Dead and Gone

The ninth Sookie Stackhouse mystery is a very much better book than I was expecting, given the trend in my series-mystery reading towards increasing disappointment. I was hoping at best not to feel acute disappointment, and ended up feeling quite satisfied.

Sookie's world took ours by storm at the beginning of this century. It somehow made the US we live in able to look into the mirror these books hold up to us, and acccept what Harris shows us. In the Murrika that Bush and the right wing were creating, I saw and see that as a huge plus. I don't belong to the group of optimists who see that nightmare conservative Hell as in retreat, so much as crouching for the next blow to goodness, kindness and tolerance...those enemies of conservative show more hate-based fascistic dreamers.

"True Blood" on HBO is a huge pop-culture success. It's a hopeful thing to me that these stories of the hideous consequences of prejudice and intolerance are so popular. It's a hopeful sign to my eyes that stories told from the point of view of a victim of social intolerance and the hates of the religious are so well tolerated and so eagerly consumed. It's puzzling to me how Harris does all this without earning the ire of the Good and Just (as they see themselves) heaped on JK Rowling. I know a lot of Harris's readers HAVE to be teens; what's holding the baying hellhounds of Coulter and Limbaugh back?

Whatever. Don't care that much. I encourage people, even ones who dislike supernatural stuff, to go and buy some books in this series. If you don't want to read them, put them on BookCrossing or BookMooch...just buy them, get them into the hands of those who want to read them, and strike a blow against the shadows of hate that darken our noble experiment. show less

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2, 2016 (horror)

I threw this book with great force today, as per Dorothy Parker's recommendation. I'm more than halfway through, and I'm not interested in the characters, the plot, the location or the subject matter. I don't know what happened. I used to devour the Sookie Stackhouse novels in a couple of days. I recently re-read the Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris, and I enjoyed it. It took me a month of reading this book to realize I was just not that into it. I was reading it as part of the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016, as the horror novel on the list. Alas, I was not horrified; rather, I was bored. All the sexy vampires and were-creatures in the world couldn't hold my interest. show more

Consequently, I'm giving up on the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. I just want to get through the books on my shelf. There certainly are enough of them to keep me busy! show less

If you had not read any of the Sookie Stackhouse books, please avert your eyes right now. As we get further into the series, avoiding spoilers becomes just impossible. Sorry.

As you would expect from this series, Dead and Gone is just a fun book. One might be concerned that the story is slowing down, that Ms. Harris cannot continue to write such enjoyable and compelling books. She does not fail to impress. In fact, Dead and Gone does a great job of moving forward the overarching story through the further development of Erik and Sookie's relationship and Amelia's future.

As the story progresses, each book gets a bit darker. The reader can see this clearly in Sookie's plight, Bill's fate and the danger facing both the vampires and the Fae. show more In addition, each book continues to surprise me. I still have no idea what to expect or in what direction the main story will go.

One thing I do enjoy is the fact that Sookie grows and matures just a bit more each book. She is more self-aware, more confident, and is slowly learning to think before saying yes. Her reliance on southern manners and the need to please others is disappearing as she learns that her actions have severe consequences when dealing with the supernatural world. I look forward to seeing her explore this discovery and taking back control of her life a bit more.

Even though I remain unconvinced that Erik and Sookie's relationship is for the best (I am still a Bill fan and wish we saw more of him), I cannot wait to read the next book. This series is so addicting! show less

I'm getting a little tired of this series and the amount of death. I try not to get attached to any of the side characters because it seems many of them don't last long. In this volume we have the Were community coming out and a local being targeted in Merlotte's parking lot; we see more of Sookie's faery connections and not in a good way and the FBI and the new King of Louisiana interested in Sookie's talent. Eric divulges some of his human pre-vampire history but still is the source of many of Sookie's romantic conflicts. I will finish this series to see how it comes out but it is not a favorite.

This is the last completed volume in the Sookie Stackhouse series of romance-mystery-vampire books, and so it’s a sad book for me on two levels: the fact that there are no more (for the nonce) and the fact that the story itself is sad.

The book begins with the public “coming out” of the shape-shifters, of those humans who occasionally can transform themselves into different animals. World reaction is mixed.

Most of the rest of the story concerns a war between good fairies and bad fairies (the leader of the former being Sookie’s great grandfather). The werewolf and vampire communities get involved because Sookie is in danger, and they both owe her for the times she has saved their lives.

There are some terrible deaths in this book, show more and some terrible losses suffered by the characters. As the book ends with the temporary resolution of the fairy war, Sookie’s great-grandfather kisses her goodbye – perhaps forever – and tells her:

"The vampire is not a bad man, and he loves you.”

Then he leaves, before Sookie can ask him whether he meant Bill or Eric.

Evaluation: I wouldn’t recommend this book as stand-alone reading without the rest of the series; there is too much that wouldn’t make sense. In the beginning of the series, Harris was able to recapitulate much of the ongoing plot for readers new to these books. But a great deal has happened now, and Harris doesn’t even try to explain most of it. As with the other books, it is must-reading if you follow the Sookie Stackhouse stories, but I do feel the fairy connection is the weakest part of the series.

Rating: 3.5/5

Series Recapitulation:

Dead Until Dark (Book 1)
Living Dead in Dallas (Book 2)
Club Dead (Book 3)
Dead to the World (Book 4)
Dead as a Doornail (Book 5)
Definitely Dead (Book 6)
All Together Dead (Book 7)
From Dead To Worse (Book 8)
Dead and Gone (Book 9) show less

Dead and Gone
4 Stars

In this book, the weres and shifters have decided to reveal their existence to the world at large and not everyone is excited about the disclosure. The situation is exacerbated when the crucified body of a were is discovered in Merlotte's parking lot and Sookie feels compelled to investigate as the victim is someone close to her.

As if this weren't bad enough, Sookie also finds herself caught in the middle of a war between fae factions, each with their own agenda. Sookie soon learns the hard way that the vampires and weres are nothing compared to the fae when it comes to cruelty and viciousness.

On the romance front, Sookie and Eric take their relationship to the next level, but it is unclear how long this will last show more given their significantly different approaches to life and love.

In sum, this is one of the more exciting and actions packed installments in the series and there are some truly intense and nail-biting moments. On a final note, although Bill will never completely atone for his actions, he does go a long way toward redeeming himself in this book and my hopes for his demise have been put on hold... show less

I can only describe Dead and Gone as jaw-dropping. I read the entire book with my mouth hanging open, utterly shocked at what was going on. The book started out with the great reveal of the weres and shapeshifters, but was ultimately focused on the faeries. Filled with so much action, so much tension, so much heart-breaking sadness and in the end, so many questions that need answers. While I enjoyed Eric, as always and especially now that he and Sookie are getting close, I found myself actually worried about Bill. I never imagined that could happen. After losing so many wonderful and important characters, what could Charlaine Harris possibly do to us next? I did not like the way this book turned out, but my reaction to it was so show more powerfully emotional that it felt like it had to be the way it was written. Dead and Gone was bloody, tragic and somehow wonderful. Where can Sookie go from here? show less