Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

I can hardly believe this is the first Charlane Harris book I've reviewed here, but I pretty much read everything of hers I could get my hands on a couple of years ago, and this is her most recent Sookie Stackhouse novel, so the timing on when I started my blog might have kept her from appearing sooner.

I think I waited too long for this one to come in on request at my local library, and I probably should have bit the bullet and bought it to read sooner. I was really struggling trying to remember what had gone before in the series. Perhaps I'm going to have to perform a reboot and work my way through the series again, like I do with the Anita Blake and Dresden Files, and Honor Harrington, and... There used to be a fairly common preface in book series that got people caught up, but I think the custom has faded with time.

Sookie just has way too much on her plate, and too many plates to keep spinning some days. Her friend, Bill, is still suffering from silver poisoning from a Faerie bite. The were community is facing some new legislation that will require them to register as shifters, so the government can keep track of them (shades of Jewish persecution here, perhaps?). Her vamp boyfriend, Eric, is being targeted by one of the Vegas vampires who wants to take over his territory. Her witch-y friend, Amanda, is moving out of Sookie's house, while her faerie cousin, Claude, wants to move in. The FBI is trying to pin some crime, any crime, on her. Eric's maker and Master shows up unexpectedly, with a hopelessly insane "sibling" to deal with. Half her friends are pregnant, and the other half seem to be getting married. This book is very full of plots and sub-plots.

I need a scorecard.

If you've been following Sookie closely, you're going to love this one, as it wraps up a few of the story elements neatly, but still leaves plenty of good supernatural plots open for her next book.