Dead and Gone – the Next Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse Installment
Dead and Gone is the 9th book of Charlaine Harris series of books which are aptly named the Southern Vampire Mysteries, or as many would prefer ” Sookie Stackhouse series. This particular book along with the previous one (From Dead to Worse) has been adapted into an HBO TV series called True Blood, the former currently being shown as Season 2.
Dead and Gone is set in small town Louisiana, in a place known as Bon Temps. Its a little town but theres a lot that goes on there, not least ” a closely guarded secret is about to be revealed with some dire consequences!
The Were people, who are humans that can change into animals, finally expose themselves as to who and what they really are. However, even though initially this secret is accepted relatively well in Bon Temp society, Sookies brother Jasons estranged wife (a Were-panther), is found murdered, mutilated and nailed on a cross (yuck!).
Sookies brother ” Jason ” quickly becomes the prime suspect and as if this were not enough, she then learns that a fairy prince is seeking to murder her. Ive always loved fairies but in this case I have to be on Sookies side so come on Sookie, we know you can handle this!
How about Sookies romantic life, just to change the subject a little bitty? Well, without giving anything away, will she or will she not commit herself to Eric? Or maybe Bill will come back on the scene? You can never tell with Sookie, can you? You have to read the book to find out though, sorry.
It does seem though, that Sookie is dishing out more of her stand-offishness to Eric as she did previously with Bill and with Quinn. Oh, women!
In contrast to the last book of the series ” From Dead to Worse ” this book is less detailed and more to the point. This may not suit all tastes actually because part of Charlaine Harris gift is the detail she puts into her characters. She has an extraordinary talent for weaving different characters together in their relationships with one another, but in Dead and Gone, this is less so. The art of weaving is less on show ” rather the weaving falls apart just a bit.
Not enough is made of certain events that warrant some importance and more detail, when in my mind a more thorough exploration of the sequence of events was called for.
No matter what though I will always love Sookie! She can be as non-committal as she wishes to be – I cant help but love her. And due to the fast-paced nature of the book, even though I was left feeling not entirely fulfilled, there is never a dull moment, and you just want to keep on turning those pages. There are new characters introduced to breathe fresh life into Bon Temps and there are still the old favorites there to keep us smiling and feeling warm inside.
Charlaine Harris has continued to weave at least some of her magic in this episode of Bon Temps life, while at the same time missing out on opportunities to explore and increase her readers desires to want even more. Having said that, just like always when I finish one of her many books, Im anxious to get onto the next one, and fortunately this time I have only 6 months to wait rather than a whole year ” its due out in October 2009.
We havent long to wait either as the next book ” A Touch of Dead ” is due out in October 2009. Mmmm I wonder whats in store for us then?
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