Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris

[slowfox]

I obviously spoke too soon when I was attempting to list all of Sookie's suitors, because now we have Quinn dating her! Actually, I don't like Quinn that much, so I'm hoping that this won't be a long-lasting thing.

I was a bit puzzled by the plot in this book, since it centres around Sookie's cousin's murder in New Orleans. The murder happened some time ago, but this is the first time we get to read of it in the series, as far as I remember, and yet the way the story's written, it's clear that Sookie knew quite a bit about Hadley's life as a vampire (she'd only recently been turned, and was the Queen of Louisiana's squeeze for a while).

Loose ends from the Debbie business are still dogging Sookie (and her new beau), and our heroine also manages to thwart the scheming King of Arkansas' grand plan in the course of the tale, too.

In the overall scheme of things, I didn't think this instalment was quite as good as the previous five: although we got introduced to some interesting characters, and we had the familiar two-intertwined-but-separate plots through the story, it didn't seem to have quite the same zing about itself.

Still enjoyable, of course, but this particular book felt a little more by-the-numbers than its predecessors.

Comments

[carolanne5]

I can explain the puzzle of the sudden appearance of Sookie's cousin. In between the two novels Charlene Harris wrote a short story for a Vampire anthology called "Bite". The short story, called "One Word Answer" covers the Sookie's introduction into Hadley's death and investigation.

It puzzled me so much I had to go searching the web for answers.

... Still enjoyable, of course, but this particular book felt a little more by-the-numbers than its predecessors....

I completely agree, it didn't feel as satisfying. BUT OMG (just remembered) the exposure of Bill's real reason for arriving in Bon Temps! Ouch, that hurts. Just how much of the whole mainstreaming was real?

[slowfox]

Ouch indeed, re Bill's original motivation for moving to Bon Temps... and no matter how much he might protest that future feelings were genuine, methinks his bridges are well and truly burnt now.

It also makes Bill's suggestion that Sookie should hook up with Eric waaaaaaaaaaaaay back when, if he were to meet an untimely end, seem somewhat... sinister. Was he saying that because he thought Eric would be her protector, or because that would mean that Sophie-Ann would have continued access to her...

Of all the ones I've read to date, I did feel that this was the weakest instalment, possibly not helped by the disconnection that was felt when Hadley suddenly arrived (and departed) with seemingly no explanation.