Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13)

Book: Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13)
Author: Charlaine Harris
Format: e-book
ASIN: B009NY43NY
No of pages: 336 pages

Synopsis:

There are secrets in the town of Bon Temps, ones that threaten those closest to Sookie—and could destroy her heart….

Sookie Stackhouse  finds it easy to turn down the request of former barmaid Arlene when she wants her job back at Merlotte’s. After all, Arlene tried to have Sookie killed. But her relationship with Eric Northman is not so clearcut. He and his vampires are keeping their distance…and a cold silence. And when Sookie learns the reason why, she is devastated.

Then a shocking murder rocks Bon Temps, and Sookie is arrested for the crime.

But the evidence against Sookie is weak, and she makes bail. Investigating the killing, she’ll learn that what passes for truth in Bon Temps is only a convenient lie. What passes for justice is more spilled blood. And what passes for love is never enough…

Review:

I’m giving this book 3 stars (out of 5).

I’m not really where to start this review. This book signifies the end of the very entertaining True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse series (Finally! Thank God!) 🙂

The reason for the obvious contradiction in the previous sentence is: the books should have ended long back.. at least 4 books back. That said, I still picked up each of the subsequent books just to see where the story went.

Charlaine Harris did manage to eke out this book, but I’m guessing at the cost of her fan base. Most people were rooting for Eric to come back as the Love of Sookie’s life. And it was surely disappointing that he bowed out instead. What Charlaine did try to do was close out all the loose ends. It’s a different matter that I didn’t know 2 of the characters were loose ends. I had to go back through the series just to figure out where did they pop up from!

The good things about the book:

• It ended the series: very important point!
• Sookie possibly has a chance of having the baby/ies she’s mooning for since the last book or so, since she’s finally hooked up with Sam
  • Actually I’m a bit surprised at other reviewers being shocked by this move. Sam has been the most consistent feature in all the books. At the very beginning of the series Sookie mentions being attracted to him, but didn’t want to get her workplace weird, so she kept the attraction to herself. So this was possibly the most logical move.
• Most loose ends tied off, including Claude, Amelie, Tara
• Pam’s the new Sheriff of Area 5 Louisiana
• Loved the last line: I’m Sookie Stackhouse. I belong here.

The bad things about the book:

• The fact that the series dragged on so far.
• The story was not the most tightly written. A couple of time I had to actually cross-reference with the previous books, something I’ve never done with any fiction series – EVER!
• Eric went out with a whimper.
  • So i knew it was ending the moment Sookie used the cluviel dor on Sam in the previous book. But did Eric need to take such a washed-out exit? For a character which has always displayed passion, he was surprisingly missing in presence in the entire book.
• The weirdness that was Claude – excuse me?! Gay Fairy recruits Psycho Homophobes who are the ones who actually end the game plan for him when they get to know his orientation?! I’m sure I wasn’t the only one feeling the oddness.
• Even more weird communication from Niall: A letter blooms on a rosebush? Whatever happened to popping out from thin air? Afterall Claude escaped, so Faery wasn’t exactly shut off, was it?

Overall, I didn’t put down the book while reading it, but I wasn’t invested in it either. I’ve always liked Charlaine Harris’s style of writing, but this series stretched her out too far. Hope she takes time to refresh herself and give us something new, and different. 🙂