BOOK REVIEW - Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris

Deadlocked is the twelfth book in the Sookie Stackhouse series (aka Southern Vampire Mysteries) and is written by Charlaine Harris. It was published on the 1^st May 2012 by Victor Gollancz Limited. I purchased this book

.

PLOT

With Felipe de Castro, the Vampire King of Louisiana (and Arkansas and Nevada), in town, it’s the worst possible time for a body to show up in Eric Northman’s front yard—especially the body of a woman whose blood he just drank.

Now, it’s up to Sookie and Bill, the official Area Five investigator, to solve the murder. Sookie thinks that, at least this time, the dead girl’s fate has nothing to do with her. But she is wrong. She has an enemy, one far more devious than she would ever suspect, who’s out to make Sookie’s world come crashing down.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I should make one thing clear when I finished Dead Reckoning last year I was a very worried man. I found that book disappointing to say the least, it seemed to throw away all the good from the previous books. It didn’t really have a murder mystery which the previous ones did and it just seemed a little rushed.

Deadlocked is a refreshing return to form for Charlaine and our favourite waitress Sookie. Everything that makes reading Sookie fun is back in this instalment, we get to visit the bar and its unique clientele. And we get to hear what goes on in Sookie’s head. In the end that is the thing that sets Sookie Stackhouse series apart from a lot of fantasy related literature is that normal stuff happens to Sookie it isn’t all punching vampires in the face sometimes it is just trying to find the rent.

It is the rich world of Bon Temps and all the varied characters that make me never want to put this book down. One thing that was a surprise to me was the eventual complexity of the mystery part of the story. Obviously no spoilers but this mystery reaches back way back in the series and the revelation is one hell of a surprise.

I have been a bit surprised about all the negativity I have been reading just in the run up to the released of Deadlocked. There are a significant number of people who think the series is on its way down, I only had a problem with Dead Reckoning. I urge those of you who are still Sookie fans to give this a try as you will likely be glad you did.