," Jean-Claude said. "Predators and prey, it is the way of the world."
I glared up at him. "I thought you couldn't read me anymore."
"I cannot read your mind or your thoughts, only your face and what I know of you."
I didn't want to know that Jean-Claude knew me that well. That intimately. "Go away, Jean-Claude, just go away."
"As you like ma petite," And just like that he was gone. A rush of wind and then nothing.
"Show off," I muttered.

2000 US Cover	Original UK Cover	2000 Russian Cover
2003 Hungarian Cover	2004 Polish Cover	2004 Turkish Cover
2005 US Trade paperback	2005 Spanish Cover	2006 Czech Cover
The Laughing Corpse Italian