WARNING: this review discusses aspects of the book "Crimson Death" that may be triggering to survivors of rape and sexual abuse. So proceed with caution... and do not read the book. 
 Forget pride -- optimism is what goes before a fall. After hearing that Laurell K. Hamilton's latest book was going through the editing wringer, I actually began to hope that we might get at least a passable book. Not a great one, but at least readable. 
 Alas, my optimism was unwarranted. Not only is "Crimson Death" a truly, brain-meltingly awful Anita Blake book, it may actually be the worst Anita Blake book that Hamilton has written yet. It may not be the most plotless or the slowest, but this long tedious slog combines all the worst aspects of Hamilton's writing like some kind of bad-urban-fantasy Voltron -- as well as the most horrifyingly offensive subplot that I have ever read. 
 One thing to note is that this book is actually more like two loosely-linked books, with 90% of the tedious relationship stuff dumped in the first half of the book, and 95% of the tedious, slow-moving thriller stuff in the second half. In the first half, Damian is having bloody night sweats and horrible nightmares, and (like everything else) it can only be cured by getting in bed with Anita and Nathaniel. After a particularly bad nightmare, their otherwise-useless little tri suddenly gets a massive power-up. Also, there's other personal drama -- Nathaniel wants a baby, Cynric wants JC to bonk him, and so on. 
 Meanwhile, Edward gets the Irish Gardai to reluctantly invite Anita to Ireland, because vampires have started attacking there for the first time ever... except not, since Damien's former master Moroven has lived there for centuries. Anita immediately butts heads with the Gardai and Edward's military buddy Nolan (since annoying people is her specialty), and begins investigating the local fairies and selkie populace as she tries to figure out whether Moroven is responsible for all this. Spoiler: she actually never actually accomplishes anything, and only makes life harder for the Gardai. 
 "Crimson Death" has all the qualities you would expect from LKH's awful books -- it has all the relationship melodrama (in-fighting, neediness, misogyny, whining, trashing Asher and Richard), and then it has the bad thriller elements (misogyny, the token "hater" cop, gun fetishization, Anita horning in on investigations with her thug squad). All of that, and more, are here. But there is one thing that sets this book apart from her other books:(view spoiler)[ the rape. 
 Simply put, there is a scene early in the book when Nathaniel develops new vampire-like mind-control powers... and promptly date-rapes Anita and Damian. While it's dismissed as accidental, he shows no remorse or horror at what he's done, only smug glee that he forced a straight man to have sex with him despite Damian's unwillingness to do so. To reinforce that he is a raping monster, Nathaniel tries to deliberately rape Anita a few scenes later, using his new powers. The most horrifying aspect of this subplot is that Hamilton never treats it as what it is -- instead she has Jean-Claude congratulate a smug Nathaniel for his power-up, while one of Nathaniel's victims listens. 
 Furthermore, Hamilton's ghastly justifications for the rape are nothing short of stomach-turning, since many of them are eerily similar to real-life rapists' justifications. Even worse, this is only one of THREE rape-related scenes -- it's also revealed that Damian has raped women, and Nathaniel argues that Edward's sexually-maladjusted, traumatized stepson (who was revealed to have raped girls in a previous book) is expressing perfectly normal sexual attitudes. 
 As if that wasn't bad enough, Hamilton's entire book is riddled with horrifying attitudes that may make readers goggle in disbelief. For instance, bisexual men are depicted as sexual predators who constantly try to seduce straight men, and Damian is raped into bisexuality after previously being heterosexual. 
 (hide spoiler)] 
 These would be a reeking, oozing stain even on the best book ever written, and "Crimson Death" is not that book. The book oozes by at the speed of frozen honey, with Anita spending half the book simply sitting around having relationship drama with her dozens of men and women (and occasionally beating someone senseless or threatening to kill them). The plot technically starts at exactly the halfway point -- but unfortunately it's just as slow-moving, and riddled with poorly-written red herrings, plot holes and Anita failing at everything she tries. Most of the story is crammed into the last few chapters, which end abruptly and without much resolution. 
 Anita is her usual self in this book -- violent, obnoxious, petty, jealous and persistently hypocritical, picking fights with anyone who doesn't immediately change their thoughts to mirror hers. She also spends a lot of time trashing the Gardai for trying to save lives and not having enough guns, and at one point goes off about the evils of antidepressants (which Hamilton claims "[fry] a brain that works just fine until it stops working") like a devout Scientologist. 
 But the worst character by far is Nathaniel. After about twenty books, Hamilton seems determined to make people see Nathaniel as a force to be reckoned with. Aside from Anita screaming at anyone who doesn't respect him,(view spoiler)[ Hamilton accomplishes by giving him new superpowers, which he uses to rape and bully people. The only good thing about this character is a scene where a vampire "disfigures" him, which is so melodramatic and excessive that it becomes hilarious. (hide spoiler)] 
 "Crimson Death" is not just a turgidly loathsome book, but a downright offensive one that attempts to defend and justify rape. As a result it's not just boring and horribly-written, but left me feeling dirty and drained as if I had been drowning in a peat bog.