Charlaine Harris has become one of the most popular, and world-famous, fantasy fiction writers in the world thanks to her Sookie Stackhouse series. The books have not only sold in their millions, theyāve also gone on to inspire the hit TV showĀ True BloodĀ which is about to enter its fifth season in the US next month. Following 2011āsĀ Dead Reckoning, Harris has recently released the twelfth book in the seriesĀ Deadlocked, which is also the penultimate book ahead of next yearās finaleĀ Dead Ever After.
DeadlockedĀ finds Sookie in a state of confusion following the discovery of her vampire lover Eric feeding from a half-Were woman whilst entertaining the Vampire King of Nevada Felipe de Castro. Felipe is investigating the disappearance of his Louisiana regent Victor Madden. Things take a sinister turn when the woman Eric was feeding from is found dead outside the vampireās house whilst Felipe is interrogating Sookie, Eric and Pam about Victorās disappearance. With an eager police detective on their backs and some strange goings-on with Sookieās fae relatives to deal with, it seems that the folk of Bon Temps have another mystery to solve as supernatural goings-on threaten to cause chaos once again.
Having Sookie Stackhouse back in our hands is always a good thing and Harris knows exactly how to keep us hooked with her engaging prose. Sookieās world is one that balances everyday drama with a supernatural twist. As always sheās relatable and engaging and often her stream of consciousness approach to engaging with the reader is one of the things we love about the book. She continues to be ballsy whilst maintaining the practicality that makes her such a loveable heroine.
One of the main focuses of the book this time round is Sookieās relationship with Eric. We can see from the bookās opening pages that their romance is beginning to show signs of strain as Ericās commitments to the vampire world seem to be prioritised above Sookieās needs. Bill Compton continues to pursue her taking every opportunity to point out why heās better for her than Eric. Alcide is also on the cusp of the story following his embarrassing and misinformed attempt to seduce Sookie in Dead Reckoning.
Fans of the series will be pleased to hear that many of the minor characters get a bit more to do in this instalment. Tara is heavily pregnant and expecting twins with her husband JB, Sam continues to exasperate Sookie thanks to his relationship with aggressive Were Jannalynn and Sookieās fae relatives Niall, Dermot and Claude get plenty of page time. We were also glad to see Bubba return, albeit briefly, introducing one of the major obstacles Sookie will have to deal in the final book.
The only criticism we have ofĀ DeadlockedĀ is that is does feel very much like an in-between book. Itās a build up to next yearās finaleĀ Dead Ever AfterĀ and as a consequence itās not quite as action-packed and twist filled as previous books in the series have been. Donāt get us wrong thereās plenty to get your teeth into (pardon the pun) but it lacks a bit of the oomph that has made other books in the series such a fantastic read.
DeadlockedĀ is another great entry into the Sookie Stackhouse series and weāre definitely looking forward to finding out how Sookieās story finishes in the final book. We canāt give the ending away but a dangerous twist is expected in the next book due to Sookieās actions at the end ofĀ Deadlocked. What will that be? We can only speculate at this point but you bet your ass weāll be back in Bon Temps the minute we get the opportunity so we can find out.