• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• List Price: $7.99 US/$9.99 CDN
• Publisher: Pocket; (December 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439137293
• ISBN-13: 978-1439137291

Buy Beneath The Skin at: 

• Chapters/Indigo
• Amazon
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CHAOS CONTROLS HIS FUTURE. ONE MORTAL WOMAN COULD BE HIS SALVATION. THE COUNTDOWN TO ANNIHILATION WILL BEGIN WITH DANTE’S CHOICE….

The dark pieces of vampire rock star Dante Baptiste’s past are violently emerging, and it is only a matter of time before the Fallen discover he is the creawdwr they have sought for thousands of years. The destruction he left behind in Oregon threatens to reveal his identity as Fallen Maker and True Blood, exposing the young nightkind to shadowy predators — mortal and supernatural — who will do whatever it takes to win his favor…or destroy him. 

When beautiful FBI special agent Heather Wallace went AWOL on assignment, she chose irresistible Dante over the shady government forces that now stalk them both. Heather has her own secrets of the past to uncover, but she is also the only one who can hold her nightkind lover together when his dangerous quest for the truth threatens to send him over the edge. And as she and Dante fight for their survival, she realizes they must work together to protect their future — before his mysterious destiny tears them apart…

I am a huge fan of Adrian Phoenix and her Dante series, but this book just didn’t do it for me. To sum it up, after the events of last book (In The Blood) Heather, Von and Annie try to get Dante back to his home in New Orleans, whilst trying to save his life from various different “people” and trying to help him keep his sanity.

This book is NOT a stand alone, you must read the previous two books before you’ll have any idea what is going on. That said, within the first 100 pages there were SIXTEEN different characters. I know because I had to take a piece of paper and write down names and occupations. Seriously. I will list them for you, just so you have an idea of the character list. I am missing a few too.

1. Dante Prejean/Baptise/S
2. Heather Wallace
3. Von
4. Annie Wallace
5. Brisa Rodriguez
6. Mr. Dion
7. Emmett Thibodaux
8. Merri Goodnight
9. Sam Gilliespie
10. Caterina Cortini
11. Celeste Underwood
12. Agent Holmes
13. Agent Miklowitz
14. Monica Rutgers
15. The Morningstar
16. Gabriel
17. Lucien
18. Renata Cortini
19. Giovanni Cortini
20. Hekate
21. Trey
22. Silver
23. Simone

Now the ones in bold have a major part in the book, which sometimes makes it  difficult to figure out since it switches between POV throughout the book. There’s the Shadow Branch, The Fallen, The Vamps, The FBI all after Dante, most have bad intentions on our hero. On top of it, Dante is loosing his grip with reality so the book switches between here and now to past events. At the starting of the book is a glossary, ruh roh. Cajun and Italian have major roles in the book, so I found myself flipping to the front so often, I contemplated cutting out the glossary so I wouldn’t have to keep flipping back to the front.

I am sad to say that the plot-line just wasn’t clear enough, with the constantly shift POV’s, the language changes and the overabundance of characters, it was just to hard to follow and it made it un-enjoyable. Even though I really love the main characters, I just couldn’t take all the extras that made it muddy. I was disappointed with the ending as well, it was so sudden and cleared nothing up. I really wish most of the extra characters had been edited out which would have made the book flow better. Thankfully Dante’s attitude is still intact and he carries the best parts of the book with his middle finger held high.