Dead to the World (Sookie Stackhouse Novels) (Hardcover)

Bill is off to Peru, on assignment, for a couple of weeks. The New Year's Eve celebration finally ends. Sookie's resolutions are to not get beaten up and to stay out of trouble. (Har-de-har-har!) The night is not even over and Sookie is driving home when she spies a man running, nude, down the road as if someone or something is after him. Turns out that he has amnesia. He has no memory of why he is tunning in the nude. He does not even know his name. Sookie does, of course. It is Eric! He is still scary and sexy, but no longer cruel and sly.

A coven of powerful witches have moved into the area. They plan to take over the businesses of the vampires. The leader, Hallow, cursed Eric with amnesia, but did not expect him to vanish. The witches put a huge bounty out for information on Eric's location. Sookie has the task of keeping Eric hidden in her home, until the evil witches are dealt with. Sookie knows this is dangerous, but she is more worried about how alluring the new, nicer Eric is. At the same time, Sookie's brother, Jason has disappeared.

**** If you do not read the previous books in this series, you will find yourself wondering why Sookie is worried about a few things. This book picks up a few weeks after the last one left off. As usual, the novel begins and ends the major plot of the story. But a few juicy sub-plots are left dangling, to be continued in the next. Those on-going tid-bits are one of the wonderful things the fans of this series enjoys very much! But this book does not touch on the Sookie, Bill, and Eric triangle as much. Bill is demoted to a minor character this time around.

The author is just as witty in her writing as always. Jason, Sookie's brother, is finally being pulled into the Supernatural mess as well. Lively (no pun intended), witty, intense, and just plain fun reading. Wonderful! ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Driving home from work early New Year's morning, (there was a huge party at Merlotte's Bar), Sookie sees a half-naked, shoeless man running down the road. When she stops to help the poor guy, she realizes it is Eric, charismatic owner of Club Fangtasia, and vampire Sheriff of Area 5, which encompasses Shreveport and Bon Temps. It appears that Eric has amnesia, and remembers nothing about his life except that he is a vampire. He doesn't even know why he is running, or where. He is only aware of his terror - a very strange state for the strong, confident warrior he has always been. We learn later from Eric's cohorts that a coven of powerful witches, who use their magic for dark purposes, are attempting to take control of all the supernaturals in Area 5 - vampires, werewolves, shifters, etc.. When Eric refused to cooperate with them, they cast a spell taking away his memory. Sookie brings Eric home to care for him, through sheer kindness. Her brother Jason interferes with her altruism, however, when Eric's second in command visits to figure out an emergency course of action. Eric must remain in hiding and Jason negotiates a whopping $35,000. babysitting fee for his sister. Sookie finds that Eric is no longer the suave, scary, business-first, head-honcho vampire that she had been accustomed to. He is now tender, sincere, attentive, romantic, protective of her and grateful for her loyalty and decency. Our heroine doesn't know what to make of this drastic change, until sparks begin to fly between the two. She then decides to go with the flow. After all, Bill has been gone a long time.

"Dead To The World's" pace is fast and the action is nonstop throughout. Jason goes missing, the evil witches are on the loose, Alcide Herveaux, the hunky werewolf (from "Club Dead"), and his pack become involved in what is to be a major battle between the forces of good and evil, new characters are introduced, and much more. Per usual Charlaine Harris fills her well written narrative with humor, suspense, and thrilling plot twists and turns. The finale is outrageously good! Terrific escapist reading. I couldn't put the novel down.
JANA