This is the fifth installment of the Sookie Stackhouse series and trust me; it is probably one of the best in the series so far for me. The story picks up from what Charlaine left off in the previous book. Jason successfully incorporates his new life as a two-natured werepather. Just when everything seems to be going fine, shootings begins in the area and unknown to the police, all the victims are shape shifters. Sookie has to take the matter in her hands when her friend Calvin Norris from Hotshot and her boss Sam both get shot, and her brother becomes a suspect among the shape shifter community as he was turned against his will.
As a favor, Eric lends one of his bartenders Charles Twinning to Sam while he recovers from the accident. After the issue with the bar is settled, Sookie finds herself in another series of troubles before making any progress of clearing her brother’s name.
Colonel Flood, the pack master of Shreveport, has passed away and Alcide gets her involved into the werewolves politics as his dad is bidding on becoming the new leader. On the other hand, private detectives sent by Debbie’s family have come to Bon Temps to investigate her disappearance and Sookie is on top of their list of people to visit. However, the worst of
all is that Sookie’s house gets burnt down in the middle of the night and she barely manages to escape with the help of Claudine and Charles.
And to be even more unlucky, Sookie becomes a victim of the shooting but fortunately, she is only badly hurt. She has to put everything on hold except from helping Tara, with the assistance of Eric-Tara’s been passed around two vampires and been abused by her vampire lovers. When she recovers, she and Sam set off to investigate and they finally find out who’s been shooting the shifters in the area. However, there is an extra twist to the story. Though the shooter is caught, the assassin who’s been trying to kill Sookie is still around and Sookie comes face-to-face with him. With the help of the gang at Merlotte, Sookie is saved.
The multiple storylines going at the same time makes it an enjoyable read. Charlaine also answers some of the questions I have from previous books. For example, back in book 1, we know Eric stacked Long Shadow. In human sense, if you kill somebody, you have to face the consequences. In this book, we know what price Eric has to pay for that. We also know a bit more about Tara-she’s been put in the background in previous books. Charlaine also introduces some new characters such as Claude (Claudine’s brother); Quinn and we also get to know more about the politics of the werewolves community. Overall, it has a good mix of all supernatural creatures in Sookie’s world, not just vampires. There are many surprises in the story. For example, the way that the story is laid out, the sniper and the one who burnt down Sookie’s house both turned out to be people that you would never have guessed.
Now, let me move on to Sookie’s love life and she is indeed not short of opportunities and let me elaborate each potential one.
Alcide asks her to go and live with him in the beginning of the story which I am quite happy about. I do think Alcide is a suitable guy for him. However, he gets Sookie involved in the pack master contest where his father is also a candidate, as he hopes to use her ability to increase the chance for his dad to win, which did not turn out the way he preferred. I think in the end he kind of “blames her” which is not nice.
Sam still cares about Sookie as always. And since he gets shot in this book which makes him more vulnerable and they even kiss in the book. However, dating your boss is not a very good idea!!!
Calvin Norris, another guy who is not well in this book, is still very much interested in Sookie but his reason, I think is a bit weird. It seems all he wants is to have babies with her to “improve” the gene pool for his community-that just sounds a bit odd.
Quinn, a new shapeshifter introduced in this book shares a special moment with Sookie during the pack master contest. There is some kind of attraction between the two and we will see what will happen in the next book.
Bill is still the same apart from having a new girlfriend. And he brings her into Merlotte a couple of times-that sounds like showing off for me. It seems he still has feelings for her and refuses to move on. However, he cannot undo the damage he caused. He still wants to be there as part of Sookie’s life and that’s just annoying.
Eric has returned back to himself but I was really surprised that Sookie just spills the beans!! She told him “everything” of the time he was under the curse, including the fact that he has said he would give up everything to be with Sookie!! Well, this is one of the moments I would love to see on the TV series-just to see Eric’s face!! Eric is very confused in this book and he’s been giving wrong signals. On one hand, he does care about her but on the other hand, his pride makes him do the opposite.
Well, so far, no one in particular stands a good chance. We just have to see what the next book unfolds.
Lastly, but not the least, Charlaine put in a lot of humor in the story and let me give a few examples:
• Claude and Claudine and Dixon and Dixie as the names of the twin brother and sister
• In page 114, you will see the title of the book being used
• Charles, the ex-pirate vampire (with an eye patch) somehow reminds me of Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of Caribbean
• We are introduced to Claude, Claudine’s brother. Sookie describes him as having fair feature with surgically altered eyes so that they are no longer pointed. Somehow he reminds me of the “elves”
• The whole chapter of Eric visiting Sookie is her flat and their encounter with Mickey, Tara’s abusive vampire lover is worth a second read. There are many funny comments and moments in this chapter (such as Eric’s outfit, Eric speaking of Americanism, Sookie’s fantasy) and I could not stop myself from laughing.
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