'Deadlocked' by Charlaine Harris

I read 'Deadlocked' by Charlaine Harris, the penultimate book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, on which the crazy-and-great TV show 'True Blood' is based, on holiday last month, around the time when it was announced that the 13th and final installment, 'Dead Ever After', will be published next May.

I've read all of these books now, having devoured the first few after the first series of the show aired in the UK (I blogged about the book series for the first time last May) and caught up with the rest since. I've generally loved the sexy, witty satire on which these books are based, and I think Sookie, the protagonist and narrator, is a stand-out voice amongst all of the books I've read over the last few years. 

The premise of this particular one is that Sookie goes to Eric's, her vampire boyfriend, house,  and finds him feeding on a girl who is then found dead on his front lawn. However bad this looks to her, the circumstances are all a bit fishy, so she tries to get to the bottom of it whilst also dealing with her fae family and various other things. She still has the cluviel dor in her possession, which is a rare and desirable faery protection object, so inevitably this puts her in the firing line too, although the body count is much lower for this book than for others in the series.

"Mr Northman?" she said, her hand dropping to her side like a stone. "I'm Detective Cara Ambroselli."
"Detective Ambroselli, you seem to know who I am already. This is my dearest one, Sookie Stackhouse."
"Is there really a dead person on the lawn?" I asked. "Who is she?" I didn't have to make up the curiosity and anxiety in my voice. I really, really wanted to know.
"We were hoping you could help us with that," the detective said. "We're pretty sure the dead woman was leaving your house Mr. Northman."
"Why do you think so? You're sure it was this house?" Eric said.
"Vampire bites on her neck, party clothes, your front yard. Yeah, we're pretty sure," Ambroselli said drily. "If you could just step over here, keeping your feet on the stepping-stones..."

However....this book is not Charlaine Harris' best. It must be so tricky writing the 12th book of a 13th book series, with some many loose-ends to tie and characters to reconcile, whilst giving this book and individual plotline that hypes up the 13th book sufficiently to be a fitting climax to the series. It must be a bit of a nightmare for her. The trouble is, it's starting to show.

It's not so much that this book is bad: it's very easy to read and I raced through it, always wanting to read one more chapter, and I still like Sookie's voice and personality. The problem is that it feels like Harris has run out of steam, and this book feels kind of flat and lifeless compared to others in the series. We hear a lot of the day-to-day admin of Sookie's life, which obviously isn't as exciting as when she's battling deranged werewolves, and a lot of the main characters don't actually feature; if they do, they're usually in peripheral roles that don't make the most of them or adequately express their relationships with Sookie or each other. Eric is oft mentioned but rarely seen after the actual incident, Bill has become nothingy and the fae are featured but awkwardly, I felt, and in a way that forces them centre stage when I'm not sure that's the place for them. Also, there's a big fat occurrence at the climax of the book which clearly pinpoints the way things are going to end, and it all feels a bit forced. 

It's a filler book, basically, leading us to the end of the series. Not the best, but still a good holiday read.

Title: Deadlocked: A True Blood Novel

Author: Charlaine Harris

Publisher: Gollancz 

Date: May 2012

Format: Hardback, 327 pages, and I bought it.

  





In My Mailbox: Holiday Edition

Hello all, and apologies for my prolonged absence, aside from my little pop-up appearances on 12 Books 12 Months, which I'd like to thank Ali for again. Things have been a littllleee stressful, shall we say, and unfortunately all interest of sitting at my computer after hours just fell away into the ether, and all I wanted to do with my downtime was watch Mad Men and read books completely unaccountably in the darling little cafe that opened up a month or two ago just down the road from my flat. It was a little scary, after angling all my efforts towards the words on my computer screen an' all, but I think I'm over the worst of it now, which is no bad thing because, at the last count, I have eight books hanging around for review (!) and perhaps need to get them done before I forget the main plot points and the protagonist's name.

Anyway, I thought I'd make a start with an In My Mailbox post, hosted as ever by The Story Siren, detailing the books I devoured on a blissful stress-bursting holiday to Croatia, from whence I returned yesterday. Reviews of all to follow the inevitably epic Union Jack-waving, bunting-laced, Coronation chicken-flavoured Jubilee weekend which starts tomorrow in the UK. Yay for the Queen! And now to the books:

 I picked up 'Eugenie Grandet' by Honore de Balzac at my local library quite impulsively whilst looking for Croatian travel guides in the week before I was off on my hols. This is a book that I've been meaning to read for about a year now, after hearing Rose Tremain endorse it as 'the book she'd most like to pass onto the next generation' at the Vintage Classics Day at Foyle's on Charing Cross Rd back in May last year. Apparently, she's also done the TV adaptation for this book, which is currently in development with Lime Pictures.

I changed tack a bit for the next book I read:'Deadlocked: A True Blood Novel' by Charlaine Harris.  This is the twelfth of thirteen planned Sookie Stackhouse novels (that the thirteenth one is the final one was confirmed the other day) and since becoming a bit obsessed with True Blood the HBO TV show, I've bought them all as soon as they've been released. I suppose it's my happy concession to the vampire craze :)


 


Then came 'The Sisters Brothers' by Patrick Dewitt, a stunningly-covered book that was sent to me as part of the last round of books from the More4 TV Book Club. What a book. Really looking forward to reviewing this one.  

 

 

I then arrived to the party about 3 years after the main players left it by finally reading 'One Day' by David Nicholls, although unfortunately after my husband had been somewhat destroyed by it, so the spoiler for everyone else was not a spoiler for me. Ho hum. FYI, I did not find it hard to relate to Emma.

Then, shock horror, I was out of books! (At least, until Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy became free.) This, 'Frenchman's Creek' by Daphne du Maurier, was hanging around the hotel lobby, waiting to be borrowed, and from amongst the stiff competition posed by German translations of the Scandinavian crime classics and Jackie Collins' 'The Stud', I picked up this as 'Rebecca' is such a fave (it was actually a fairly close run thing).

Thanks to this book, I realise now that what everyone needs in their life is a French philosopher-pirate.




And to the last! I'm still reading John le Carre's 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' as I write this, and I think I know what's going on. I think. (Cough.)


Look for reviews of all of these, plus a few more, in the next few weeks.  





Book Quote Friday: Disguising the Big Stuff behind Vampires and Wolves

     I know, the last thing the world needs is another book blogger talking about vampires and werewolves. I’ll say it here: this is not a post about Twilight or any other YA adult vampire series. Nope, what I’m about to talk about here is the sexy older sister of those series, who’s had a couple of bad marriages, owns a gun maybe and has more than a few [emotional] scars. She is also hilarious and terrifying and has some big things to say about some big ol’ things. Yep, you guessed it: I’m talking about Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series.

 







How Pathetic is your Fallacy?

     Pathetic fallacy is a somewhat clichéd device, most often seen when a distressed person walks around in the rain or a happy couple frolic in the sun, but something I like to do as a reader is create my own i.e. read books in locations that reflect their content, location or tone to enhance my enjoyment of them.

     I spent the last week in a tiny Austrian village near Salzburg and it was as you might picture it – epic mountains, rustic detailing, piles and piles of snow. You might think of this is the ideal place to splash out on winter sports kit and go play in the snow, but seeing as I definitely do not ski, and everyone else in the party does, for me it is the perfect place to read. So, rather than packing skis and helmets, I packed my snow boots, a notebook and oodles and oodles of books.