Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris – review

Have you read the latest in Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries? I’ll give you a hint, HBO calls them True Blood, and if you’re a fan of the show you’ve got to give the books a try. Yes, yes, I’m a big fan of the show, but the books are better and more cleverly done. Isn’t that always the truth? Of course, that’s just my opinion. I’d love to know what others think who have seen the entire series thus far and read the books.

But I digress.

Charlaine Harris has written the 11th book, Dead Reckoning, and it came out at the beginning of this month. I devoured this book, finishing it in less than 24 hours. As per usual, I’ll say that if you haven’t read the first ten, you’ll probably want to skip this review and go catch up, cause we don’t want to spoil anything for you!

Can I say that I thought after the last book that I might be a little bored with this series? The only thing keeping me reading was getting the little glimpses of the sizzling vampire sheriff, Eric Northman. This book, however, tied up a lot of loose ends from the last book, so I didn’t find myself as bored as I thought I’d be. If you were disappointed by the last book, you may want to put your misgivings aside, because this one is much, much better. Harris weaves more mystery into the book, which she makes possible by answering a lot of question left after the last book. We also see introspective Sookie examine how much she has changed since the first book, when the very first vampire walked into her life.

The book starts out with Sookie, who has recovered from her abduction from the faeries and suddenly has something new to contend with:  someone (or perhaps several someones) wants her dead! Again! They try to burn down Merlott’s with her in it, and that’s just the start! Could the angered person be Sandra Pelt, deranged sister of Debbie Pelt, who wants revenge for her sister’s death? Or is it Victor, vampire regent of Lousiana who wants to get rid of her boyfriend, Eric Northman, and make him suffer? Couple that with her two faerie relatives moving into the house with her for reasons Sookie has yet to discover, and you’ve got quite a bit of mystery to handle. I imagine Harris doesn’t call them The Southern Vampire Mysteries for nothing, though. Am I right?

Whoever it is the attacker is (and you will find out in the book), and whatever Claude and Dermott’s ulterior motives are, Harris executes this book perfectly. She masterfully keeps the plot on the mysteries and trials Sookie contends with, without boring the reader, and sprinkles just enough of Sookie’s relationship troubles into the book to keep us wanting more!

This smattering of Eric is probably my least favorite thing AND favorite thing combined in the entire book (possibly the series). On one hand, I HATE that the scenes with Eric are so few. On the other hand, the scenes with Eric are so masterfully done and raise so many questions that they are the best parts.

The thing I dislike the most? Well, it’s a spoiler alert, so stop reading here if you would rather be surprised……

Okay! I warned you!

[SPOILERS] The book ends with a crossroads for Sookie and Eric. I won’t get into specifics, but it seems that the next book might be the end of Sookie and the Viking’s love. Is this a problem? Not terribly. Realistically, they are incompatible in a lot of ways. The problem that I would have is that it seems that she and Bill get kind of cozy in the end! This cannot happen again! No jumping back and forth. I have a feeling if she gets with Bill in the next book, I’ll stop reading. I dislike Bill on many levels (and not just because I tend to go for the bad boys!). I find him sniveling and vapid. I dunno if I’d feel that way if I’d seen the show, however. I wonder sometimes if I would dislike him so much if I hadn’t been affected by my dislike for him in True Blood.

Oh, who am I kidding. Bill Compton would still grate my nerves…

The saddest part to this hanging end, as I draw your attention back to the point, is that Eric is my favorite character. If they break up, I forsee him blending into the background. The books need him and Pam, I think, because if they aren’t active characters, Sookie constantly being attacked will be boring. I also think they are the most interesting characters because they have many dimensions. Pam has a strong loyalty to Sookie, which seems out of character, but we accept it as an anomaly. Eric seems to genuinely love (or think he loves; I’m still not sure if he is truly capable) Sookie, despite his very rational and inhuman nature. Pushing these two great characters into the background might possibly mean the end of the series for me.  [END SPOILERS]

Then again, Harris surprised me with this book and left it on a cliff hanger, so we’ll just have to wait and see! I for one will read the next installment with hope and excitement!