Definitely Dead

Rating: 4.1* of five

The Publisher Says: As a person with so few living relatives, Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse really hated to lose one. But she never guessed that it would be her cousin Hadley—a consort of the Vampire Queen of New Orleans. After all, technically speaking, Hadley was already dead. And now, as unexpected heir to Hadley’s estate, Sookie discovers the inheritance definitely comes with a risk. Someone doesn’t want Sookie looking too deeply into Hadley’s past—or for that matter, Hadley’s possessions. And they’re prepared to do anything in their power to stop her. But who? The range of suspects runs from the Rogue Weres who reject Sookie as a friend of the Pack to the Vampire Queen herself, who show more could be working through a particularly vulnerable subject—Sookie’s first love, Bill.

Whoever it is, they’re definitely dangerous—and Sookie’s life is definitely on the line…

My Review: A bump in my rating for this entry in the series because I love Quinn, the weretiger we've just met in the last book, as Sookie's new suitor. Also love the ectoplasmic reconstruction of Hadley's murder. So cool.

Hadley, Sookie's cousin, dies the True Death and Sookie now needs to (what a surprise) clean up the loose ends of her worldly estate. You just know bad stuff will happen here...bad bad...and of course, it does. Sookie's never gonna catch a break. Well, there wouldn't be a series if she did, now would there?

And adding to the revels is the Big Reveal of Sookie's fascination for the supernatural community, which it damn near kills me not to spoiler. But I won't. Not that there are any Americans left who can read who haven't read these books already.

Okay, that's an exaggeration, but these are very much as popular as Twilight (thank the gods!) and its hell-spawn. It's just an older crowd. And, I suspect though I cannot prove this, a gayer crowd. There's a degree of identification with Sookie and her relationship problems that most gay guys and lesbians can expect to experience, because there are vocal and crazy-passionate groups hatin' on Sookie and her friends and lovers simply for existing and being themselves. All in the name of what's Good and Right, of course.

Hmm. Not like I've ever heard that line of shit aimed at me before.

So here we have a series that's made phenomenal success out of showing up hatred and intolerance, demonstrating the futility of trying to reason with the insanely hate-filled, and triumphing by refusing to accept anyone else's definition of your essential self.

No wonder I, and so many others, keep reading them.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. show less

I don't know who's 'definitely dead', but it's not Bill. Alas. Oh, wait, is that a spoiler? Yea, Bill lives. Or unlives. Whatever.In this book, Sookie ditches all the other guys after her to take up with the weretiger she met in the last book. She even manages to have sex this time. Well, mostly. No actual disrobing took place. At least, not in that scene. You may also remember this book as -- the one in which Sookie gets her period which will probably play a small role in the climax of the book.And I think there's a plot in there somewhere. Oh yea, Sookie's cousin died awhile ago, and you can read all about that in a short story which doesn't fit well into the continuity because her house is intact and yea, blah. And her cousin was show more shacking up with the Queen of Louisiana. And so Sookie has to go pack up her apartment and the Queen wants her for some stuff.And a bunch of people are horribly killed, because, hey, it's a Sookie Stackhouse book. If it's not sex, it's violence. And just because a vampire has lived for hundreds and hundreds of years is no reason they should keep on living with Sookie around!Oh yea, and Bill is more horrible than we thought. And Sookie's super special telepathic powers have a _reason_ behind them. And it also means she smells nice. And probably tastes nice. Because there's only one reason to keep a human girl around in a vampire book, and that's if she smells and/or tastes extra good.And, oh yea, Bill and Eric both sparkle.(Okay, I made that last part up.) show less

Comments and Critiques: After five books in the series, I’ve come to understand Ms. Harris’ writing style and know that her books really do take place in a very short period of time, with roughly several weeks separating one book from the other in the life of the characters. So imagine my surprise when I pick up this book and discover an entire storyline with which I was not familiar. I checked and double-checked the bibliography at the beginning of my book to find out if I accidentally skipped one. I even went back to my personal library to flip through the previous book, Dead as a Doornail, to see which book it says was the next in the Sookie Stackhouse series. While all my research indicates that I did not skip a book, Hadley’s show more story and the fact that we come in on it after her death, have already been introduced to several new characters, including the Queen, continues to rattle me. You would think that something like this was worth mentioning prior to this book, and I still believe that I must have missed something or that one of my books was missing entire chapters. I mean, it’s the Queen of the Louisiana vampires! She deserves a better introduction than in hindsight because Sookie’s already met her. So if anyone can shed any light on this little mystery, I would greatly appreciate it.

Getting that out of the way, Ms. Harris does it again! She continues to amaze, entice, confuse, and thrill me with this story. Battles and intrigue, mystery and blossoming romance – it doesn’t get any better than this. Quinn may just be my new personal favorite, and I am definitely anxious to see how their story continues. Sookie has been through the emotional wringer more times than is healthy in a very short period of time and deserves to find some long-term happiness. The confidence and self-assurance, and the fact that he won’t drink her blood, is definitely an attraction. Think Alcide, who I really liked, without all the attitude and issues over ex-girlfriends.

I’m still reeling from the announcement about Bill and his motives for moving back to Bon Temps. I finished the book last night, and I still feel stunned and more than a little betrayed. This might just very well be the first vampire book where I am not rooting for the vampires anymore, or at least one of them. It will be interesting to see if he continues to profess his love for her and if she can ever forgive him, as I can’t get over the idea that Bill and Sookie belong together. Angel and Buffy, Edward and Bella, Spike and Buffy – you can see where a girl might get such ideas. Still, Bill’s betrayal is unfathomably low. This continuing storyline alone will keep me coming back for more.

In spite of my concern that I skipped a book, I remain completely enamored with this series. I am still surprised by what the characters do, and I am rooting for Sookie to find less drama and more happiness with every fiber of my being. Bring on the next book!! show less

I love the Southern Vampire series so much. I have enjoyed every last book - to the hilt - and this one was no exception. What I love is how the books are heartwarming, heartbreaking, poignant, funny, suspenseful, romantic...all at once. The characters are amazingly well drawn and Sookie's evolution from book to book as she gains confidence, experience, and some hard knocks is so fascinating. That alone makes this installment worthwhile.

Sookie is definitely a bit snappish throughout the book, but she's also more confident, more sure of herself - more willing to take initiative. She's tired of being manipulated and she's trying, as hard as she can, to get control of her life. It's no surprise that she's on the bristly side.

Sookie show more visits New Orleans and learns more about how vampire society works - she meets the Queen, who wants to employ her directly. So the power relationship is obviously shifting a bit between Sookie and the Bon Temps supes. I think this is a Very Promising Development.

The romantic interest here is Quinn, a were-tiger who oozes machismo. I found him a little bit campy. Eric and Bill appear - not often, but enough. There are some *major* revelations in that department, which pleased me inordinately (And, not to give away too much, but I have loathed Bill since Dead Until Dark).

There's also more afoot on other fronts - the continuing drama of Debbie Pelt & the Fellowship of the Sun & Claudine's mysterious presence.

I always feel totally drenched in the physical environment of the Southern Vampire books - Harris writes about the south in such a vivid way it can make a die-hard California girl like myself want to visit Louisiana just to see the pollen or drive down a narrow country lane. New Orleans, however, gets a more-or-less minimal treatment: Sookie doesn't get much of a chance to explore. show less

Let me just say, right off the bat, that I had a love/hate relationship with this installment of Sookie's life.

This one was another good read, story-wise, but it frustrated the hell out of me. We're steadily learning more and more about Sookie, and her life and love(s), and not all of those things are good.

This book completely engrossed me, even while I was getting more and more upset with it. At times I felt myself winding up the old throwin' arm to chuck the damn thing at the wall, but that wouldn't have made the outcome any different, and it probably would dented the wall just to spite me, even though I'm reading a paperback.


**Possible spoilers**

After a heartbreaking revelation about Bill and the origin of their relationship, show more Sookie now feels completely betrayed and duped. She is also being ridiculously unreasonable and irrational, in my opinion. To be honest, Sookie has an annoying habit of running away from anything that upsets her. She would be much better off if she would stop making assumptions about people and their motives and just let them actually TALK to her.

It is insanely frustrating to me that this story is told in first person, so we only get Sookie's lopsided and biased view of everyone around her. This is true of all books told in 1st person, of course, but this book really seems to have taken that to another level, since Sookie is being so stubbornly stupid and spiteful, even.

I really think that her ability to hear other people's thoughts has made her more than a bit jaded, and so she is more than ready to see the bad in people, which leads her to just shut them down, utterly and completely.

Perhaps there are people out there who will disagree with my saying these things about Sookie, and I can understand that. She is generally good, and tries to do the right thing, and I do like her, most of the time. She's gutsy and fun, smart but naive. But, when it comes to her heart, she's all-or-nothing.

Bill is no saint, but I truly believe that he loves Sookie and would do anything for her. I feel for him the most, even though Sookie was hurt so badly. Bill really had no choice in any of the things that Sookie is angry with him about, and he is possibly losing her because of his role in Vampire society.

Eric cares for Sookie, but in a self-serving, hey-look-at-the-cute-puppy-can-I-keep-it? kind of way. I'm not a big fan of a Sookie/Eric relationship. That's just personal preference though. I see nothing wrong with either Alcide or Quinn (yet...) so I am still rather baffled by Sookie's anger at Alcide, but I'm glad that she is being more cautious with Quinn.

Maybe the next book will resolve some of these issues for me. I sure hope so. show less

Sophie Anne is way awesome. She is so much more developed and interesting than the tyrant that True Blood portrays her as. Hadley is also more developed and her story as the scorned lover helps to develop the relationship between Sookie and the vampire community. I also like the introduction of the demon lawyer Mr. Cataliades and his daughters. It helps to make the supernatural element more grounded.

The Pelts are a horrible bunch of people and I think Sandra needs to meet the same fate as Debbie...end of story.

I loved that the King of Arkansas is an idiot and a backwater fool. I also loved that their social ball turned into a bloodbath for all parties involved.

I am very torn on Quinn. I hate how he calls her "babe" and acts as if he show more owns her. I do like that he does take her out and make her feel special, but I really hate how he treats her like a toy. I do appreciate that he protects her and tries to keep her safe during the kidnapping, but I don't trust him. He seems superficial or that he's hiding something. show less

I think it is incredibly stupid that the short story "One Word Answer" is not added as a prologue, or even MENTIONED, at the beginning of "Definitely Dead." It's easy enough to find online, but I would have had no idea it existed if it weren't for a friend who'd hit this installment before I did. If you don't read it, you will be so, so lost at first.

I enjoyed the story, aside from that annoyance. I am not a big Quinn fan, but that's because I keep imagining him as Vin Diesel and I am not really into Vin Diesel, ha.