More Southern Vamps

Club Dead, by Charlaine Harris

These books are so fun and easy, I just love them! They’re like soap operas, only more interesting. In this one, Bill and Sookie take a break, and then Bill gets kidnapped and Sookie gets to go find him. Of course, as with the last 2 books, she ends up getting her ass kicked and having to do things that she’s not comfortable with, like killing Bill’s ex-girlfriend. Also she meets a Werewolf and falls in lust, but his ex gets in the way, and she gets to spend some more time with Bill’s boss, during which he keeps trying to have sex with her. In this book we meet a goblin! And his name is “Hob”, which I thought was pretty cute.

Oh and I almost forgot: she finds out a little more about the vampires’ community structure. Her hometown is located in Area 5, and her boyfriend is like the boss of it. Her boyfriend’s boss, Eric, is actually the Sheriff of their little region of Louisiana. And furthermore, Eric has a boss: the Queen of Louisiana. She is mentioned a few times, and it’s her secret job that gets Bill kidnapped, but we don’t meet her. We do, however, meet the King of Mississippi.

I like reading these books, but damn if they are unforgettable. I had to wiki “Charlaine Harris” just to remember the title.

Dead to the World, by Charlaine Harris

At the end of the previous book, Sookie sort of leaves Bill. At the beginning of this one, we learn that she actually, seriously left him—he cheated on her in Club Dead, and even though according to vampire mystique he pretty much had no say in the matter she decided to hold it against him anyway, and also I think it had a little to do with the fact that since she met him she’s getting her ass kicked every few days.

So when the book opens its New Year’s, and I think maybe a few months have passed since she dumped him. She’s lonely, she misses him, but she’s staying firm.

Coming home from the bar that night, she finds a naked and amnesic Eric on the side of the road. He is no longer the vain asshole she’s been forced to deal with the past 3 books—he’s sweet! And nice! And a little childlike! What girl can resist that? She manages to resist it like 4 days, by the way.

She calls Eric’s second-in-command, Pam, and learns that they have been targeted by some witches who want to control all the supernatural goings-on in Shreveport. After some negotiating, Sookie is convinced to baby-sit Eric while everyone else tries to figure out to get the witches to lift their curse on Eric, and how to stop whatever their plan is for Eric’s bar and shit. And then the next day, Sookie’s brother disappears! This poor girl’s hardships never end! She can’t even call on Bill for help because he’s in Peru, working on some more of the Queen’s business.

So there’s some investigating on everyone’s part, the witches are defeated, Eric gets his memory back while also losing his few days with Sookie (for the best, because if the vain asshole knew he’d slept with her he’d annoy the shit out of her forever), and Sookie solves up the Plot B, entitled “where in the world is Jason Stackhouse?”. Answer: the manwhore was taken by this chick’s boyfriend. The chick and boyfriend just happen to be wereleopards. So now, Jason is a freaking wereleopard. (The boyfriend was hoping if he turned Jason into a wereleopard the chick wouldn’t prefer Jason over him. It’s a kind of retarded subplot.)

There’s an excerpt from book 5 at the end, and we learn that Jason is totally cool with being a supernatural being, so way to tie up that loose end, Charlaine.