One Grave at a Time: Night Huntress, Book 6

I first discovered Bones and Cat in a anthology I only bought because it promised a new (but lame) Sookie Stackhouse story. Otherwise, I can't stand anthologies. But long after forcing myself to finish that one, I was hooked on Cat and Bones and their dynamic relationship. In the short story, they had long been together and were well-over the pithy jealousies and annoying stuff that happens in early relationships. In the short story, they already had their own language and killer banter at that. And so it is with this novel.Readers who show up for the snogging might feel that author Jeaniene Frost is remiss in delivering enough of those scenes although there are quite a few instances (including a snog-fest in the sky that makes you wonder what Superman and Lois were doing all those times...) that should keep them satisfied enough. No worries. As Charlaine Harris says, "Cat and Bones are [still] combustible together."We've done vampires. We've done ghouls. And since Cat inheriting Marie's ghoul/ghostly powers in the last installment, we've not got a mad-as-hell killer German poltergeist who used to murder used to hunt down "so-called" witches and do a lot of nasty things to them BEFORE burning them alive. Unfortunately, he's much stronger than your everyday ghost and once a year, he becomes corporeal on Halloween and gets to do his nasty things again. In the meantime, the rest of the year, he delights in driving women crazy and finding a man to act as his conduit to help him with the bodies. Yikes! I was really impressed with the villain this time around.The only problem is...how do you kill a ghost/poltergeist/madman? Even if you and your hubby are badass vampires who get to have thwarted every Big Bad to get in your way, this one presents quite a predicament for Cat and Bones and their fun friends, who as usual get involved.Oh yeah, there's also that pesky plot line about Don's replacement. He's a jerk called Madigan who likes to tune out Bones and Cat's mindreading powers by senselessly repeating rhymes in his head. He has a prejudice against vampires, even ones like Bones and Cat who have proven themselves time and time again to have helped the US government by saving so many lives. Madigan quickly demotes Tate for being a vamp and while his plot line worms its way throughout the book, the emphasis is really on the poltergeist thankfully since Madigan is an annoying villain at best. Though I understood the need for continuity with Cat's old job, I found the Madigan storyline to be incredibly pesky, which I'm guessing was the point so it could lead into further books.I read a lot of series fiction and there's always some book that portends the downfall of the series where you wish the writer had just stopped writing the series a long time ago. Frost has not reached that point in the Night Huntress series. She has managed to keep the characters and their stories fresh and alive (well, undead?). The story moves quickly and smoothly. It grabs your attention and doesn't let go from the get-go. The action scenes are still exciting and the villains still make your skin crawl. But more importantly, you still want to follow Cat and Bones to the ends of the Earth.This is #6 of 9 and I will be really sad in three books to have the series come to a close.

One Grave at a Time by Jeaniene FrostNight Huntress series #6. Paranormal romance / urban fantasy. Best read in series order.A witch hunter comes alive each All Hallows Eve and kills innocent women. Cat, with her ghost abilities still intact, hunts the killer down for a more permanent death this time. But alive, his skills and strength may be more than Cat and Bones can handle.Haunting and compelling. Cat is definitely looking out for the underdog but there is always evil to contend with. Friends are the best supporters and many show up to help in this story.It’s a great addition to the series with this a bit more of an urban fantasy feel.

4 stars - It was really goodCat and Bones are back and this time they are hunting a ghost who is on a witch hunt. This was an interesting story because it is about ghosts and doesn’t involve any vampire politics, which is a first for this series.This was a very fascinating ghost hunt. Hemrich Kramer was a witch hunter and while he is a ghost, on Halloween he is able to take physical form and kill. Cat is determined to stop him and save the women he targets. Kramer was a very interesting villain because for a lot of the book he was incorporal but he was powerful enough to do damage to Cat and Bones, they just couldn’t do anything to him.I enjoyed this story a lot but I did have one issue with it. I was disappointed that we didn't get to see the final containment of Kramer. The battle was interesting and I really enjoyed seeing Cat and Bones take Kramer down, but I want to see the actual ritual aspect of how they bound him to.Cat and Bones' relationship just keeps getting strong with every book. They really trust each other now and I love how supportive they are of each other. Spade and Denise are also a part of this book, which I was very excited about. I love how Denise seems to have embraced her demon side and really is getting creative with the shifting aspect of it. I also found Tyler, the medium that is helping them, a wonderful side character. He was flirty, fun, and had a wonderful sense of humor. I also love how he was always hitting on the guys.There were also a lot of changes that were happening at the compound now that Cat’s uncle Don had passed. This caused a lot of people to be unhappy, especially Tate. It will be interesting to see what happens with it in the next book.Overall, this was a fun book. I enjoyed everything that happened and really can’t wait to see what the last book will bring for Cat and Bones.Trigger Warnings: attempted rape, stalking, witch burnings, death of pets, mental and physical abuse

In this latest instalment Cat Bones and their friends go head to head with a vengeful psychotic poltergeist who every Halloween manifests solid his goal to reap his evil intents on those he claims are witches. There’s also trouble brewing with the special supernatural task-force with Cat’s uncle now gone and currently hanging around as a ghost it leaves them ripe for a hostile takeover and the new head of operations definitely has an unhealthy interest in Cat.This one was fast-paced and an entertaining read. We do get a lot of Bones and Cat here and I adore their intense connection together. This also includes all of the usual side characters and I wasn’t once bored. Another good addition to the series that I enjoyed a lot.

A Witch hunter obsessed beyond the grave. A poltergeist who surfaces only on Halloween to torment and torture his victims. A vampire bent on justice on the cruelty and the unfairness to his victims.This time Cat is on the hunt for a witch hunter. An evasive one at that. He manages to elude her at e every single turn, but she is determined to obtain justice and twart his cruelty.Cat, being a vampire has her own qualities and power. Her husband Bones, fights along right beside her.It's non stop action. There is suspense right through. The battle of good over evil is that follows is brutal, but in the end good prevails. A very enjoyable read for paranormal fans.

Please note that as this review is for book 6 in the Night Huntress series it will contain spoilers for previous books, it is however spoiler free for One Grave at a Time. If you've ever read any of my reviews for the earlier books in this series you'll now what a massive fan I am of Jeaniene Frost so I could not wait to get my hands on this book. In fact as soon as it arrived I put everything else to one side and got stuck straight into reading it. I just can't get enough of Cat, Bones and the world that Jeaniene has created, it's going to be a long wait until I get my hands on the next installment!One Grave at a Time was one of my favourite books in the series so far, Cat and Bones have faced many different kinds of enemies before but this time there is a very real chance that they won't be able to win. Heinrich Kramer was a witch hunter who tortured innocent women before having them burnt at the stake (this is a real historical character which makes him even more terrifying). Since his death he has become a powerful ghost, one who can take a physical form for one day a year and who does this with the sole purpose of killing more innocent victims. How can you kill someone who is already dead? This is the question that Cat and Bones are going to have to try and find an answer to but it won't be easy. The story is so fast paced and full of action, Heinrich is the most evil characters they have faced and with his poltergeist abilities he makes for a scary opponent. Even when he has no physical form he is able to attack Cat & Bones and there is little they can do to defend themselves.I loved the fact that we get appearances from Spade, Denise & Ian, Denise definitely kicks ass in this one and I was cheering her on from the sidelines. We also get more of Ian's trademark snarky humor and I really hope we get to see him as the hero of his own book at some point in the future. Interesting things are afoot with Cat's old unit - since the death of her uncle Don in the last book the unit has been taken over by Madigan who obviously has some kind of predjudice against vampires and Cat in particular. We still haven't found out what his motives are and I have a feeling he'll be causing them all even more problems in the future.They are so busy dealing with threats that there isn't as much time for Cat and Bones to spend together as a couple but there are still some really sweet (and sexy) moments between them. They have come through so much and had a lot of problems in the past so it is nice to see that their relationship is much more stable now. Bones has also developed a new ability that I'm looking forward to finding out more about in the future - I forsee it having interesting implications for their future bedroom antics. Talking about (not quite) bedroom antics I'm just going to say the words "Mile High Club" and leave it at that - you have to read the book for that alone!So the long wait for One Grave at a Time was well worth it and has left me incredible excited not only for the next installment in Cat & Bones' story but also for Vlad's spin off series. If you haven't discovered these books yet what are you waiting for - put a copy of Halfway to the Grave at the top of your buy list - and if you are already a fan of the series you don't want to wait to pick up this installment.

Being such a huge Jeaniene Frost, I automatically bought this book without putting much thought into it. Why would I? I loved her books! But reading as many books as I do, sometimes I only have a hazy memory of what happened in the previous book. This was the case with This Side of the Grave, I couldn't remember too much of what happened, so before I opened One Grave at a Time, I reread my review of the previous book. Which reminded me that I found the last book a little disappointing. There was a "Oh no!" moment, worrying that this book might go along the same route, but I pushed it aside. Different book, different story, no reason why it should be disappointing. And it wa a lot better than the previous one!I know I've said it before, but authors really do amaze me with the plots they come up with. Seriously, a murderous ghost who's already dead, so you can't kill him? That's just clever! What was also pretty cool was the fact that the ghost, Heinrich Kramer was actually a real person way back when. An actual witch hunter, who not only murdere innocent women at the stake, but tortured them into confessing - if they didn't, they were burned, because they were obviously lying; if they did, they were burned, because they're a witch - and raped them. Nice guy, huh? And that's what makes this book so awesome, and much more credible; its villain actually existed, but not only that, he existed and was truely evil. We already hate him for who he was, so we're already rooting for this guy to get whatever Cat and Bones throw at him. It just intensifies when the character is brough to life in the pages, and we see what Frost has made him into now. Ooooh, do we want him to get it!But how on earth can you fight someone you can't touch? To make things worse, this someone has poltergeist powers, so can throw things - like, say, silver knives. Aimed at your heart. It's just genius! Cat and Bones have no idea what they're supposed to do. And even when they do come up with a plan, they have no idea if it's going to work because it's never been done before. This all adds to brilliant action scenes, because there's very little they can do to stop him, but a lot of damage they can do to him. And time's a-ticking when on Halloween, Kramer will be flesh again, and will torture, rape, and burn the innocent women he has chosen as targets. They have to stop him! And the action scenes once Kramer has a body? Dear god, it's horrific!Despite all that, there were some areas that seemed lacking for me. There was less humour, less emotion, less romance between Cat and Bones, and so on. The key word here is "less"; it's not gone completely, but it's almost like Frost has taken a step back. The emotional depth that was so strong in previous books where I felt like I could cry is kind of shallow in this book. I guess that could be because with such a deadline of only a few weeks to try and find a way to stop him, to find his accomplice who's going to grab the targets for him, find out who the targets are to keep them safe, and live when Kramer is throwing things at you at every opportunity, all before 31st October, there's little time to waste on emotion, you've just got to push it aside and do.However, there was a brilliant moment when Bones had to force Cat to realise this may be one time when they don't win, and that she would have to let it go if they couldn't stop him. With Cat being such a fiercely strong woman, the idea of giving up, of allowing Kramer to kill innocent women every single year for all eternity, because they simply couldn't stop him, is just completely abhorrent to her. But it's a strong possibility. It was a great moment!There are some things that are left to be continued in the following books, such as the fact that Don is now a ghost after his heart attack in the previous book, and Cat is having trouble finding him a way to cross over. And an arrogant git with a superiority complex, Madigan, has taken over Cat's old team, who's going to cause all kinds of trouble, but has an ulterior motive behind it all. It seems it's ultimately to make Cat's life hell, but he's keeping his cards close to his chest.Over all, a pretty awesome book! Just so clever! Not quite on par with some of Frost's previous books, but still amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next. Frost's next release will be Once Burned, the first book in the Night Prince series, set in the same world as all Frost's others, but starring Vlad! Once Burned is due to be released on 27th March 2012.

Whilst book five was slightly disappointing because of a distinct lack of raw connection with Cat and Bones, book six - One Grave at a Time - puts the series back on form.Once again, Cat and Bones are up against yet another cunning enemy, this time in the form of Kramer - a powerful ghost, disillusioned writer of the historic Malleus Maleficarum, and cruel, twisted rapist and murderer. He has haunted the plane of the living for years, yet annually, on Halloween, he has the ability to cross over into a corporeal form, allowing for his centuries-old ritual of the torture and burning of women, under the archaic system of witch-hunting.Of all of the villains in this series so far, I enjoyed reading this one the most - perhaps because of my own interests surrounding the witch trials and the unspeakable history of the crimes against those women.Cat, as always, puts her own (undead) life on the line to hunt down this madman, in yet another lightning joyride from Jeaniene Frost.http://www.shonamoyce.com/2015/03/book-review-one-grave-at-time-night.html