3 * 5 for a shared sense

Volume 19 of the Anita Blake adventures, this new book, frankly, leaves me a bittersweet taste. After "Harlequin", renewed interest was pushing me to continue the series in the hope that it continues in this way. "Black Blood" had stoutly resisted through the main role occupied by Jason. From "Fauves Games» I had retained one thing: someone decided to blow the Mother of All Darkness. As for "Flirt", consider it as an entertaining interlude introducing a new lion in the game. In "Fire Picks" at first, I could have sworn that the story would turn around tigers: they arrived in St. Louis, how Anita and his men would choose, how Hamilton would go about integrating the knit group living in this city, after all, to defeat the incarnation of darkness, so do not go with the back of the spoon.

I actually découperais this volume into three parts. During the first 170 pages, it piques our curiosity. Our Asher he would prepare something that will upset the small world of Anita? Then everything falls like a bellows few chapters later. Richard who hates his horse and men. Richard, who had abandoned them to face Harlequins and had nearly raped Anita in "Black Blood". Well, thanks to a magic wand, our Ulfric temperamental turns into nice tame wolf that does what we ask. Uh, you know, change is a bit brutal, fast and easy. Thank you to Belle Morte and Beastmaster to put a little spice in this slow start.
The second part of almost 200 pages focusing on someone we have not seen for a long time. The positive point was a bit of action and the promise of a more interesting end. The downside: Anita. Remove me a doubt, this is not the first time she kills in cold blood. She even resorted to torture to find the family of Richard. So why, after 18 volumes, he takes 200 pages to move on? He was not even someone she loved!
And finally, we laboriously reaches the last part, the most interesting and of course the shortest: the arrival of the tigers. Phew, we just wait for the next volume failed to see this. Similarly Ulfric our brand new, we are obliged to note that Anita has also made a 180 ° turn. Sleep with a woman? no problem. Watching his men sleep with another woman? why not. Watching two men? no worries. Again, I have the feeling of having missed a step in the development of the characters. Please note, that does not bother me that the sex scenes are diversifying. Loved the passage with Jade and Domino, we just went from a slow road to a complete metamorphosis in one leap. However, good point for tigers even if we had not much time to enjoy it.

In the end, even if I end on a positive note, I sincerely regret the great loss of time and sudden changes of some. For several volumes we are always hearing with the tigers. Finally back in St. Louis, I think they deserved a more prominent place, as the murderers and the small plan Asher. We were so focused on the clothes of the characters that moved away of their choice or their struggle. A small internal rebound within the community of St. Louis would not unworthy. More, perhaps, but not buying the new book.