Review--Dead in the Family

A FAE WAR HAS LEFT THE SUPERNATURAL COMMUNITY OF BONS TEMPS, LOUISIANA , IN CHAOS--AND WAITRESS SOOKIE STACKHOUSE MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY DRAINED. AND STILL, THE PEACE AND QUIET SHE SO DESPERATELY CRAVES IS HARD TO COME BY...

Even with the blood of two vampires in her system, Sookie is having trouble healing from the terrible torture she endured at the hands of her great-grandfather's enemies during the brief but deadly Fae War. Worse are the emotional wounds--especially over the loss of her personal fairy godmother and the near death of her first love.

Sookie is hurt and she's mad. Just about the only bright spot in her life--besides the fact that she is, after all, still alive--is the love she thinks she feels for vampire Eric Northman, who is under scrutiny by the new vampire king because of their relationship.

As the political implications of the shifters' coming-out are beginning to be felt, Sookie'sconnection to one particular Were draws her into the dangerous debate. And, unknown to her, though the doors to Faery have been closed, there are still some fae on the human side--and one of them is angry at Sookie. Very, very angry.

It was an all day reading day! I started and finished the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel, formerly known as the Southern Vampire Novels--or something like that--Dead in the Family. The overpowering mystery element was once gone from the novels but it is slowly returning.

I must admit that I really did enjoy this series immensely when there was this strong mystery driven plot, but it has been lacking the past few novels. But it is trying to come back it seems and I am glad for it. There is definitely a mystery here much like the mysteries that have happened in the earlier books. If you've read those, then you can guess what the mystery element is. But I suppose it's really no big spoiler because it happens fairly early on in the story, a murder occurs. Won't say who though!

So having the classic mystery back of "who-done-it?" was nice. I missed it. I think it was two books ago, the mystery wasn't really mystery worthy and it made me hesitate to buy the book in hardback, but at 46% off and having a Borders giftcard, I thought it was a good deal not to pass up.

Anyway, the series is coming back to it original genre which was mystery. A splash of new characters and plot development also occur in the book as well. As the cover flap describes, the Weres and other shifter kind are having a debate with the public over matters of their needing to register like the vampires did. This is a hot topic of the book for the shifter variety and possibly opens more doors for plot development for future books. It was a strong matter in the book, but didn't do much to move the plot along so much.

Alcide returns along with his pack, some new members in that as well. One of which made me wary, but nothing really happened. One theory was wrong, but still I'm wary of them all the same and wonder if my unease will be answered in another book. The Weres were pretty important in this book since I mentioned the political matter. Not all are out in the public, but some are as it might have happened in the last book, can't really remember.

Other characters come along that are new and surprising as well and I wonder what will be done with them in future books. I don't want to give too much away, but I will say one is connected to Bill, who pops up here and there.

And of course the flap mentioned Eric's maker who comes to town as well with an unexpected guess. With all these supes and the already mentioned murder, you know that Sookie's in for some chaos over the next couple of days.

I think the political matters that have been popping up, even the vampire politics have made things a little more confusing at times. I mean I can follow along with majority of it, but there was a time when Eric was rambling off about different areas and rulers and it was just very confusing and a little hard to follow and I was wondering why we needed to know this.

Other characters return, both human and non, like Tara, who is soooo different from the Tara on the show! She learns some interesting surprises as well. And as the cover flap mentioned, not all the fae are gone, some are still there. And let me just say that one was totally surprising and somewhat confusing. I don't want to dwell on it, because it comes along with another of the mystery elements.

Overall, the book was good. It's getting a little complicated with the political developments which will span on to the next book for sure. But I am glad to see the mystery element is returning. So if you can't wait to read this book then go ahead and get it because it is good, if you can wait, then wait, because while it was good, there are still elements to it that make it hard to enjoy like the earlier books where the mystery was stronger.

My copy of Spirit Bound came today! Part of the reason I pushed myself to read, read, read and finish Dead in the Family. I'd say I'd try to read some tonight, but I'm not really committing to it since I've been reading all day. However I have all day tomorrow to read and my friend who already read and finished said it was good. Check out her review here.

Until later readers! You can expect my Spirit Bound review either tomorrow afternoon or fairly early on Friday!