Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris

On another recent road trip, my wife picked out this book by Charlaine Harris which we had both read before - a number of years ago when it first came out, so it wouldn't be completely familiar, but at least would provide some entertainment by an author we enjoy.

One of the things we noticed was that it seemed to take a long long time to get from one chapter to then next. I think we had nearly four hours of listening, and were only up to about Chapter 7 of the novel. Being read to really slows things down. Another thing we noticed was the preponderance of "bodice-ripping" romance that I'd never paid much attention to while reading Harris' Sookie stories before. Do we ordinarily just zoom through that while we're reading, getting to the action/adventure of the story?

We ran out of time on our trip just about the point where the action seemed to shift into gear, as Sookie travels to New Orleans with Mr. Cataliades (the demon lawyer) and Bill (her former lover) to go through the house which used to belong to her cousin Hadley (a murdered vampire), and from which  task forces unknown seem to be trying to stop her. As usual, multiple plot lines keep things interesting.

May have to re-read this series from the beginning some day.

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

 So, according to Charlaine Harris' website, this is supposed to be the last of the Southern Vampire novels about Sookie Stackhouse. I expected that she'd be left truly dead in a gutter at the end of the book, somehow, especially as her old enemies all begin to gather and head back to town, with vengeance in mind. But Harris seems to me to have left the door open at the end for Sookie to have a figurative, if not literal, resurrection, and have more profitable (for the author) adventures some day. Of course, you can't trust a popular character to remain safely dead (or undead) these days, just look at Harry Dresden, for example.

Sookie once again gets the opportunity, living in interesting times in Bon Temps, to find out who's really got her back, versus who's just waiting to plant a blade in it. She and Sam Merlotte, her former boss and now partner in the bar, struggle to figure out what their new roles are going to be, especially since Sam is trying to get used to being alive after his untimely demise in the last Sookie misadventure. Eric is hoping somehow to keep his love affair with Sookie alive, even if he has to divorce her and wed a vampire queen in a prearranged marriage, ordained by his master, Felipe. But Sookie isn't thrilled with the prospect of being his sub rosa mistress for what's left of her life, before Eric decides to "turn" her for her own good - and preserve her youthful beauty, of course.

In the midst of this, her old friend, Arlene, who betrayed Sookie and would have seen her literally crucified, gets out on bail and comes for a visit. Someone decides she's more useful to them dead, and frames Sookie for the murder, so she gets to model an orange jumpsuit for a while. But she gets more support from the community than she expected, and her supernatural allies rally to help her beat the rap, while they also must hunt down the true killers and figure out why our heroine is being targeted.

Unlike what you'd expect from the title, it doesn't wrap up tidily and happily ever after for Miss Stackhouse, but at least the current crop of criminals is disposed of for a time. I'd put the odds of a new novel in the series appearing within three to five years at better than even.

Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris

In Deadlocked, Harris once again skillfully weaves several plot conflicts together that Sookie must navigate without getting herself of any of her friends into more trouble than they already have. At the same time, various more mundane events proceed relatively smoothly, such as Tara and JB's baby's arrival, her brother, Jason's engagement, and Sookie's mental transition from employee to part owner of Merlotte's bar. Harris does a good job of reminding us all that in the midst of crises, life proceeds apace all around us.

The vampire King of Louisiana, Felipe de Castro, has arrived in Bon Temps ostensibly to get to the bottom of the disappearance of his lieutenant, whom Sookie and her allies disposed of in the last adventure. There are undertones, however, that indicate that Felipe knew what Victor was up to all along, and manipulated matters so that his ambitious ally would be destroyed when he crossed Eric, who is a much stronger vampire than indicated by his relatively humble position in the heirarchy.

The first big wrinkle in the fabric shows up at a party hosted by Eric when a blood donor is mysteriously murdered shortly after being kicked out of the house when Sookie arrives unexpectedly to catch Eric in the bedroom, drinking the girl's blood. Sookie and Bill have to figure out who actually killed the girl so that the human police's suspicions are directed away from Eric.

The fairies are restless, too. Claude's strip club seems to be staffed almost entirely by them, and he may be gathering them for purposes of his own. When he journeys with the fairy prince, Niall, back to the fae lands, Sookie's cousin Dermott is unable to keep them under control, and soon there are reports of strange animal killings in the nearby woods.

Sam's girlfriend, Janalyn, is jealous of Sookie, and keeps trying to find some way to discredit her with Sam. Since Janalyn is also the enforcer for Alcyde's pack, Sookie must take somewhat politcal approach to keeping her at bay.

And finally, the Queen of Louisiana's vampires pays Sookie a visit to tell her that she wants to take Eric as her consort, and that Eric's maker signed a contract allowing her to do so. This throws a huge monkey wrench in the middle of their relationship, and Sookie and Eric are forced to make choices about what they most truly love in the climax of this book.

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

I waited quite a while for this one to show up at the library. I believe I was 63rd on the request list. As always, Sookie is just trying to get along with everyone, working at Merlotte's bar, when someone decides to throw a Molotov cocktail through the window. She suspects it's a were of some sort, from observing the speed with which the missile was thrown, but no clues are readily available, and it goes into the hopper of mysteries to be solved.

Business has been slow at her friend, Sam's bar, and eventually we find out that a major cause of this is a new bar that's been opened up by Eric's nemesis, Victor, not too far away. Victor has also opened up a bar to compete with Fangtasia, and Eric's business is also feeling the pinch. Pam has a human lover who is dying of leukemia, and Victor, as regent of Louisiana is denying her permission to bring the woman over, so she won't die the final death. There's also some nasty little secret that Pam knows about Eric, and he is forcing her to remain silent about it with Sookie.

Sookie's faerie roommates, Claude and Dermot, are up to capers of their own, as well, which they aren't particularly forthcoming. Sookie discovers a letter from her grandmother in a secret compartment of an antique desk which reveals some secrets about her faerie blood. The remaining Van Pelt sister, who has a vendetta against Sookie, has gotten out of jail, and probably wants to kill her.

There's a ton of little threads here that Harris manages to tie together pretty well by the end, but there's really nothing all that exciting in this 11th installment. You might say that Sookie is "growing up", and geting a little more calloused to the violence going on around her, but I feel like the author has let her drift a little out of character, perhaps.

There's one scene where, after a bloody battle between the forces of good and evil, Eric is feeling, shall we say, "invigorated" by the bloodshed, and decides he wants to suck on Sookie's neck. Sookie is disgusted by the carnage, and tells him "No", but he grabs her and says "I will drink", and slurps away to his heart's content. This seems like a form of rape, to me, and I would think she should be more indignant about the whole deal, but she just lets it go. Even in a consensual bloodsucking relationship, doesn't No mean No?

Not top-notch, unfortunately.

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.