This review does not have spoilers, but Book Six in the Sookie Stackhouse romance-mystery-vampire series definitely does: it is full of revelations about the characters and events taking place in the previous five books.

Sookie Stackhouse, the hottie waitress in Bon Temps, Louisiana, finds herself still without a beau. Bill, the vampire who is her ex-boyfriend, is dating someone else. Alcid, the werewolf who claimed to love her, is now also dating someone else. Eric, the powerful ex-Viking vampire, is not speaking to her. At least Quinn, the powerful weretiger, seems very interested, although Sookie no longer trusts her instincts when it comes to men.

Meanwhile, the vampire queen of Louisiana is about to make a political marriage with the vampire king of Arkansas, and Sookie is involved, since it turns out that her dead cousin Hadley had become a vampire and had a relationship with the queen. And as usual, someone is trying to kill Sookie, and she doesn’t know who or why.

Evaluation: This book is a must-read for fans of the series, since the truth comes out about all sorts of aspects of the plot. As Hamlet said to Horatio, “"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
 Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." And this is the volume in which you’ll find out about them! The book even starts with a vignette in which Harris pokes fun at romance novels in general. She's a witty, clever writer, no doubt about it! ( )

Sookie Stackhouse has a complicated dating life, what with Vampires, Weretigers and Shifters all in the mix. This book follows Sookie as she packs up her cousin Hadley's apartment and attends a Vampire Wedding Party. And skirmish. Of course, people keep turning up dead, which puts a crimp in things. ( )

Summary: When telepathic small-town waitress Sookie Stackhouse has to go to New Orleans to deal with her (recently deceased) cousin Hadley's belongings and affairs, she knows it's not going to be a picnic. However, since Hadley was 1) a vampire, 2) a favorite consort of the vampire Queen of Louisiana, and 3) murdered for reasons that are unclear but probably have to do with the turbulent state of vampire politics in the South, Sookie winds up dropping herself right in the middle of a hornet's nest of dangerous plots... and all of this on top of her own supernatural social life, which is not what anyone would call uncomplicated.

Review: Confused readers, take heart! You are not alone! The events of Definitely Dead take place *after* the events of the short story "One Word Answer", which can be found in the anthology Bite, or in A Touch of Dead. I've been reading the Sookie Stackhouse books as a bit of fun when I'm tired, distracted, or otherwise having trouble concentrating. So, when this book assumed that I knew that Hadley was dead, and started bringing up events I didn't remember and characters I'd never heard of, after checking several times to be sure it really was the next one in the series, I assumed that I was just being thick . Not so! It wasn't particularly hard to follow the story even without the background information, but it would have been nice to know up-front that the reason it felt like I was missing something is because I actually was.

Other than that, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. A few sub-plots (including one or two of the supernatural guys who orbit Sookie) are finally resolved, and the pacing and plotting are much smoother here than in the earlier novels in the series. The mystery aspect of the story is not hugely mysterious, but there is plenty of action, plenty of humor, and the obligatory healthy dose of romantic entanglements. Like Living Dead in Dallas, because Sookie spends most of the book out of town, I wound up missing the characters from Bon Temps - Jason and Sam, in particular - but there were some interesting new characters introduced to make up for it. All in all, it was a fast and thoroughly enjoyable light read, which is what I've come to expect from the series. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Fans who've gotten this far in the series will have just as much fun with Definitely Dead - but if you have a chance to read "One Word Answer" ahead of time, it's not required, but it will make the beginning of this book go a whole lot more smoothly. ( )

Definitely Dead is the sixth in the series. Sookie is being wooed by Quinn, the sexy were that was the referree at the Were packmaster challenge in book 5.

This book refers to the death of Sookie's cousin Hadley, a New Orleans vampire. It appears that the story played out in a book of Sookie short-stories. Book 6 appears to pick up where that left off. I would have like a little more background at the beginning but Harris does give us the details as the book plays out.

Sookie is summoned by the Vampire Queen of Louisiana, to clean out Hadley's apartment and help her as she has married the Vampire King of Arkansas. The Queen and Hadley were lovers, but the Queen is marrying for political purposes. Sookie meets Hadley's landlord, Amelia, a witch. Sookie has been accompanied to New Orleans by Vampire Eric and Bill. Her new boyfriend Quinn is also in New Orleans, concerned as he and Sookie have been attacked twice together.

Sookie learn more about her family history and perhaps why she is so drawn to the supernatural community. She also learns a secret about Bill, that breaks her heart and may put Bill out of the running for Sookie's affections forever.

This was another great Sookie book, though confusing at first, with the missing details. Sookie gets stronger with every book, not the innocent girl that alwaays needed saving at the bginning of the series. Sookie is indispensible to the supernatural community and she is quick to solve problems and help save the day. I also love that we meet witches again in this installment.



my rating 4/5 ( )