« American Sleazeball
What’s it All About, Reilly? »

Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris

Grade: B-

I’m going to start this review by saying I’m a huge fan of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series. It’s funny and irreverent, yet smart and at times, unexpectedly deep. The character of Sookie is fascinating because she’s not always what she seems. She’s a big-boobed, blue-eyed blonde who’s a bit of a ditz, sure, but she can be as sharp and resourceful as a seasoned PI, surprisingly insightful, and fiercely protective of her friends and family. This is the sixth book of the series and I’ve watched her grow from a naive, ignorant virgin who’s a little afraid of the world to a fierce little warrior in her own right who’d kick vampire and werewolf asses if she needs to. At last count, she has killed exactly one vampire and one werewolf, but she’s dealing with it day by day and tries very hard not to let it change her as a person. That means she’s not like Anita Blake who enjoys bragging about her kills and practicing her “dead inside” look in front of a mirror. In this installment of the series, we find Sookie contemplating a relationship with Quinn the were-tiger whom she met in Dead as a Doornail, while still hurting from a break-up with her ex-boyfriend and devirginizer, Vampire Bill. As if that’s not enough, she still also misses Eric Northman, the viking vampire that she took care of and slept with while he had amnesia, and finds herself wondering from time to time if he every truly cared for her or he’s just fascinated with her because of the telepathy thing. Oh, and there’s a story, too, I guess. This time around, Sookie has to deal with the stuff that her cousin Hadley–whom she thought was dead but was actually made into a vampire and is now definitely dead–had left behind. To complicate matters, the Vampire Queen of Louisiana, who was Hadley’s lover, wants Sookie to find a very important bracelet that Hadley may have stolen from her, and oh–somebody really doesn’t want her to be looking through Hadley’s shit and is willing to kill to stop her. All the little plotlines are wrapped up a little too neatly and a little too… what’s the word… after-thought-ish, in the end for my taste, but at least there weren’t any loose threads hanging around or anything. Right?

For those of you who are uninitiated in the world of Sookie Stackhouse, you might not want to start with this book. There’s a lot of stuff going on here that if you hadn’t read the previous books, you will miss an awful lot of in-jokes and will probably feel a little lost. In fact, so much stuff happens in this book that I have to put it down in a list so I can remember.

1) Vampire Bill has a new girlfriend, much to Sookie’s dismay, and he likes to bring her around to Merlotte’s, the bar where Sookie has been working for several years… while Sookie is on duty.
2) Jason, Sookie’s brother, who was bitten by a werewolf and is now a werewolf himself, becomes a father-to-be when his girlfriend, Crystal, who was the one who bit him in the first place whose cousin (?) bit him for dating Crystal, becomes pregnant. Unfortunately, she miscarries, and it’s up to Sookie to find a doctor who will be willing to treat a werewolf.
3) Quinn, whom Sookie met while helping out Alcide Herveaux, the werewolf she sometimes made out with, has come around to Bon Temps to court Sookie and won’t stop calling her “babe”.
4) We find out the reason why every man, supernatural or normal, wants to get into Sookie’s pants, and it is totally bullshit. There was nothing in the previous books that would indicate it to be fact. It felt like something the author pulled out of her ass.
5) Because of #4, does that mean that we readers can now write off Eric Northman as Sookie’s future lover man?
6) The whole Debbie Pelt thing is finally resolved here… a little too hurried, a little too convenient, but a done deal. I was kind of hoping that it was going to turn into a running joke of the series, but Harris definitely kills it in this book. It seems that the Alcide thing has also been resolved, since he now has a new girlfriend… but we all know how well that worked out for Debbie Pelt, don’t we?

I don’t know how to feel about this book because on one hand, I enjoyed it an awful lot. On the other, there were so many things about it that just really pissed me off. I’m a Sookie-Eric shipper, but I have also always liked Vampire Bill. What we find out about him in this book is so out of character and so out of left field that I was left to scratch my head, asking myself: how on earth did I miss that? It just felt like character assasination. Sure, Bill is secretive and a little bit shady sometimes, but how did he go from “perfect guy” to adulterer, then vile seducer of virgins for nefarious purposes? It reminded me too much of what happened to Richard in the Anita Blake series and made me want to weep. I mean, maybe the author thought that by making Bill a complete jerk all of a sudden, her more conservative readers would be more accepting of Sookie having sexual relations with anything possessing of fur or fangs or both. Because of this, I feel like the author is purposely making Bill a bad guy so that she can freely shove Quinn down my throat.

I’m not even sure if I like Quinn, okay? He smells like Micah to me and I just threw up a little bit in my mouth while typing that. It’s not even that I mind Sookie having a new boyfriend each and every book ’cause James Bond has new girl each film, but what–no, who I do mind is Quinn himself. He gets more exposure in this book than Bill, Eric, or Alcide ever got in the previous books. There’s something… I don’t know, untrustworthy about him. He’s pushy and I felt suffocated each time he showed up on the page. He’s like that guy that all your girlfriends tell you is a catch, but when you meet him, you instantly decide that you’re not going to like him. Plus he’s an events coordinator. That’s like… I don’t know, a half-step above a club promoter. Eww.

As for the story, I enjoyed reading about Sookie getting more involved with the supernatural politics and all, but I’m almost afraid that she’s turning into… one of those characters who have super-duper powers, develops more powers each subsequent book, until she’s the most powerful creature evah and everyone and their brothers want to have sex with her because she’s the prettiest and the mostest and the most brilliant game in town. Something like this happened to one of my most favorite fictional characters once and I still haven’t gotten over it. I live in fear that Sookie will turn into the Ultimate Mary Sue one of these books and I have to set her on fire. Thankfully, she does not turn into a kickass ninja fighter during the scuffle in the middle of the Queen’s party and save the day. In fact, she hides until it is safe for her to run away and I admired her for that. That’s what I would have done, but I’m a coward like that and it just made Sookie more real to me. She isn’t the Pink Power Ranger nor does she turn into one for no reason whatsoever. What I like about Sookie is that she doesn’t willingly get herself involved in the supernatural drama, but when she does, she deals with the situation as best as she can, even if that means running and hiding. She doesn’t play hero or martyr, but reacts as a real woman would have done. That’s why I read each and every one of these books as they come out. I do love Sookie Stackhouse and the last thing I want to happen is for her to morph into Anita Blake.

Anyway, I had a blast reading this book, but I’m a little pissed that I bought it in hardcover. It’s worth buying for a reread, but I should have waited for paperback. I had wanted to see more Eric-Sookie action and was kind of hoping I’d see more of that, but instead I get… Quinn. Ugh. Also, what’s Charlaine Harris doing with the character of Vampire Bill? He’s moving so far away from the Vampire Bill of the first book that I almost expect him to grow a mustache in the next book and stroke it while thinking of evil things to do to Sookie. Nevertheless I still love this series and will still buy the next book. If the HBO series based on Sookie also comes about, I’ll get HBO for it, too. Even though this book wasn’t as great as the last three books of the series, it was still pretty enjoyable. Check it out if you’re a fan of Sookie Stackhouse. If you haven’t read any of the other books in this series, however, I recommend that you begin with the first one.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 7th, 2006 at 9:48 pm and is filed under Books, Grade: B, Romance: Paranormal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

23 Responses to “Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris”

  1. Jennifer R
    Posted: May 7th, 2006 at 9:32 pm
    1

    So much for me buying this in hardback now. I’m glad I didn’t buy it yesterday the way I intended to.

    You know, I said after the last book that this series was SO going to turn into Anita Blake (er, here:
    http://fullmoon.typepad.com/bo.....doorn.html),
    and apparently it has? And Quinn is STILL around?

    Waaaaah. Time to write off another series, isn’t it?

  2. Bam
    Posted: May 7th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
    2

    Jennifer, I’d like to give it a chance. I wrote off the Anita Blake series a long time ago, but I still read ‘em, anyway.

    I’m a masochist like that.

  3. lady t
    Posted: May 8th, 2006 at 11:56 am
    3

    I really like the Sookie series,too(and have high hopes for the HBO series,especially since Alan Ball from Six Feet Under is the top guy on that)and do hope that it doesn’t get too sexed up.

    Not that I mind sexed up(LKH is too damn addictive)but it IS nice to have some plot that doesn’t revolve around the lead character’s sex life. Kelley Armstrong and Kim Harrison seem to be able to have strong female heroines who are not making decisions with their crotches and we need more of that on the shelves to balance out some of the paranormal panty raids:)

  4. jmc
    Posted: May 8th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
    4

    Hi, bam! I’ve been lurking for awhile, but I don’t think I’ve commented before…unless maybe it was about Nathan Fillion, yum.

    Anyhow, I just finished Definitely Dead, too. My grade was a little lower than yours, but not by much. I didn’t think about the Bill revelations as a character assassination, mostly because I never really liked him. As I posted elsewhere, every time Harris wrote about his “sweet, cold voice”, all I could think was “ick”. But if you liked him, the bad news was kind of out of left field.

    My guess about the explanation for Sookie’s attractiveness to vampires (and I’m totally pulling this out of the air, no evidence at all) is that Harris paid attention to reader complaints that Sookie was turning into an Anita-Black-wannabe.

    My major complaint was how related everything in this book was to the books that came before. Not a stand alone book. And not worth hard cover price, imo.

  5. Bam
    Posted: May 8th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
    5

    Jmc, you are absolutely correct. There is absolutely NOTHING new about this book. Everything is related to the previous books (except for the revelation about Sookie’s secret ancestors) and if you were a new reader, you’d be absolutely lost.

    I thought Bill’s “sweet, cold voice” was hot. But then again, I liked Bill until he became an adulterer AND a liar AND a seducer of innocents for nefarious purposes. In fact, I still like Bill despite all of that.

    I wonder if it’s because I always pictured Nathan Fillion in his place.

  6. Danielle
    Posted: May 8th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
    6

    I’ve been lurking here for a while, too, and I danced a little Internet dance when you mentioned in another review that you liked the Sookie Stackhouse series.

    I’m glad I’m holding out for this book to come to paperback. I strayed for a while from this series, and bought “Dead as a Doornail” a couple of days ago, because I thought it was the newest one (damn you, Barnes&Noble, with your trickery!).

    Bill was one of my favorite characters until the whole “She’s my Sire, I love her, fuck you, Sookie, and I may or may not be cheating on you I won’t tell you because I’M A VAMPIRE” crap that happened in the .. second book? I thought that was the beginning of a somewhat half-hearted attempt at character assassination. It made me dislike Alcide for a long time because I just wasn’t convinced that he had a thing for Sookie (I guess I have to read DD to find out WHY she’s so attractive), but now, I love him, and I love Eric, too. Every time I see Bill appear, though, something just makes me go, “WHY BILL WHY WHYYYYY.” They (Sookie+Bill), and somewhat of Calvin Norris’ attraction to Sookie, are the only real convincing relationship (minus Sookie+Eric, because that’s just HOT) out of this series.

  7. Bam
    Posted: May 8th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
    7

    I totally agree with you on the Bill and Calvin thing, danielle.

    With Calvin, he’s just so damned earnest and serious about wanting to take care of Sookie, that you can just want to go “awww” even though he’s a little creepy.

    With Bill, I don’t know… I just kind of want to hug him. I felt the same for Richard when LKH began to shit all over his character. Eventually, I just wanted to take a shotgun and shoot him in the head like Geena Davis with the Brundlefly in the Fly.

  8. Irysangel
    Posted: May 9th, 2006 at 4:04 am
    8

    TOTALLY with you on the Quinn = creepy thing. I couldn’t stand him, and I wondered just what the hell Sookie saw in him, other than he’s a were and has big equipment. Sookie, you little slut.

    I’m a total Sookie/Eric shipper too. I didn’t like the last book much because absolutely NOTHING was going on, romance-wise. This one was slightly better (and slightly worse, if you factor in Quinn) but I’ll continue to hope that she’ll get together with Eric the Northman…

    And if she doesn’t, maybe someone will write some hot, nasty shipper fic and I can just read that instead. *g*

  9. Bam
    Posted: May 9th, 2006 at 9:53 am
    9

    I’d like to read a hot, nasty Sookie/Eric shipper fic!

  10. Sam
    Posted: May 10th, 2006 at 8:54 am
    10

    She should have stopped after book one.
    The rest were just an ‘everybody loves Sookie-fest’ and it grated on my nerves. I couldn’t stand the heroine, and it ruined the series for me. I love Ms. Harris’s writing, but it didn’t save the series for me. I wish I’d never read the subsequent books, but I got them all for my birthday.
    Awww.
    Ugh.
    E-Bay.

  11. Jane
    Posted: May 11th, 2006 at 4:47 am
    11

    Wow. I am so glad I didn’t buy this book (I’ve bought all of them in the past). It’s now sitting on my table at home fresh from the library, but I think I am going to stick to my guns and not read it. I can have my own little fantasies about sookie/eric or sookie/bill. So agree with you re: events coordinator.

  12. Charity_S
    Posted: May 11th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
    12

    I really liked this book. It was a fast read (as they all are). I’d have to give it an A-. You’re absolutely right, Quin us just too, too, YUCK!

    Also, I didn’t really see where the whole first chapter had a damn thing to do with the rest of the book. That was kind of a let down.

    And, on your list of things in the book, Crystal was not the one who bit Jason. It was Calvin’s brother (or cousin?).

  13. Bam
    Posted: May 11th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
    13

    You’re totally right, Charity.

    I’ll correct it right away. Spanks!

  14. Charity_S
    Posted: May 12th, 2006 at 6:40 am
    14

    You know, when I went to bed last night I realized I had no right to correct you on that and I apologize. Maybe the mommy in me? So, I’m sorry I should have just kept my mouth shut.

    I have just recently discovered this blog and am enjoying it very much!

  15. Bam
    Posted: May 12th, 2006 at 7:53 am
    15

    Gurl, people correct me all the time on this thing. How am I supposed to know that I’m making a danged fool out of myself if people didn’t tell me?

    I’d prefer it if you did, thank you! :)

  16. Charity_S
    Posted: May 12th, 2006 at 8:13 am
    16

    Well, then, seein’ as you don’t mind…… I could suggest some clarifications.

    Debbie, Calvin, Jason, and Crystal are shifters not werewolves. Alcide is a werewolf and I wish she’d have made that coupling better.

    Debbie - Were-fox in this book. I could swear though, that, in DTTW that she has Debbie say that she turns into a lynx.

    Jason, Crystal, Calvin, and the rest of HotShot are were-panthers.

    I vote for Eric all the way. Bill gives me the creepy crawlies, and always has. He’s just too, I don’t know, but I don’t like him much.

    Bill’s new girlfriend was introduced in the anthology “Bite”.

    I also agree that this is not a stand alone like all the others in the series. And you almost need to read the short story in the anthology to follow some of this.

    And can some one explain why Claude is in the begining of this? Other than the fact he was in the short story?

    And now that I have proven myself to be a HUGE geek I’ll sign off and head over to add your blog as a link from mine.

  17. Bam
    Posted: May 12th, 2006 at 9:30 am
    17

    Charity fucking rocks, you guys. She’s welcome here to correct my ass any day!

  18. Charity_S
    Posted: May 12th, 2006 at 11:42 am
    18

    Why thank you Bam. But, I promises, I’ll try and not comment too much. It is almost embarrassing how much crap I’ve retained from Sookie and how little I can remember from any text book. Definitely sad.

  19. Bam
    Posted: May 12th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
    19

    Shoot, gurl, comment as much as I want. That’s why I made an ugly comment button. Draws the eye ’cause I want people to comment. ;)

    Speaking of sad, ask me how much Firefly trivia and dialogue I’ve got retained in my noggin.

  20. Charity_S
    Posted: May 12th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
    20

    Well, DAMN! I wish I had some trivia questions to ask about the shows/movie, but (gasp) I have never watched either one. I know over on the CherryForums they were talking about the movie and some thought that something about it was a HUGE violation of character for one of them.

  21. Sana-chan
    Posted: Jun 26th, 2006 at 7:55 pm
    21

    Charity, don’t feel bad, I’m a Sookie dork too. I threw my back out a few weeks ago and went through an alarming number of books. I read Definitely Dead and then reread the entire series from start to finish, and RE-read Definitely Dead. Oh yeah, I’m a dork.

    But one thing I started to really notice this time around was the inconsistencies. Little ones, but things that bugged me, like Debbie being a legal assistant in one book and… well something else in a later one, can’t remember what though. Now I need to go check up on that werefox/werelynx thing. Plus I distinctly remember Alcide saying Debbie’s younger sister was NOT a shifter of any kind, and I didn’t think her parents were Weres. The inconsistencies aren’t big enough to turn me off to the series, but the little details bug me, because they’re part of what make the world so believable, and it jars me out of the world when I notice them.

    Bam, I kinda liked Quinn. (Though the babe thing was annoying.) He seemed like the first guy who was interested in Sookie without some weird ulterior motive. I really didn’t think Bill’s character got assassinated, because I was totally over him by the first chapter of the second book, and he really didn’t seem like all that wonderful of a guy in the first book. Of course maybe I just like Quinn because I love cats and he turns into a big ol’ kitty? But no, because so does Micah and I hate him with a passion that matches your own.

    OMG, longest comment ever, sorry about that, done now!

  22. random
    Posted: Sep 17th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
    22

    Hey Bam, ‘nother lurker here. I’ve been reading your reviews for about a month, since I stumbled on your site and one of your reviews actually made me laugh my ass off out loud (when something written can make me laugh out loud, that’s a feat).

    Anywho, I also am a self-proclaimed Sookie fan. I’ve been reading the series since Dead Until Dark came out. I really love how Harris has kept the development of Sookie at a very natural pace and how human she seems. Her worries are realistic, and I love how she has been able to come up with the idea of introducing vamps to modern-day society and make it seem believable. Plus, major props that Harris hasn’t turned Sookie into a gang-banging slut with seven page sex scenes (take a lesson Laurell K. Hamilton) and has instead focused on character development and story arcs.

    Definitely Dead’s pacing did seem a bit slow, the action waited until the last few pages and the “official” climax was no biggie. However, major shocker with Vampire Bill’s secret reveal, I was gasping at that one. I stopped liking Bill after the whole adultery thing, but I did like the fact that he still hung around and wasn’t completely written off. Quinn’s whole “hey, babe” thing is a bit annoying, but the possiblity of some d/s scenes is exciting (not to mention that the Sook won’t have to worry about eating garlic, being anemic, or having a chill in bed with that tiger). And c’mon, he’s BALD!! Baldies are hotties - Yul Brenner, Vin Diesel, Arnold Vosloo…*sigh*.

    BTW, I never watched Firefly, but I LOVED Serenity. I bought the DVD, plus I have some beta tapes of the movie from a press package sent to my ex. Is there a season DVD out yet of Firefly? If so, I’m there.

  23. Lucy S.
    Posted: Dec 10th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
    23

    I know I am late to be making comments, but in response to this -

    “4) We find out the reason why every man, supernatural or normal, wants to get into Sookie’s pants, and it is totally bullshit. ….

    5) Because of #4, does that mean that we readers can now write off Eric Northman as Sookie’s future lover man?”
    *********************************

    I think the answer for #5 - is that now we can expect Eric and Sookie to get together because previously Eric was leary about what kind of mysterious hold did Sookie have over him ? - was it some kind of secret magical spell ? etc.
    Eric is someone who wants to know why, and to analyze the situation before getting more involved.
    But, now that we know the reason why there is that elusive attraction - then Eric can get involved with Sookie. It is a ‘reasonable attraction’. Eric can accept this now. And I think the personalities of Sookie and of Eric are very compatible. They are both robust, healthy, and attractive people.

    I hope Eric and Sookie do get together, and stay together.

SexyComments by BorkWeb

  • Authors and Readers

  • Ebook Publishers

  • More Links

    • Yo FTC!