'Dead Ever After' Sookie Stackhouse, #13 by Charlaine Harris

From the BLURB:

There are secrets in the town of Bon Temps, ones that threaten those closest to Sookie—and could destroy her heart...

Sookie Stackhouse finds it easy to turn down the request of former barmaid Arlene when she wants her job back at Merlotte’s. After all, Arlene tried to have Sookie killed. But her relationship with Eric Northman is not so clearcut. He and his vampires are keeping their distance…and a cold silence. And when Sookie learns the reason why, she is devastated.

Then a shocking murder rocks Bon Temps, and Sookie is arrested for the crime.

But the evidence against Sookie is weak, and she makes bail. Investigating the killing, she’ll learn that what passes for truth in Bon Temps is only a convenient lie. What passes for justice is more spilled blood. And what passes for love is never enough...

‘Dead Ever After’ was the 13^th and final book in Charlaine Harris’s popular paranormal romance series; ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ which was adapted into the now concluded HBO TV series, ‘True Blood’.

So, ‘Dead Ever After’ came out in 2013 but I’ve only just managed to read this final book in one of my most beloved series from favourite author, Charaine Harris. Why so long? Well to be honest, I developed a bit of fatigue around this series. Twelfth book ‘Deadlocked’ left me seriously underwhelmed, and I was just never in the right headspace to bid farewell to beloved waitress Sookie Stackhouse, and read the conclusion to her colourful life. I thought perhaps the finale season of the HBO adaptation ‘True Blood’ in 2014 would ignite my curiosity to read how things wrapped up in Harris’s very different book series … but like many fans, I’d also grown weary of ‘True Blood’ by the end and was seriously underwhelmed by that finale. 

Instead I took my time coming to this conclusion. Prompted by my re-watching DVDs of ‘True Blood’, and so enjoying the earlier seasons that hinged closer to Harris’s, world I found myself curious about the fictional waitress who first stepped out in 2001 book ‘Dead Until Dark’, and how her life ended up … though I had my suspicions (first put forth in my review of ‘Deadlocked’) and unsurprisingly confirmed by all the online spoiler chatter when ‘Dead Ever After’ came out to much fan ire and disappointment.

Look, ‘Dead Ever After’ does feel a bit like a Variety Special ending. There’s a whodunit that draws in several shady individuals from Sookie’s past, and prompts many of her strongest allies to descend on her little house to help her figure out who’s trying to get her thrown into jail. I was especially surprised to see weretiger Quinn coming to Sookie’s aid and getting a bit of page-time, only because I’ve always been annoyed that he departed the series and Sookie’s love life so suddenly and without much preamble (but I do suspect this was Harris getting him ready for appearances in then forthcoming series ‘Midnight, Texas’).

The book therefore has the rather transparent feel of a ‘Best Of’, as various characters (some of whom we haven’t seen since book #7) come out of the woodwork … and of course those human and supernatural friends are there to reiterate Sookie’s connection to the living world, to the daylight – hence the other side to this coin is the absence of some of the series’ favourite vampiric characters.

Eric hasn’t been himself since he won Sookie’s heart. He just hasn’t – gone was the charming lechery, the blunt flirting and the delicious push-pull of his affection for Sookie versus his vampiric nature. And given the fact that Charlaine Harris had long dispelled fan speculation about vampire-human babies, and Sookie’s want for a family of her own has always been so strong – she and Eric were doomed from the start, a more interesting flirtation than relationship that withers and dies in spectacularly dull fashion here in ‘Dead Ever After’.

As I sat on the front porch with a glass of iced tea, I examined myself to see if my heart was broken. I was so emotionally exhausted, I couldn’t tell. As I saw it, maybe melodramatically, Eric and I were struggling with the chains of the love that had bound us together, and it didn’t seem we could either break free of those chains or resume them.
 

This is perhaps the biggest disappointment of the book – that one of Harris’s most beloved and colourful characters was allowed to become so mundane and predictable. I can only hope that she has a short story or ‘Midnight, Texas’ appearance in store for him in the future, to reclaim some of his – what Sookie refers to as, – ‘joie de morte’ that definitely petered out over the drawn-out course of the ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ series.

But otherwise I did kind of enjoy this finale book. I know many people complained about a lacklustre ending (mostly tied to the lack of Eric, and his muted nature in the scenes he does appear in), but I thought the mystery was decent (if a little overwrought) and I liked how changed Sookie is in this book from the first. She’s a little more bloodthirsty and headstrong, not so quick to comfort those who have made mistakes and just generally feels like a different woman (something I’d expect after 13 books).

Regarding Sookie’s final romance … look, I wish this had been pulled out a lot earlier, maybe at around book #10 to start really teasing out Sookie’s final happy ending and because I do genuinely think the coupling is a good one that makes a lot of sense, I’d have actually liked to read them play out a little more than the bare-tasting we get in this finale. That being said – I’m good with where Sookie ended up. And I’m good with the final book, and thoroughly enjoyed reading new (to me) words from Charlaine Harris, who has an indelible style;

“’Maybe’ is such a bad word,” I said. “You can ‘maybe’ yourself back to Adam and Eve and the serpent.”

This series isn’t my favourite of Charlaine Harris’s (‘Lily Bard’ and ‘Aurora Teagarden’ rank higher for me, followed by ‘Harper Connelly’) but I have enjoyed reading it since 2007 and have serious respect for how long Harris kept things interesting. I read the coda book ‘After Dead’ (which, yes, is awful and I won’t say anymore about it), but I was really touched by this note at the end from Harris that put Sookie into perspective;

In real-life terms, my daughter was in the first grade when I began; she graduated from college as the series ended. 

Sookie was my best fictional friend for a long time. I lived almost as much in Bon Temps as I lived in the real world, and my protagonist and her life were never far from me.

‘Dead Ever After’ was not a perfect finale, but then again the last few books in the series haven’t lent themselves to high expectations … that being said, I was good with where Sookie ended up, even as I wished to have read her settled a little earlier in the series and for longer. I’m glad I finally caught up in this series, that I got a chance to say ‘see ya later’ to Ms Stackhouse; so much more than a waitress.

3/5

'Deadlocked' Sookie Stackhouse #12 by Charlaine Harris

From the BLURB:


Sookie has a murder investigation on her hands. A young girl has died at a vampire party - and it looks as though her lover, Eric, might be responsible. Eric swears he didn't do it, the police don't believe him, and even Sookie isn't so sure. Nor is she inclined to take his word for it, not having caught him enjoying the victim's blood minutes before she was killed. But something strange is going on. Why had Sookie been asked to come to the fateful party a few minutes early - just to catch Eric in the act? And why had the victim spiked her blood before approaching Eric? Was it simply because she wanted to be irresistible, or was it something more sinister? Sookie will have to find out . . . but it's the worst moment to investigate, as her Fae family are having troubles of their own and Sookie is, inevitably, drawn in. And there is one last complication. The cluviel dor her grandmother left her. It will grant her one wish, which could fulfil Sookie's heart's desire. The only problem is, she still doesn't know what - or who - her heart truly desires . . .

** Warning - this review contains spoilers of all previous 'Sookie Stackhouse' books, especially 'Dead Reckoning' ** 

Wherever Sookie Stackhouse is, trouble is sure to follow. And that old adage is still holding true. . .


Felipe de Castro, Vampire King of Louisiana, is in town investigating the disappearance of his second-in-command, Victor. Little does he know that Sookie, Eric, Pam and Bill are all too well aware that Victor is dead, by their own hands, and they could all face a harsh rebuke for their actions.


Still, Eric must put on a cordial face and expects his wife and various employees to do the same. Things are doubly complicated since Eric’s arranged marriage to Vampire Queen, Freyda, is still on the cards and in Felipe’s hands. But while Eric is entertaining Felipe and some out-of-town vampires, Sookie walks in on him giving special entertainment to a half and half werewolf girl who stinks of fae and has a mind full of money. Suspecting foul play, Sookie rallies her emotions, but is doubly-shocked when the same girl is found dead and the police are called.


Meanwhile, Sookie’s great-grandfather Niall has returned and is curious as to why Sookie’s  cousin Claude and great-uncle Dermot are living under her roof. Something is happening in faery, and Niall takes Claude to the realm to investigate. . . leaving Sookie with a mess of problems at home, one of which is the ‘gift’ of a cluviel dor, a present from Fintan that will grant Sookie one wish.


‘Deadlocked’ is the twelfth book in Charlaine Harris’s best-selling ‘Sookie Stackhouse: Southern Vampire’ paranormal mystery series.


I’m pretty patient with the ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ series. I first started reading it in 2007 and since then I have really enjoyed Harris’s supernatural rollercoaster. In that time, I have also read Harris’s (completed) series; ‘Aurora Teagarden’, ‘Lily Bard’ and ‘Harper Connelly’ – gaining great reading satisfaction from those serial books that all came to conclusion. But I've got to admit, twelve books into Sookie’s story and Harris’s longest running series is starting to show some wear and tear . . .  none more so than ‘Deadlocked’.


I’m reading ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ with Harris’s other books in mind. ‘Aurora Teagarden’, ‘Lily Bard’ and ‘Harper Connelly’ all had definite time lines and conclusions, and are all finished now. So I have some idea, based on the trajectory of those series’s and their endings, how Harris wraps things up (nothing conclusive, of course, just a general writer theme, I suppose). And in all those books, the heroine’s love predicament has been a focus – though none have had such a rollercoaster ride as Ms Stackhouse (between Bill Compton, Alcide Herveaux, Quinn the blink-and-you’ll-miss-his-disappearance-tiger to the once beloved Eric Northman). Sookie has definitely been through the emotional ringer. So much so, I think, that it’s getting to the point where fans want to see her settled and with a sliver of contentment in her romantic life. Fans may have rejoiced when she finally took the big, blonde Viking for her own, but then Charlaine Harris went and threw Freyda into the works . . . 


Quite a lot happened in the eleventh instalment, ‘Dead Reckoning’ – and the biggest revelation of that book was that Eric Northman’s maker, Appius Livius Ocella, was in the process of negotiating Eric as consort to a Vampire Queen called Freyda before he died . . .  an arrangement which is still ‘in the works’, despite Appius’s demise. Curious then, that when ‘Deadlocked’ begins it takes a good, long time for anyone to really mention where Eric stands on the marriage front (and even longer for Freyda to make an appearance). There are hints, when Sookie constantly laments her neither here nor there relationship status with Eric (who still calls her “his wife”, but hasn’t been around lately).


I feel like the stakes (har-har) concerning Eric and Sookie were meant to be high in this book – a real will-he-or-won’t-he? Will Eric go against his very vampiric, scheming, power-hungry nature and choose plain old human Sookie over the all-powerful Vampire Queen, Freyda? Or will Eric pull the old ‘frog and the scorpion’ and claim it’s just “in his nature” and choose the path of consort? Once upon a time, I think fans would have been dutifully invested and nail-bitten about that very conundrum – back when there was still a heady sense of destiny and sexiness surrounding Sookie and Eric. Now? Not so much.


It’s safe to say that Eric and Sookie getting together was built up more in fan’s minds than what has come across on the page. There was far more satisfaction in the chase, and once Sookie declared her love for Eric (and Eric kept up his stoic, robotic “I love you”) I think a lot of fans flagged. Gone was the snarky repertoire and Eric’s lascivious pursuing of the young Ms Stackhouse . . . in its place is a strange vampire marriage of no real consequence and in the case of ‘Deadlocked’ absolutely no happy-nudey-shenanigans (that’s right folks, it’s just like a real marriage! – Eric and Sookie don’t have sex in ‘Deadlocked’. At all. Zilch. Nada. Nothing). Sookie thinks a lot about whether or not Eric will choose Freyda – but isn’t really all that sad, it seems. She’s actually kind of resolute that Eric will most likely choose the path of more power. And if her mind ever veers towards a ‘woe is me, Eric won’t choose me’ thinking, she quickly squashes the thought. And for that reason, fans aren’t made to be terribly sad at the prospect of no more Sookie and Eric. Actually, while reading ‘Deadlocked’ I was kind of hoping that Charlaine would just put a bullet in them and end the protracted misery.


I remember in one of the Sookie books, at a rare point when Sookie was unattached, hadn’t yet met Quinn but still felt the sting of Bill’s betrayal; she just sunk down onto her kitchen floor one day and cried. And I thought that was the *best* scene Charlaine could have written. Because it was *exactly* what I was vicariously feeling – I just thought ‘if it were me, I'd have a bit of a cry’ and then Sookie did exactly that and I applauded her that moment of weakness. In ‘Deadlocked’, Sookie is kind of on emotional autopilot about the whole Eric situation . . .  and as a result, Sookie’s disconnection to the situation anesthetises readers too. I just didn’t care that much, to be honest.


And that pretty much sums up the entirety of ‘Deadlocked’ for me. It was very much a book going through the motions, to the point where there’s even a tongue-in-cheek scene depicting what everyone’s thinking;

“We came to wish you a happy day,” Eric said. “And I suppose, as usual, Bill will want to express his undying love that surpasses my love, as he’ll tell you – Pam will want to say something sarcastic and nearly painful, while reminding you that she loves you, too.”

Pretty much.


It’s not even that Sookie doesn’t seem to care so much about where she and Eric are heading. It’s also that Eric is . . . not what he used to be. All fans know that Eric was set up as the ultimate anti-hero. He’s the bad boy, with flashes of sincerity and honesty and glimmers of reform. In ‘Deadlocked’, he’s just kind of a douche. And I honestly can’t figure out of it’s a deliberate character assassination on Harris’s part, trying to bring Northman down a peg or two in fan’s minds? Aside from the fact that there are no sexy times (often in these scenes Eric would reveal his softer side, and they provided some of the most memorable Team Eric moments) but it was general demeanour throughout ‘Deadlocked’. At one stage Sookie shows her jealous side, and Eric is astonished, proclaiming “I have never fucked another woman since I took you to wife” – to which Sookie rightfully wonders what little sexual indiscretions that glosses over? At another point Sookie has just gone through another near-miss scare, only to come home and find Bill and Eric waiting for her. She tells them both to leave so she can have a moment to herself, and Eric replies, with a pout; “I want to stay with you and make love to you at length.” I really have a sneaking suspicion that Harris is trying to wean fans off the Eric bandwagon, to counteract fans previous expectations of him with this more flawed (and far less sexy) transformation.


And then there’s a scene, line or exchange of dialogue that lets me know it’s not so much Charlaine Harris who is weakening as writer, but the ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ series that is losing its lustre. Sometimes Harris’s writing just bowls me over, and I remember that ‘oh, yeah, this is why I read everything she writes!’ Like this juicy morsel; an exchange between police officer, Kenya, about her sister India, who works at Merlotte’s with Sookie;

“Half sister. Yeah, our mother would get out the map when we were born,” Kenya said, kind of daring me to find that amusing. “She named us after places she wanted to go. My big brother’s name is Spain. I got a younger one named Cairo.”
“She didn’t stick to countries.”
“No, she threw in a few cities for good measure. She thought the word ‘Egypt’ was ‘too chewy.’ That’s a direct quote.”

An exchange like that has me hungering for Ms Harris to deviate from Sookie Stackhouse – to start a brand new series, preferably a non-supernatural one (‘Lily Bard’ is still her best, in my opinion).


Don’t even get me started on the fairy storyline . . .  just when I thought Naill & Co were dead and gone, Harris insists on resurrecting them. Again. It’s like she keeps writing the fairy storyline hoping for better, more interesting results – but it ain’t gonna happen. The fae in the ‘Sookie Stackhoue’ world are dull, dull, dull. Nobody likes them (they even suck in ‘True Blood’! Not even Alan Ball could make them cool!). Here’s hoping that ‘Deadlocked’ is their once-and-for-all death.


I was really happy back in 2009 when Charlaine Harris announced that she was contracted for three more ‘Sookie’ books, taking the series to 13. I don’t know if this contract still stands – since Harris’s website now has a fairly cryptic response regarding how many books she is contracted for (“I am not finished with the series. I don’t know how many more books I will write about Sookie.”) I'd hate to think that Harris would just keep writing so long as the cheques keep coming – because ‘Deadlocked’, for me, clearly highlights that this series has to be on its last legs. Fans cannot keep being strung along Sookie’s tumultuous, never-ending, no-happiness-in-sight love life. Sookie turns 28 in this book, and I can’t fathom fans holding on to reading about Sookie dating vampires when she starts creeping closer and closer to her ticking biological clock . . .  which leads to another annoyance in ‘Deadlocked’.


Everyone in this book, and I mean EVERYONE (secondary characters you can’t even remember from previous books!) is having babies and getting married in ‘Deadlocked’. Everyone, except Sookie. Way to hit fans over the head with an anvil, Ms Harris. And this, again, makes Sookie’s situation with Eric that little bit less heartfelt. Because Sookie (and fans, courtesy Harris’s anvil of subtlety) knows that Sookie is starting to notice all the things she won’t be able to have if she keeps dating vampires. So, is the idea of her and Eric breaking up really so bad when she’s noticing the babies she’s not having, not to mention a life devoid of violence? Sookie says it herself;

I was tired of crises, tired of deceit, tired of life-or-death situations. I felt like a stone skipped across a pond, longing only to sink to the anonymous bottom.

Yet another hint, I think, that Eric and Sookie are not meant to be and Harris is (slowly, painfully, dully) writing their wrap-up. Of course, that leaves the big question of who is Sookie’s HEA (happily ever after). After ‘Deadlocked’, I’m even wondering if Harris is going to go all girl-power and not give Sookie a HEA in the form of a man. That’d be okay, I guess, if Harris did it well . . .  but I'd still want some sort of resolution about Sookie’s yearning for a family of her own. I have, for the last few books now, suspected Sam Merlotte would be who Sookie ends up with. But after reading them in ‘Deadlocked’, I’m edging towards the theory that if they do end up together, it would be for convenience rather than romance. And that would just be plain sad for Ms Stackhouse.


As this series starts winding up, I find myself hoping for a new character to enter Sookie’s life. I actually wouldn’t mind having a curveball HEA come in and shake things up. Either way, I just want this series to have an end in sight now. Not because I don’t love it, but because I love it so much that I don’t want to start resenting the long, drawn out, lack-lustre limping along that so many other writers insists on (I’m looking at you, Laurell K Hamilton!). ‘Deadlocked’ highlighted for me how far we’ve come with Sookie, but also that the end needs to be in sight if everything that has come before is to have any kind of meaning or substance.


2/5

'Dead Reckoning' Sookie Stackhouse: Southern Vampre #11 by Charlaine Harris

From the BLURB:

With her knack for being in trouble's way, Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area. But Sookie suspects otherwise and she and Sam work together to uncover the culprit - and the twisted motive for the attack. But her attention is divided.

Though she can't 'read' vampires, Sookie knows her lover Eric Northman and his 'child' Pam well - and she realises that they are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, she is drawn into the plot -which is much more complicated than she knows. Caught up in the politics of the vampire world, Sookie will learn that she is as much of a pawn as any ordinary human - and that there is a new Queen on the board. . .

** Major SPOILERS for ‘Sookie’ books
1 – 10 and minor SPOILERS of ‘Dead Reckoning’ **

‘Dead Reckoning’ is the 11th book in Charlaine Harris’s hugely popular ‘Sookie Stackhouse: Southern Vampire’ series.

Things are almost normal at the Stackhouse residence. Sookie has gained two faerie housemates in her cousin Claude and great-uncle Dermot. Their presence is a healing balm in the aftermath of the vicious fae war . . .

Meanwhile, Merlotte’s is suffering in the wake of the Were ‘reveal’. Residents of Bon Temps are wary of their old watering hole and its shapeshifting owner. One night the bar is firebombed and both Sookie and Sam suspect more danger to come, in the form of an old foe.

But Sookie already has her hands full. Her vampire lover and husband, Eric Northman, is fighting with his second-in-command, Pam. Sookie has never seen Eric and Pam at odds, and it alerts her to the real troubles in Louisiana now that Victor is in charge. Sookie must be smart about these vampire games – she wants to protect those she loves, but putting herself in the middle could get her killed. . .

Rolling in the Deep

Charlaine Harris’s ‘Sookie’ novels have been getting progressively darker as Sookie herself gets deeper and deeper into supernatural politics. The ninth book, ‘Dead and Gone’ has been the darkest by far (complete with kidnapping and mutilation). I am happy to report that ‘Reckoning’ isn’t on-par with that disturbing darkness, but Harris continues the trend of writing Sookie between a rock and a hard place.

In this book I really felt Sookie’s isolation. She has her hand in a lot of local politics – regarding both the Louisiana vampire population and the changing attitudes towards local shifters since their ‘outing’. Sookie’s close-quarters living with her two fae family also means she is being slowly drawn into the faerie world once again – and learning about her family’s fae history. Sookie most certainly has her hands full with all her obligations and allegiances. But in ‘Reckoning’ it becomes clear that Sookie herself is very secluded, she has very few people she is totally honest with, and even less to confide in. ‘Reckoning’ really highlighted for me that characters in the ‘Southern Vampire’ series travel in packs and clans – but Sookie is one of a kind and all alone. She’s not quite human, too little fae, lover and friend to vamps and were’s, but not really a part of them.

Harris is contracted for two more ‘Sookie’ books before she concludes the series, for good and forever. With that in mind I do believe that Sookie’s need to fit in will be a big exploration in future books. Because in ‘Reckoning’ Sookie is slowly starting to realize that she has been compromising herself more and more in order to ‘fit in’ where she doesn’t necessarily belong. I look forward to reading how Sookie reconciles this, and how she finds her place.

First Love

Bill fans will be very happy with ‘Reckoning’. I won’t give anything away, except to say that there is some vintage Bill in this book and it’s good to have him back.

Likewise, Alcide Hervaux fans will be somewhat disgruntled. For those of you who have been wishing and hoping that the Shrevport Packmaster would get his chance with Sookie . . . I've only got to say, don’t hold your breath. There’s a little scene in ‘Reckoning’ that has been a long time coming (ever since Alcide turned into a total douche-bag after becoming Packmaster!). This scene felt good to read, as though Sookie had been biting her tongue for a long time and Harris finally let her speak her mind. You go girl!

‘Reckoning’ gives Pam a fantastic storyline. I won’t give anything away, but I do hope the makers of ‘True Blood’ incorporate this character plot into the TV show!

There’s also a great cameo appearance in ‘Reckoning’ by two characters from Harris’s other mystery series, ‘Lily Bard’. That’s right – Lily and Jack Leeds are back and it’s nice to read them still continuing their happily-ever-after (even if Sookie throws a minor spanner in their works).

Best for Last

Fans are prepared for Eric and Sookie not to get their happily-ever-after together. We know this, because Charlaine Harris has dropped some pretty heavy-handed hints. She has wink-wink, nudge-nudged that Sookie hasn’t met her HEA yet (i.e.: Eric ain't it).

While reading ‘Reckoning’ I kept looking for hints in every new male character to enter Sookie’s life. I am eager to learn who Sookie’s soul mate will be (if not Eric) and I am desperate for us to meet him sooner than the last book in the series.

Because I suspect Eric and Sookie aren’t going to last, it is bittersweet to read them in ‘Reckoning’. Yes, they are still in love in this book and there is a happy-yahoo scene of sexiness. But at the end of the day it reads like Harris is stalling . . .

Make You Feel My Love

It feels like Harris is foreshadowing Eric and Sookie’s eventual demise. If that is the case, then I almost wish that Harris would treat it like a band-aid and rip it right off . . . but realistically fans wouldn’t be happy if Harris didn’t write a believable ending to one of popular fiction’s most beloved couples.

“But you tell me everything, my lover, don’t you?” he asked teasingly.

I glared at him and didn’t answer.

That wasn’t what Eric had expected. “You don’t?” he asked, and I couldn’t figure out everything that was in his voice. Disappointment, concern, a touch of anger . . . and a dash of excitement. That was a lot to pack into a couple of words, but I swear it was all there. “That’s an unexpected twist,” he murmured. “And yet, we say we love each other.”

“We say we do.” I agreed. “And I do love you, but I'm beginning to see that being in love doesn’t mean sharing as much as I thought we would.”

Chasing Pavements

It does feel as though Harris has written ‘Reckoning’ with an end-game in mind. Stories are set-up, cliffhangers are dangling and the end does feel to be just around the corner . . . heck, even Sookie can feel something big on the horizon;

I had that panicky feeling; it hadn't taken me over yet, but it was just around the corner, physically and mentally. You know that feeling? When you think any second your heart’s going to start pounding, that your breathing is picking up, that your palms will start sweating.

Knowing that there are two books left, and realizing that Harris has a few ideas about how it all ends makes ‘Reckoning’ quite satisfying. Yes, there are some uncomfortable truths and steep cliffhangers. But I look forward to what Charlaine Harris has in store for our girl Sookie. Above all else I want to know who her HEA is, and I want to see her fit in and feel a sense of belonging - because she deserves that much. Fans have been with Sookie for eleven books now and she’s still as ballsy, beautiful and brave as ever before. She deserves a little slice of happiness; however and with whomever it comes . . . so I can’t wait to read her get it in the next two books!

5/5

'Dead in the Family' Sookie Stackhouse #10 by Charlaine HARRIS

From the BLURB:

If you think your family relationships are complicated, think again: you haven't seen anything like the ones in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sookie Stackhouse is dealing with a whole host of family problems, ranging from herown kin (a non-human fairy and a telepathic second cousin) demanding a placein her life, to her lover Eric's vampire sire, an ancient being who arriveswith Eric's 'brother' in tow at a most inopportune moment. And Sookie'stracking down a distant relation of her ailing neighbour (and ex), VampireBill Compton. In addition to the multitude of family issues complicating herlife, the werewolf pack of Shreveport has asked Sookie for a special favour,and since Sookie is an obliging young woman, she agrees. But this favour forthe wolves has dire results for Sookie, who is still recovering from thetrauma of her abduction during the Fairy War.

So, this is another review where my thoughts were so scattered in the wake of reading that I had to use sub-headings. The following review is pretty spoiler-free if you haven't yet read 'Dead in the Family' - but there are **SPOILERS** if you haven't read books 1 - 9.

Sookie VS. Fan Expectation

I love Charlaine Harris, and I especially love her ‘Southern Vampire; Sookie Stackhouse’ series. I discovered these books around the same time that I read the first ‘Twilight’. After reading ‘Dead Until Dark’, the ‘Sookie’ series became one of my all-time favourites and I have remained a loyal fan for five years now.

I do love these books, but I wasn’t overly impressed with book #8 ‘From Dead to Worse’ or book #9 ‘Dead and Gone’. My lack-lustre response wasn’t to do with Ms. Harris’s writing so much as my own expectations. It’s an unfortunate by-product of fan-bases that when so many people love your work, those people think they have the right to predict and dictate the trajectory of that work.

Charlaine Harris commented on such fall-out when ‘Dead and Gone’ came out last year – when she realized that a lot of fan criticism of her ninth book was less to do with the story, and more to do with unmet expectations.

I completely agree with Charlaine Harris that her work is her own and fans can certainly state their opinions, but to feel that they are ‘entitled’ to certain outcomes is outlandish and insulting. But I am one of those fans who go into the ‘Sookie’ books with a sort of ‘wish-list’ and can’t help but be somewhat miffed when my anticipations aren’t met.

But I really tried to reverse that logic when I started ‘Dead in the Family’. I firmly believe my dislike of ‘Dead and Gone’ was my own fault, so I went into this tenth book with no expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised.

Eric/Sookie

I was a really big Sookie/Eric fan, pretty much from Eric’s first appearance in ‘Dead Until Dark’. My obsession reached fever pitch in ‘Dead to the World’ (and *that* shower scene) but 10 books in my love affair with their love affair is cooling… and I have a few theories why.

Sookie and Eric have always had great chemistry and sexual tension out the wazoo. But since cementing their relationship in ‘Dead and Gone’ and now playing vampiric husband and wife in ‘Dead in the Family’… its become obvious to me that part of the reason they worked so well was that tension, the ‘chase’, so to speak. Sookie always tried so hard to deny her feelings for Eric. Meanwhile, Eric worked hard to get into Sookie’s pants while trying to decipher his unprecedented interest in her. The ‘will they or won’t they’ aspect leant a lot of heat to their romance. And I find myself missing that in ‘Dead in the Family’.

But I’m a bit shame-faced because I griped and grumbled about the lack of Sookie/Eric goodness in ‘Dead and Gone’. Now I’m griping and grumbling about the Sookie/Eric goodness in ‘Dead in the Family’. My bad – I’m a fickle fan.

I firmly believe that while Sookie and Eric are the fan favourite couple, Eric is not who Sookie will ultimately end up with. Call them the Dawson & Joey of Bon Temps (though I was always more of a Pacey fan myself). I found Sookie and Eric’s relationship to be quite odd in ‘Dead in the Family’. There’s a lot of emphasis on both Sookie and Eric saying ‘I love you’ to each other – and Sookie admits that she doesn’t say it to Eric very often, but she can’t quite figure out why. Eric, for his part, says those three little words but without really knowing what they mean. He clarifies by saying that he loves having sex with Sookie, and he thinks about her all the time etc, etc – but his inhumanity bars him from really, truly grasping the concept. For me, Sookie and Eric feel a little hollow. But that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy their loved up scenes;

“Jump,” Eric said, holding out his hands and smiling. I laughed. I took a running start, and leaped. Eric caught me, his hands clamped around my waist. He lifted me up until my head touched the ceiling. Then he lowered me for a kiss. I wrapped my legs around his torso, my arms around his neck. We were lost in each other for a long moment

Pam said, “Back to earth, monkey girl. Time is passing.”

Right now it just feels like Eric is Sookie’s ‘transitional’ man. Eric seems to be the one before ‘the one’, so to speak. And while there’s a big fan-girl part of me that relishes their scenes together, there’s another part that is anxious to see who Sookie’s HEA will be…

Sookie’s soulmate?

For a while now I’ve had an inkling that Sam is going to be Sookie’s HEA.

With that in my mind, I was kind of sad to read that Sam has a girlfriend in ‘Dead in the Family’. And his girlfriend is annoying - young and annoying. As despondent as I was to read of a new woman in Sam’s life, I was secretly chuffed when Sookie took an avid interest in comparing her physical appearance to that of Sam’s new honey… maybe it’s because I’ve come to like the idea of Sookie/Sam, but I read a lot into Sookie’s comparative studies and I interpreted jealous undertones where maybe there weren’t any?

I do like Sam for Sookie. As the series progresses and the violence in her life heightens, Sookie has become a lot more introspective and she’s recently started to question what she wants out of life. Realistically, Sookie doesn’t want to be a vampire – yet both her ex-boyfriends, Eric and Bill, will remain youthful and unchanged while she grows arthritic and sagging. In ‘Dead in the Family’ two of Sookie’s close girl friends are pregnant – which gives Sookie pause for thought about the theoretical family she’ll never have if she stays in relationships with dead men. I love Sookie, above all else in this series. She’s a wonderful heroine and readers have been on a real journey with her. At this point, 10 books deep, I’m starting to hope that Sookie will get all what she wants out of life… and I think that’s Sam.

I do wish Sam had a bigger role in ‘Dead in the Family’. In this book Sookie and Sam are really just touching base with each other, as opposed to having full-blown scenes.

FBI storyline

Ever since book #7, ‘All Together Dead’, I’ve been wondering about a certain FBI storyline Ms. Harris has not revisited…. In book #7 Sookie showed off her telepathic prowess in front of police and rescue workers, inadvertently drawing the attention of the FBI. Charlaine Harris did touch on this topic in recent books, (‘Dead and Gone’? From memory?) so for a while now I’ve been hoping that this storyline would grow and expand. I think it could be interesting if Sookie was headhunted by the US Government. Clearly that plot arc would take the series in a completely new direction… but I at least wanted Ms. Harris to plausibly wrap up such an arc, or give some finality to it. In ‘Dead in the Family’ she kind of does that – but with plenty of room to manoeuvre. She gets the FBI off Sookie’s back for the mean time, but she also has Sookie discovering that she has been monitored by the Feds for some time now…

I’m quite happy about this – it’s like Ms. Harris is tucking this plot line away for a rainy day. On the surface it seems like the issues are resolved, but there are still plenty of loose ends and I for one would love it if the series skewed with this plotline.

Hunter storyline

In ‘From Dead to Worse’ Sookie came face-to-face with her second cousin, Hunter. Hunter is Hadley’s son and telepathic. This storyline was all but forgotten in ‘Dead and Gone’, but Ms. Harris devotes a few chapters to it in ‘Dead in the Family’. I loved the scenes with Hunter – mostly because his presence made Sookie once again examine all that she wants out of life (family). But also because I think Charlaine Harris is gearing up for a big story-arc concerning Hunter. In ‘Dead in the Family’ she’s really only laying the foundation for future books… but she definitely whet my appetite for a more Hunter-focused storyline. Bring it on!

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Bill & Alcide

These are two characters who have been relegated to the sidelines since Sookie made it clear she had no romantic inclinations towards them. Bill had a big character arc in ‘Dead and Gone’, but his role is minimal in ‘Dead in the Family’. Still, I appreciated that Ms. Harris went back to the series’ roots and gave us some Bill scenes. Same goes for Alcide. I loved the werewolf packmaster in ‘Club Dead’… but over the course of the series Alcide has become a bit of a douche-bag and his character had deflated a bit for me.

I still don’t like Alcide, but I always love the werewolf storyline and was happy to read about the pack in ‘Dead in the Family’.

Damn fairies!

I really hated the fae story-arc of recent books. I didn’t like Claudine. Niall was creepy. Sookie’s family tree was confusing and nothing fae-related worked for me. I was so pleased that Ms. Harris all but put that arc to rest in ‘Dead and Gone’. In ‘Dead in the Family’ Sookie’s fae cousin, Claude, becomes her roommate. There are also two mysterious fairies hanging around the Stackhouse property. Claude’s scenes are small, and the fairy plot is a sideline.

‘TRUE BLOOD’ influence

One thing I loved about ‘Dead in the Family’ was Charlaine Harris tipping her hat to the HBO adaptation of her books, ‘True Blood’. For one, she slips in this fantastically subtle reference that made my fan-girl day:

“There,” said Sam. I had to strain to hear him. Someone had put Jace Everett’s ‘Bad Things’ on, and just about everyone in the bar was singing along.

But in ‘Dead in the Family’, Harris also discounts a few of the ‘True Blood’ creative license storylines.

For one thing, Harris gives us the *real* back-story to Bill & Lorena, and it’s nothing like the HBO show depicted… It’s actually a lot more tragic than anything Alan Ball could come up with.

Then there’s Eric’s maker. ‘True Blood’ had Godric as Eric’s ‘father’ but in ‘Dead in the Family’ we meet Eric’s master for the first time – and he’s deliciously creepy. His name is Appius Livius Ocella and he brings a brother for Eric to meet. I loved this storyline – mostly because Charlaine Harris throws in a juicy bit of history that I’m actually quite familiar with. I won’t spoil, but it has to do with the Russian Revolution… I never thought all my history studies would pay off so much! I loved the twisted-history of one particular character, and the bizarre way their vampire history made sense in the Sookie-universe. Very clever, very creepy. I loved it!

END

I loved this book. Sookie has really changed so much from book #1 – never more so than in the wake of her torture in ‘Dead and Gone’. I think that ‘Dead in the Family’ is quite a transitional Sookie book – and I have a feeling she will undergo even more life changes in book #11.

Charlaine Harris managed to juggle quite a few loose-end storylines and whet reader’s appetites for future books. These future plots are more like ‘sneak peeks’ and ‘what if’s?’ at this point, but there’s so much potential and juiciness you just know that when Harris decides to write them, it’ll be a doozy!

5/5

'Lily Bard' series by Charlaine HARRIS

Shakespeare’s Landlord BLURB:

Lily Bard is a loner. Fiercely protective of her independence, she concentrates on her karate skills and her work as the proprietor of a cleaning and errand-running service, and pays little attention to the town around her. When her landlord is murdered, though, she looks like the prime suspect. Uncovering the real killer may be the only way to prove her innocence, and Lily realizes that she must focus on the other residents of tiny Shakespeare. Her job gives her easy access to people's private lives, and she begins to snoop, finding plenty of skeleton-filled closets, and exposing herself to the unwanted attentions of a murderer.

I first read Charlaine Harris’s ‘Lily Bard’ series shortly after discovering her ‘Southern Vampire: Sookie Stackhouse’ books. I wanted to fill the Sookie void between books, and thought reading Harris’s previous works would be a good start. I’m so glad I did, because this series is now one of my all-time favourites.

‘Lily Bard’ is by far Harris’s darkest work. When Charlaine Harris was younger she was the victim of a sexual assault. With this knowledge in mind, it becomes clear that the ‘Lily Bard’ series is perhaps closest to Charlaine’s heart.

Lily Bard has a tragic history. She is a rape survivor. So horrific and awful was the assault, and so dramatic was her escape, that Lily’s name and story were in the news for months following her recovery. Because of the undue media attention Lily effectively went into hiding; finding the small town of Shakespeare, Arkansas on a map and deciding that she would live out her life in solitude. Before escaping into anonymity Lily underwent a physical change; she discovered bodybuilding and set herself the task of making her body into a weapon so that she would never again feel physically threatened.

I love Charlaine Harris. She is a beautiful writer, able to effortlessly flip between fresh prose and acerbic wit. Her stories are often fanciful, but grounded in reality. And her heroines all follow the same mould of being utterly ordinary women living extraordinary lives. Sookie Stackhouse, for instance, is a thoroughly ordinary waitress whose life is irrevocably changed when a vampire walks into her town. Likewise, Lily Bard is a cleaning lady whose loner-existence is changed when her landlord is murdered. Charlaine’s other murder-mystery series, ‘Aurora Teagarden’, has a title character who is a librarian but finds herself thrown into a murder investigation when a friend is found bludgeoned to death.

The contrast of ordinary woman/extraordinary circumstances has more meaning in the ‘Lily Bard’ series than any other of Charlaine’s works. Lily’s extraordinary circumstances can be stretched to the event that brought her to Shakespeare, Arkansas to begin with – her rape. Lily was an ordinary girl when one event changed the entire trajectory of her life.

The ‘Lily Bard’ series is very dark – far more so than Charlaine’s other books, even the most recent Sookie novels. But surprisingly enough the Bard series has a very clear, uplifting message at its centre. The series is ultimately about reconnecting. In the beginning Lily is a determined loner, scarred by the events of her past, Lily is convinced that the key to her well-being lies in never allowing anyone to get close to her. Over the course of five books however, we witness Lily making tentative connections with those around her – she finds romance, love, and friendship and learns that these connections are important to her continued physical and mental recovery. It is a beautiful message – and seems to be Charlaine imparting her own wisdom to victims about how to continue living your life without fear of the past. And although the series has a lot of darkness, it ultimately ends on a high-note and happy ending.

I love this series, not least of all because of Lily Bard herself. Lily is a ballsy, funny, loyal and hard-working woman. When you learn, in explicit detail, the events of her rape your respect for Lily increases ten-fold. In the beginning Lily is defined by the rape. The ordeal shaped her entire life – she moved far away from home (and the pitying looks of family and friends) to live out a life in quiet, safe solitude. She began bodybuilding as a means to protect herself, so fearful that the past would repeat itself. Clearly letting tragedy define who you become is no way to live – and Charlaine articulates this message beautifully through the character of Lily as she evolves throughout the five books. In each book there is a new murder-mystery, and as the local cleaning lady privy to the skeletons in her client’s closets, Lily finds herself at the centre of all of the cases. Through these mysteries Lily is able to measure her own mettle, push herself and discover the levels of her bravery;

“There’s a lot I know about you that you won’t admit about yourself,” he retorted.

I didn’t understand.

“You pull old men out of burning buildings. You saved Jack Leeds’s life and almost died in the act. You’re willing, and brave enough, to risk your life to save others.”

What a misconception! “No, no, no,” I protested angrily.

I also love this series because of the romance at its centre. In book two ‘Shakespare’s Champion’ Lily finds her leading man – Jack Leeds – and trust me when I say he is H-O-T. The Bard series also has one of my all-time favourite secondary characters – Bobo – the son of one of Lily’s cleaning clients who pines after her in the sweetest puppy-love fashion.

If fans of the ‘Sooke Stackhouse’ books come to the ‘Lily Bard’ series with a hope that it will scratch a Sookie itch, they will be disappointed. This is in no way supernatural or urban fantasy. This series is strictly murder-mystery. The only similarities between the books are Charlaine’s love of a good, steamy romance for her heroines, ordinary leading ladies leading extraordinary lives and doing so with tremendous courage and biting wit.

Highly recommend this series.

5/5

'A touch of dead' Sookie Stackhouse short story collection by Charlaine HARRIS

Urban Fantasy authors are a tricky bunch. They like anthologies, they like contributing to anthologies and if they are authors with a series they LOVE to write anthology-stories based in their established universes. This can be tricky for readers – most of us don’t really want to spend money on a collaborative book in which only one of our favourite author’s stories appears. It’s more likely we’ll try and borrow the anthology book from the library or just settle with never reading it at all. But it’s frustrating when one little story in an anthology ends up impacting on an author’s established series.

Case and point is Charlaine Harris. Charlaine wrote the Sookie-based short-story ‘One Word Answer’ for the ‘Bite’ anthology. Only problem was in the story ‘One Word Answer’ Charlaine introduced the back-story to a minor character who would go on to have a big impact on the 6th Sookie Stackhouse book; ‘Definitely Dead’. Cousin Hadley. Many Sookie Stackhouse fans complained that ‘Definitely Dead’ had a confusing plot because Charlaine wrote it expecting that her readers were familiar with the short-story ‘One Word Answer’, which was the starting plot point for ‘Definitely Dead’.

To aid confusion (and because ‘True Blood’ has seen the Sookie books blow up!) Charlaine has released a book compiling all of her Sookie-based short stories. Hallelujah!

There’s five all together; "Fairy Dust," "One Word Answer," "Dracula Night," "Lucky," and "Giftwrap”. Not all of the stories are as important to the overall Sookie series as ‘One Word Answer’.

‘Fairy Dust’ gives a lot of back-story to Claude, Claudine and their dead sister, Claudette. But the other stories are just a bit of frivolous Sookie fun.

My favorite is ‘Dracula Night’, in which Eric Northman throws a Halloween party for Count Dracula in the hopes that the famous vampire will make an appearance at Fangtasia.

I love Charlaine Harris – I’ve read all of her books and would gladly pre-order her grocery list from Amazon if she were so inclined to publish it. This collection of short stories is a real treat for die-hard Sookie fans. And there’s the added bonus of accompanying illustrations by Lisa Desimini for each of the five short stories.

I have only two complaints about the collection. The first is the ugly ‘True Blood’ promo on the front cover that detracts from Desimini’s beautiful illustration. My other grumble is the fact that there’s no new short story. After paying for the hardback collection I would have appreciated one new Sookie story for my money.

If you’re a big Sookie fan you’ve probably already figured out the cousin Hadley dilemma in ‘Definitely Dead’ by visiting chat boards or Charlaine’s FAQ page. And if you’re a mega-Sookie fan like myself, you’ve probably already read all these short stories. So ‘A Touch of Dead’ is probably not going to impact on your enjoyment of the series. But it’s nice to have the stories in one book, and they are Charlaine Harris stories, so they’re guaranteed to please.

4/5