After finishing college (for the most part) I was able to indulge my self and read the new Sookie Stackhouse book Dead in the Family. Along with simply being able to read the book and not have to worry about reading an assignment for class (although I did have to worry about putting off a take-home final) I indulged even further and allowed myself to finish the book in one sitting, at 4:15 in the morning. I simply kept reading and after a certain point I decided to just give in and overall it was a wonderful way to kick-off my summer reading. There will be spoilers, so beware!!!
I have only recently come to the Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse novels, although I have seen their unique covers and titles for a number of years. After reading about the general idea for the series on Wikipedia, I decided why not? So I bought the first book. Needless to say I was sucked in and subsequently bought the rest of the series totaling nine books. Then I eagerly began to await for the collection of short stories. Since then (about October) I have been waiting for the next novel as have other fans. (I also succumbed to True Blood the television show, but 24 one-hour episodes did not last very long. )
Dead in the Family takes place after the very intense Dead and Gone. Having said that I felt that Dead in the Family was a bit of disappointment. Now I have a theory to back this up. I haven't followed the series from the beginning so I was not able to have the experience of waiting reading a book and then waiting a whole year for the next book. I read everything in one big lump and was pretty swept up by the whole series. So I think I over anticipated this one. I also think that since Dead and Gone was so action packed it was a good choice to have a book like Dead in the Family come after it because two back to back action packed books might have been a little too much, and I know authors need to spread their ideas out, especially with a series as large as the Sookie Stackhouse novels (I think there is supposed to be a total of 14 or so by the end of the series).
I thoroughly enjoyed Dead in the Family, despite my disappointment. As with any series, I love being able to revisit characters whose lives and world I enjoy reading about. Ms. Harris did not disappoint in this area, there were glimpses of all my favorite characters, including Alcide Herveaux who is one of my favorite characters, and Bill, who seems to have less of a role now (I would have liked to see more of him even though I like Eric more). I think Dead in the Family works well to (hopefully) set up the next big conflict in Sookie's life. I believe something will be coming to a head pretty soon with Victor Madden, the vampire over-seeing Louisiana for Felipe de Castro, the King of Nevada. Victor seems to be threatened by Eric and the loyalty people have towards him. Also the fact that he is "married" to a telepath (Sookie) and has connections to the local werewolf pack (Alcide) and the odd shape-shifter (Sam, Sookie's boss). Needless to say, things are a bit tense for Eric right now and he has to be very careful what he does so that Victor does not have the opportunity to discredit him and cause Felipe to possibly permanently remove Eric. At the same time, because of his connections, Victor does not to simply call Eric out, so like most bad guys he has to be sneaky and deceiving. This also puts a great deal of tension on Sookie because she is involved with Eric.
To complicate things even more, Eric's maker shows up with Eric's 'younger brother' in tow. This younger brother just happens to be Alexi Romanov, as in son of Tsar Nicholas Romanov whose family was killed during the revolutions in Russia. I liked the idea that Ms. Harris brought in a historical figure whose death was somewhat murky (yes there is Bubba too, but he is a whole different story altogether, and I missed him hoping he would pop up, but sadly there was no need for him). By the end of the book, I think everything is tied up quite nicely (although having a possible solution to the Victor problem disappear is slightly upsetting, but if the problem was taken care of what would happen in the next book?) leaving a perfect set up for the next conflict.
Of course, now I must wait a year for the next book to come out to find out how Bill is doing and how his relationship with Sookie will pan out, also how the Victor dilemma will end up. But I also look forward to seeing what happens with Sookie and Eric's relationship, Alcide, Sam, Pam, and so many others...I wonder if Quinn will come back? Hmmm....
Oh, and there's just one more thing! Did I mention how much I hate reading a new book in a series having forgotten many of the important things that have accumulated in the previous books? for the most part I've been able to deal with this easily and have simply gone back and read the previous books, but to go back and read 9 rather short (for me) books seems like a bit too much for me right now when I have so many other books simply begging to be read! Maybe I'll attempt to space them out over the summer and take notes this way I'll have them for when the next book comes out. On the other hand, that sounds a bit like homework and I'm not sure I want to drag that into the books I read for enjoyment...I guess Wikipedia will have to suffice for now.
Listening to: "Raised on Black and Tans" - Gaelic Storm
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