Dead Reckoning

Im glad to see Charlaine Harris back to writing more fleshed out (no pun intended)stories. Wish this one had been longer (particularly when considering the Kindle price, but I couldnt wait) but I obviously enjoyed it overall to have devoured it in less than 24 hours. This book for me is an improvement over the previous two as it felt less slap dash put together and the details that make Sookie Stackhouse so immersive for me such as details of daily life (you read about her cleaning, cooking which makes the character easier to relate to), the humor, the strong/smart main character, the not over-the-top fantasy world, and the different story lines make this a very addictive series for me. The Good -You get a glimpse of other types of fae as well as into the Stackhouse fairy past. -I like the growing relationship with Dermot and hope it doesnt betray her later. -I like how Sookie continues to be a smart woman who is a quick and resourceful thinker with a big heart for family and friends. Again, I really, really hope that Dermot is someone she can count on. I think how Sookie has developed in her thinking/wariness of supes makes sense but I hope the next book is a little more, positive for her supe friendships. The Not So Good - A lot of the story was Sookies inner thoughts. I would have liked a little more description/interaction of actual events rather than her thoughts on them or her thoughts as she was experiencing them. - Felt like within a very short span of time Sookie was being overloaded with many different crises and perhaps having just 2 big things tracked over a longer time period would have made the book a little more enjoyable. -There was an inconsistency for me - when did Bubba like Bill better than Eric? I would have thought them equal for Bubba or in the very least, Eric held in the higher esteem since he seemed to look out for Bubba. The Plain Bad or Huh? - A larger inconsistency was the power Cataliades has - if he has this power, then why would Sookie be needed by the former queen? - The appearance of Alcide in the story seemed gratuitous although I can see how it paved the way for another development in the action. - How Sookie talks to Cataliades didnt seem in character. She naturally would have been more cautious and respectful. As a result, the ending felt like it wasnt well thought out. Additional thoughts after initially writing this review: I loved the first 8 books of the series and then, as I indicate in the title of my review, books 9 & 10 really seemed to drop in quality. I noticed that book 8 was the last book published before the True Blood series came out. I cant help but wonder that the success of the HBO series has affected her writing - there could be all sorts of reasons: - the popularity of True Blood really increased the spotlight on her and as a result she has to make more appearances and thus has less time for writing - the True Blood series departs so much from her writing yet is so popular that she is somewhat in competition with trying to match its dark tone - success can spoil things, she doesnt need to strive (either for the money or the popularity) to try as hard since as many of us indicate, were willing to keep buying books about Sookie till she ends it - I have to believe she has pressure from her publisher to try to milk the Sookie concept as much as possible. Writers of series usually have an outline of the main characters life, and while it seems like she is adhering to the high points of the outline, shes cutting short on the filler, saving an interesting event for going into an anthology when it would have made the main book richer. I am certain that her story for the future Home Improvement anthology will be about Dermots attic project.

I agree with some of the reviews that this isnt the best book of the series, but I still enjoyed it, and still am in love with the characters in the series. I disagree that Charlaine Harris is bored with Sookie. All the charm and dynamic facets were there. I feel the last book, this book, and possible the next book should of been one book together. The story line is being stretched a bit thin, but I am still attached to the books. I am currently in mourning that I have to wait another year to be in the Sookie world! That would be my biggest complaint in waiting a year for another installment. I also want to make a note for those readers that have read other series by Harris. Lily Bard makes an appearance in this book and I was so excited! It is defiantly brief but it brought her back for me, and I am considering re-reading the series. I really loved the mysteries! I suggest if you havent read other books by Harris, you really should. The Aurora Teagarden and Lily Bard series were really fun and the mysteries kept you guessing the whole ride. I dont know if Harris plans on any more books for the Harper Connelly series, but I really hope so. I really love Harris as an author and would pick up and read any book she wrote!

****SPOILER ALERTS**** DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU DONT WANT TO KNOW SOME OF WHAT HAPPENS IN DR!!!! In fairness, my first disclaimer should be that its possible that Ive allowed too many outside influences to color my perception of DR - awareness that CH said she hated creating the blood bond and that there will only be two more books,frustration over the kindle pricing, etc. With that out there, I must say that I liked DR but I didnt love it the way Ive loved some of the previous Sookie books. Maybe it was the way that it was laid out for us (or not) but part of me felt that Sookies back and forth emotions were tiresome. Quite frankly, she has been dealing with the do I want to live like this, do I want to be in this world, interacting with these people, or do I try and live a more normal life etc. since LDID and I thought that shed reached a certain point of peace with her journey a few books back. Thats not to say that the conversation was never to be revisited but it felt to me like she was experiencing this crossroads for the first time, rather than rehashing an old debate. Regarding the blood bond, I wasnt surprised that it was finally broken (again, I blame the outside influences) but I was more than a little irritated at the manner in which it was done and once again, I felt that Sookie was handling a situation like an amateur rather than someone who has been through a great deal of drama and come out the other side, wiser for those experiences. Her love/hate relationship with the blood bond was something that had been discussed for several books - but the actual decision to terminate it was done almost on a whim and I was disappointed to see it handled as such. In the end, as much as I wanted Victor gone, I didnt love how that was done either - there was a part of me that wanted a little more trash talking - there was almost too much silent manuevering for my taste. I felt like the Claude/Dermot angle was being built up to give more than it did in this book and assume this will be wrapped up in the next book(s). Glad that Sandra Pelt is out of the way but this seemed to come out of nowhere and I honestly couldve done without it in this book because it didnt seem to add anything. I love Sookie and Eric and while I understood that there was a pressing reason why things were not as theyve been in prior books, their overall chemistry was uncharacteristically flat in this book - and Im not talking about the sexual chemistry. One of the things Ive always liked about the two of them was that they got each other - all of sudden, they seemed to almost be strangers. Yes, the issue with Oklahoma is a BIG problem but again I was surprised that Eric (who is above all things practical and realistic) kept this from her as long as he did. It did not seem consistent with his character (even being in love for the first time in hundreds of years) that he wouldnt tell her about this sooner and let her know that he was doing his best to extricate himself from the situation. I dont like the fact that this is (seemingly) being used as the excuse to end this relationship as opposed to Sookie coming to a decision that as much as she loves Eric, it just cant work (as she did with Bill - unable to forgive his deceit and with Quinn - unable to deal with his baggage). As much as I want Sookie and Eric together, if theyre not going to be HEA, then lets man-up and end the relationship because one of the people in the relationship has decided that its best not to be in that relationship anymore, not because outside forces are pulling them apart. They love each other but the relationship is not perfect - he is high handed (and it drives her crazy), theres a lot of baggage associated with being married to a powerful vampire and obviously, its fatal flaw is the fact that she will continue to age while he will not. Even with all the love in the world, theres enough here for Sookie to decide that love aint enough and she has to let Eric go. I would prefer that to where the story seems to be headed. Ill keep reading and will mourn the end when it comes but I find that my enthusiasm has diminished just a bit and that makes me sad - it may be that when I pick DR up again in a couple of months, I will feel differently but Im not sure. This is just not one of the books that I could read over and over (like Club Dead or All Together Dead) or would want to revisit as part of re-reading the series. UPDATE: I am FURIOUS to see that Penguin has now dropped the price of DR to 12.99 ten days after offering it for $14.99 (and its probably because the reviews arent great) Dont get me wrong, Im used to the price of an item dropping but not this fast. I have learned my lesson, like others I will be waiting until the price of the last two books goes down to a price Im willing to pay without complaint. Unfortunately, Ive fallen out of love with the recent installment of this series so the over-eager enthusiasm that I felt in the past (which prompted me to pay the price regardless because I had to have it) is gone so I will exercise patience.

I felt much the same way, but to a lesser extent, after reading the last book in the series. I loved the earlier books in the series, and in each of the early books, there was a clear, cohesive conflict that dominated that particular book, and was resolved by the end. In Dead to the World (one of my favorites of the series), we saw the whole conflict with the witches play out. By the end of that book, the witches had been defeated in a thrilling battle, and I was left feeling satisfied. There were of course minor plot lines left up in the air (Sookies romantic future, given the nature of her relationship with Eric during the course of the book, for example) which made me excited to read the next book, but there was nothing so huge left unresolved that I felt slighted. This book (as well as the last one), I cant really pick out any major conflict that the books deals with, and nothing is resolved by the end. I honestly cant even tell you what this one is about. Sookie cleans out her attic. She and Dermot grow closer. She and Eric are no longer vampire-married. Thats about it. Theres no story that unifies this book. Theres just a bunch of minor, disconnected events, which makes it a rather boring yet frustrating read. Also, how dense does Harris think we all are? Like others said, Im a little insulted. Nobody picks up the 11th book in a series and just reads it cold, with no background or previous knowledge (and if they did, they shouldnt), so theres no need to write like your readers are hearing about these characters for the first time in the 11th book of the series. I am so sick of reading the same things over and over in each book. By this point, we all know about fairies allergies to iron and lemons. We all know Dermot looks a heck of a lot like Jason, and we all remember the troubles this previously caused. And for petes sake, we certainly all know the whole store behind Elvis becoming a vampire... yet in every single book, Harris recounts all of this to us in vivid detail, as though this is certainly the first time we are hearing about any of it. Im not exaggerating when I say that half of the material that makes up this book is stuff Ive already read before. Enough is enough. Also, as others have mentioned, there are some pretty fierce continuity problems that make this book really difficult to enjoy, but that has been thoroughly discussed I believe. The only reason I keep reading these books is because I feel like Im in too deep now, and I cant just stop. Ive heard from others that Harris is contracted for 13 books in this series, and Ive also heard that she herself is ready to finish the series, so hopefully the next one will be the last one. Ive thoroughly enjoyed this series, but if Harris hasnt got her heart in this project any longer (and I think its obvious that she does not, based upon the declining quality of her work in recent years), then I wish she would quit writing these and just leave us with our fond memories.

WARNING potential spoilers. I enjoyed this book - when I had to put it down I wondered how Sookie was going to manage the situation and that is a very good sign. On the other hand I agree with other reviewers that Ms Harris appears to have made a mistake in changing her time lines. If you are an in depth fan you may not be able to overcome this. Normally when a new book in the series comes out I reread the series first but I couldnt do that this time so the continuity issues didnt bother me as much as they might have. Ill be interested to see how and if Ms Harris manages to reconcile the two versions in the future. One reviewer says that this book is sad and dreary and to some degree I would agree with that however there is one telling time where Sookie is happy and consciously feeling at home in her life and that is when she is spending time with her friends doing girly stuff in her community - which is very Sookie. In this book her normal life is fading into the background (perhaps a response to repeated truama). She is both pleased and saddened by reminders of her grandmother and fairly stunned by some revelations. Sookie struggles with the level of violence in her life and her own changing attitudes and behaviours in regard to violence ... as she should do. It is not possible for real humans to go blithely on their way as firecrackers unaffected by living in the equivalent of a war zone. Still she remains active in her own life not merely knocked about by the actions of others. Lily and Jack turned up in this book. Lily is another woman whose life has been defined by her responses to extreme violence in the past and to violent issues that are in her life now. Jack is a man who gets the import of that and absolutely loves Lily as she is now. The Shakespeare books were always much darker than Sookies books but the nexus of the two is interesting and a sign that Sookie needs to think about her past and future. There are numerous lines calling her to do just that. Two examples would be that she recognises the fire of Lilys love for Jack in Lilys brain and the way the idea of future children permeates the book. I think that Ms Harris would have done better to have relied more heavily on Sookies reflections on how the effects of ongoing violence, and the revelations about her grandmother, change the way Sookie responds to relationships. Sookie is growing up which is hardly surprising for someone who lived her life as a spectator until she was in her mid 20s. Still I enjoyed the book immensely and will happily recommend it to others and will look forward to the next book in the series and any future series. I hope that Ms Harries reanimates the Shakespeare series but would be thrilled to welcome any new heroines as well.

Im convinced that this wasnt written by Charlaine Harris, but by someone else and Charlaine signed off on it. Its simple things like phrases that dont fit the characters and the fact that the ending felt like it was left hanging compared to all of the other books in the series so far. Not to give away spoilers, but there is a phrase Bill uses in talking to Sookie that is COMPLETELY out of character for him, despite the fact hes still in love with her. Charlaine has never been one to worry about having crystal clean language, but this was...not Bill talking but maybe something more like a fan talking in his place. On top of that, throughout the book the character have seemed to lose their southern charm, accent, and sass...especially Sookie herself. She doesnt sound southern anymore. Shes almost the northern Ohio non-accent I knew as a kid now. Its really sad because its what keeps me engrossed in the book. Now it almost feels like someone else is talking instead of the person that was talking for the first 8 or 9 books. The worst part of it is that this book in particular felt like absolutely nothing happened. The issues with Victor were solved from the previous book, but everything else was just inched along a bit with no resolution. For example, the entire story line behind the CD (dont want to spoil anything) was left completely hanging. The object was introduced, talked about, warned about...and there was no struggle there at all! Charlaine always had added SOMETHING to give it a reason for existence in the current book in the past and this one just failed in giving that entire story line a reason to exist. Im sincerely hoping that Charlaine gets back on the wagon with the next novel in the series. This was sort of a dud compared to the others in the series and I hope its not a sign that shes bored with it. Maybe its all setup for a blockbuster in the next book?

Quite frankly, this is one of the saddest installments of the Southern Vampire Mysteries. I dont mean the emotional impact of the plot upon my personal psyche so much as I mean the whole book just makes me sad. There was a time when each of these stories held me excitement over what was going to happen next. It seemed like although the stories were certainly a dirty little pleasure, they were so engrossing I couldnt put them down. These days (whereas these days seem to coincide with books written after the HBO series started), the books are much more like pale shadows of what had come before. Originally, the Southern Vampire Mysteries were just that; mysteries in the south with vampires. The author would dab a touch of romance and sexual tension for flavor, but ultimately whether the characters were vampires or simply Scooby-do, it was still a mystery. The more recent books however have taken on a new tone altogether. The books that have been released since Ms. Harris creation reached the little screen, have been more like a collection of random Sookie thoughts punctuated by mostly mundane happenings. While this book seemed to have a little more (very subtle) structure under the story than the last, there were still far too many pages dedicated to the trifles of getting ready to go somewhere after a shower. I think that many Sookie fans would agree that Ms. Harris has veered too far from the original format of the book. In fact, the biggest mystery in this book seemed to be, `will people enjoy the baby shower for Tara,... puke. As if to add insult to injury poor Tara didnt even have so much as a line during the entire affair. Dead Before Dark, was an excellent example of a mystery ex: girls were dying and nobody seemed to know who the murderer was - only to be revealed at the end as a trusted friend (ominous music). Here, there is the spark of mystery: some unknown assailant firebombs Merlots and nobody knows who it is - until about fifty pages later when the person is arrested and the ending of the book is telegraphed worse than acting by a professional wrestler in a b grade movie. Sookie as a character has also begun to stagnate a bit and that is really unfortunate. She started out as a sheltered and socially damaged young woman. Through the first few books she learns to control her telepathy and through this new control see her disability in a new light, even drawing strength from it. She also comes into her own as a woman and begins the difficulty of navigating her first relationship. Throughout all this, she not only has to learn how to deal with the violence of the vampire world around her, but also what it means to become a murderer herself. Unfortunately, after that the character starts to become somewhat stagnant and the author tries (albeit successfully for awhile) to hide that fact with love triangles. By the point in the storyline weve reached, Sookie should be past trying to simply deal with violence. Shes seen more blood and death than most cops do in a thirty year career and should be a bit more calloused than she is (especially after the fairy war). On a positive note, it was interesting to find the genesis of Sookies telepathy and to have the social structure of the fae fleshed out a bit more. I also like that Sookie seemed to be so much stronger now that she had been living with other fairies. Perhaps its time that she transmute into some sort of vampire (due to blood consumption) fairy hybrid and have Eric looking to her for protection for once. Whatever happens, for Gods sake, at least make the plot mysterious otherwise change the name to Southern Vampire Aftershower Decsionmaking.

Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse 11) By: Charlaine Harris ISBN: 9780575096523 Published May 28, 2011 by Gollancz, Victor Limited Available Format: Hardcover, Paperback, ebook, Audiobook My Rating: When Merlottes bar is firebombed, suspicion is immediately directed at the anti-shifter movement in the area. But, Sookie is pretty sure the bomber was a shifter, so she and Sam work together to discover the true culprit. In the vamp world, Eric and Pam are plotting to kill Victor, the regent of the area who has been causing them all a great deal of trouble. Toss in a little magic and some fairy business and youre completely wrapped up in Sookies crazy world again. I felt Sookie was a little flat this time. Shes always been so funny and witty, and this time she just felt so stiff and boring. Eric, my favorite vamp, was a little disappointing too. The chemistry between the two was horrible. Sookie and Bill, for the brief time they got to interact, made SO much more sense this time! I was shocked, because I longed for Sookie and Eric to be together all through the beginning of the series. I think the whole bit about the Fae was not hashed out very well and really didnt add anything to the overall story. I believe Harris should have just focused on Victor and Sandra Pelt and worked on bringing the much loved character out better in Sookie and Eric. That being said, Im still a big Southern Vampire fan, and I found lots to love in this book. It was nice to see a softer side to Pam, and my heart broke for her with what she was having to go through. I am intrigued about Erics current predicament, so I expect the next book to be focused on that...and maybe Sookie will end up with someone else...maybe some new character that isnt a vampire! This definitely wasnt my favorite Sookie Stackhouse book, and I do think Harris is running out of steam with the series. I hate to say it, but it might be time for Sookie to ride off into the sunset (or moonset?) with...someone...

I have loved this entire series but the last few books, Ive felt like something is missing. Like there is no direction in the last few books. They have left me wanting more and unsure of Sookie and the direction of her and all the Characters in her life, honestly something is missing. I really miss the the Hot and Sizzle. I mean now she has Eric and he is the Hottest vanpire every but, nothing is sizzling between her and him, at least its not coming off the pages. There was such a billed up to her and Eric, then finally when they are together nothing, just nothing is happening. There was more sizzle between her and Bill and other lovers. Even before they finally did get together there was hot exciting sizzle. I am really disappoint. I hope the Author finds her sizzle back for these characters, I miss it. But, even with that said I still love this story line and enjoy reading them. I have read this series more then once and cant wait to find out what direction the Author ends up taking all these wonderful Characters. If you are looking for a great series of books to read, I say read this one, because it is a great fantasy world.

I wont write a synopsis. Others have done that. It would be a matter of dead-horse-beating. I did enjoy this book. I like the world of Bon Temps, and I like visiting once a year. I also freely admit that I fell heavily for Eric Northman the first time I read about him. So, Dead Reckoning. Is it Great Literature? No. Is it intended to be? Also no. Is it a fun read? Yes. Does it tie up some loose ends and then wave others around like banners so we have a reason to read the next book? Of course. Yes, there are some continuity problems. Other people have already beaten this drum, too. Theres no reason to beat it some more. I also didnt like the way Sookie told Bill a piece of Big Plot Point Information at one time and then, at the end of the book, she told him again just as if shed never told him before and he acted as if hed never heard The Big Plot Point Information before. It was jarring.