Title: Affliction

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton

Series: Anita Blake #22

Genre: Urban Fantasy /  Horror

Release Date: July 2, 2013

The Overview: Micah is called back home by his estranged family, because his father, a county sheriff, has been attacked and is terribly injured. Anita and Nathaniel are going with him for moral support and to meet his family under very trying circumstances.
Micah has been estranged from his family for a decade, deliberately turning his back on them to protect them from the sadistic killer who once led his leopard pack. But now Micah’s father lies dying, rotting away inside from some strange ailment that has his doctors whispering about “zombie disease.” Anita—who understands zombies better than anyone—knows there’s more to it than that. While zombies have unlovable traits, being one doesn’t cause human beings to rot in agony. She needs to solve that mystery—but now a more immediate issue is pressing: Micah’s father may have only five days to live.

Nik’s Notes:

I am way behind in this series. Although I enjoy reading about Anita Blake and all the side characters, I feel as though the series as a whole took a major left turn after about book 6 or 7. They started out as vampire/werewolf horror stories then morphed into raunchy, sex-filled kill-people-in-horrible-ways-just-for-shock-value books. Even with that odd flip, I still enjoy the characters enough to keep reading, but I think they lost a little about what made them special. That said, I know an awful lot of people who didn’t mind the shift and devour her new books as soon as they hit the shelf. With that in mind, if you have yet to read the series, proceed at your own risk. :)

On a totally bizarre side note, I only just now noticed the piercing blue eye under HAMILTON on the cover. Now I’m a little creeped out (she’s staring at me).