Harris, Charlaine: Dead as a Doornail
Dead as a Doornail
Writer: Charlaine Harris
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 295
Still not tired of vampires. Amazing.
The premise: someone's sniping shifters in the Bon Temps area. Jason, a newly-made were-panther, is the prime suspect among the supernatural, though he swears he didn't do it. And if that's not enough, Sookie's boss is one of the ones shot, someone tries to burn her house down, and even better, Alcide needs her help with pack matters. The Alpha's dead, and there's a contest to determine his successor. Unfortunately, it's anything but friendly.
Spoilers.
Okay, all that stuff I've said about really liking Alcide and Sookie together? I take it back. All of it. Now that he's no longer under the influence of Debbie (and he's determined that she somehow worked some sort of magic on him to MAKE him so loyal to her), he's showing more of his more aggressive male/Were instincts. He wants Sookie to come live with him, but doesn't understand why she says no, even when he figures out she's the one who killed Debbie. More so, he keeps withholding important information about the pack from her, even though he wants her to use her abilities to make sure no one cheats. And when she finally does so, everything ends in disaster: Alcide's father is killed anyway. If that's not a door slammed on that potential relationship, I don't know what is. But I'm not upset about it: Alcide was kind of an ass in this book, but I'm worried now that he views Sookie as responsible for his dad's death, he might intentionally let it slip she's the one who killed Debbie.
So what about Sookie and Eric? Due to an odd little subplot involving Sookie's friend Tara and the new vamp she's been passed to, Sookie calls Eric in for a favor and all Eric wants in return is to know what happened while he was cursed. She tells him, and this doesn't have quite the expected effect. He becomes quiet and thoughtful--he helps her of course, but it's clear that Sookie's revelations (of their relationship, how quiet and nice he was and how he wanted to give up EVERYTHING for, and then of course, the truth about Debbie Pelt) have disturbed him a bit and he doesn't know what to do with them. I'm not so sure they're the best couple, at least with Eric in his current state, but it'll be interesting to see how that relationship progresses.
And Sookie and Sam. DAMN, I thought we were finally going to see them get frisky, but they're interrupted rather rudely by Bill, who came to pick up Sookie after work (because in addition to her house, her car caught on fire) and take her wherever she needed to go (preferably his place). The interruption was innocent enough, but what was bad was Bill's reaction to it. Both the fight that followed and then of course, him bringing a date to the bar. I don't blame Sookie for being upset: Bill was her first love, and there's still a level of comfort with him in spite of everything. On the other hand, it's good that Bill's moving on. It makes the dynamic between them rather interesting.
Frankly, I don't see Sookie "picking" anyone until she figures out what she really wants out of life. So far in this series, it's one big thing after another, with everyone wanting something from her or her dealing with danger (let's see, house half-burnt, gets shot by a sniper, and then the previously mentioned bad vampire tries to force Sookie to give him a blow-job--ass). On one hand, I'm glad to see that Sookie didn't get down and dirty with anyone in this book; it prevents the series from being one sexual escapade after another. But I would like to see Sookie get a moment of peace to figure herself out and what's going on, and what she wants. Once she can do that, she might be able to choose from her line of suitors, though by time she does that, there may not be many left.
Carlton's infatuation and the weres from Hotshot, weird. Central mystery with the sniper? Not surprising in its conclusion. I knew there was something up with Sweetie. For that matter, I had a feeling the pirate-vamp Charles was responsible for the house burning too, so it wasn't surprising when it was revealed he was responsible, though I enjoyed learning why. Harris is definitely connecting the dots between books, and no consequence goes ignored. Which, of course, really worries me in regards to Debbie's murder.
My Rating
Worth the Cash: the central mystery with the sniper is weak, and I'll tell you what, despite my werewolf fetish, the Weres in Harris's world are starting to give me the creeps. I liked that this book didn't feature an actual hook-up for Sookie, it reminds the reader that this series isn't one sex escapade after another, a good thing. Though I worry the world is starting to get a little too big and unruly, because while we're learning more info about the supernatural in gradual bits, it feels like we're getting too many little subplots in order to do so instead of a bigger, stronger mystery. I swear, the best mystery in the whole series was the first book, Dead Until Dark. Though I think my favorite book on the whole, so far, is Dead to the World. Whatever. I'm still enjoying this series very much, and it remains entertainingly addictive reading.
Next up:
Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris