My Thoughts
Apparently reading the Sookie short story "One Word Answer" would have saved me quite a bit of confusion in the first portion of the book, so if you are reading the series, I would recommend reading it before Definitely Dead.

The plot premise is that Sookie's cousin Hadley has died, and to tie up some loose ends, Sookie travels to Hadley's home. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending), in Sookie's world tying up loose ends involves vampires, witches, weres, blood, death, and sex.

My nitpick with this series has always been Sookie's apparently irresistible charm to every male (and some female) supernatural who crosses her path. We've now seen Sookie flirt or sleep with Bill, Alcide, Sam, and Eric. Lo and behold, in this installment, Sookie hooks up with a newbie named Quinn, who I have to say is rather fascinating. But seriously? Is this series going to be a continuous string of liaisons with male supes? Eh, we shall see. ( )

An improvement over the previous book. Sookie goes to New Orleans to clean up her dead cousin Hadley's apartment and to meet the queen of Louisiana. The overarching plots move decidedly forward with two dramatic revelations. However, I don't like Quinn, and his scenes with Sookie read as forced and overly sweet. Thankfully he's not in the book too much though. ( )

A step back up from the dud that was Dead as a Doornail, the intertwining, complex plot lines are back in this installment of the Sookie Stackhouse series. Sookie goes to New Orleans for two purposes--to clean up her dead cousin's apartment and to meet the queen of Louisiana who will probably be needing her services at the vampire summit. Unfortunately, Quinn is still a figure in Sookie's life. I find their conversations disgustingly fake, and him not attractive at all, so I really don't see the point of him as a love interest. Thankfully, this book is much more about Sookie's life in the supernatural world than Sookie and Quinn.

For my extended review, check out my blog: http://wp.me/pp7vL-5i ( )

This one was a little disappointing because there is a backstory in a collection of short stories so it was confusing without that book. I have the boxed set and when you buy a boxed set the story should flow uninterrupted. So that is the worst part of the book. Because of that this book took longer to read than the others I just kept feeling a disconnect from the story because of missing out on the backstory. There was some big secrets revealed in this book that will be interesting to see play out .But because of the whole backstory missing this was not my favorite of this series.

If your reading this series I would recommend you find the book A Touch of Dead which should be Book 5 ½. ( )

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! ( )