Dead in the Family
By Charlaine Harris
Publication date: May 4, 2010
My review:
In the tenth volume of the Southern Vampire Mystery Series, Sookie Stackhouse is grieving the loss of people she cares about and slowly recovering from the traumatic events in Dead and Gone. She does have some things to be happy about: her friend Tara is going to have a baby and her brother Jason seems to be doing much better. Things are also going well in her relationship with Eric although he is really busy dealing with vampire politics. Then his creepy maker Appius Livius Ocella arrives with Eric’s “brother”, the very unstable young Alexei Romanov. There are also mysterious killings going around, troubles among the Shreveport weres, and it appears that dangerous faeries have been hanging around Sookie’s property.
After reading several negative or lukewarm reviews, I wasn’t sure that I would like Dead in the Family. Once I started reading however I was delighted to be back in Sookie’s world. Family is definitely the theme of this book. Sookie spends a little time with Hunter, her young cousin who can hear people’s thoughts and Claude comes to stay as well. Bill has some family time himself and Jason figures prominently throughout the book. Eric’s family causes all kinds of mayhem for Sookie too. Thankfully only a few new characters are introduced in the book but I did feel that Bill was not around very much. Sam also isn’t a main player. Fans of Alcide will be happy to see him back in a big way.
Dead in the Family may not be as good as Dead and Gone or earlier novels in the series but it is still an enjoyable book. I liked how Jason matured after the events of the last book. Sookie may not be quite herself after everything that happened but she is a strong character and by the end of the book she has recovered somewhat. I think this was a calmer book compared to Dead and Gone but that was needed in a way. I have a feeling that the next book will be more action packed. Hopefully we won’t have to wait long to find out!
Readalikes: Insatiable by Meg Cabot, the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger, Truly, Madly by Heather Webber
Great review, Christina! I completely agree with you regarding this book. It was enjoyable, like you said, but definitely not my favorite in the series. I didn't even realize, until you just said it, that Sam really isn't around much in this book. Hopefully there will be more of him in the next one!
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