Kiss the Dead centers on U.S. MarshalAnita Blake as she attempts to sort through her ever increasingly complicatedpersonal life while dealing with a vampire that is breaking both vampire and human laws by turning underage teens and children into the undead. Meanwhile Anita also has to deal with the fragileego of the ancient vampire Asher, whose jealous behavior threatens the physical and emotional well-being of all around him.
Reception
Critical reception to Kiss the Dead has been mixed to positive, with Publishers Weeklywriting that there's "nothing here that Hamilton hasn’t done already, but there’s enough to sustain readers until Anita’s next escapade." TheSt. Louis Post-Dispatchpraised the book, citing the "heart-stopping climax" as a highlight. News.com.au called Kiss the Dead the "literary version of comfort food" and "a fun ride for the most part". ScienceFiction.com stated that the novel was "the best offering in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series I’ve seen in a while" but that the repetition of phrases and character descriptions "could have been better". Romantic Times gave Kiss the Deadtwo stars, writing that the book felt "unbalanced and unfocused".