Deadlocked
By Charlaine Harris
Published: May 1, 2012
My review:
Deadlocked is more of a mystery than the other recent books in this series. A girl is found murdered on the lawn at Eric's house shortly after he drank from her. The victim also appears to have been doused with fairy blood to make her more appealing. Sookie and Bill work together to try to figure out who actually killed the girl and what it has to do with Eric, Sookie, and the presence of Felipe de Castro, Vampire King of Louisiana. At the same time, Sookie has other drama in her life from the fairies and Sam's jealous girlfriend (and Were) Jannalynn Hopper.
There is a lot going on in this book but not much in the romance department which will disappoint some series fans. As someone who is tired of reading about the Eric/Sookie relationship, I found the focus on the mystery to be refreshing. I did expect that this book would help to shape the final novel but in the end I still felt that there will be a lot of ends to wrap up.
As far as the mystery, I wasn't completely surprised by the identity of Sookie's betrayer and I'm not completely sold on that person's involvement unfortunately though I still enjoyed the mystery element. There is one big moment towards the end involving Sookie and Sam that I also liked, though it was sad. For people who are big fans of the secondary characters like Tara and Jason, there are some nice moments of normalcy and finding out how people are doing. There is a theme of new beginnings in the air and hopefully Sookie will have her own new beginning in the final book.
Overall even with the flaws, I thought this was a better book than Dead in the Family and the other recent entries in the series. I am hopeful that the series will end well (and dare I say a happily ever after for Sookie that doesn't involve a vampire).
I am so glad you reviewed this one, bc I was worried. I was a bit disappointed by Dead in the Family, but it's good to hear that you liked this one a bit more. I am sad about the lack of romance, but you are right- the mystery will be a nice break. I am glad the series is going to come to an end....definitely needs to. I hope to read this one during my summer break. Thanks for the great review, Christina!
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked this one, I didn't realise the next book is the last in the series!! I'm only up to book 7, so looks like I'd better get back into it.
ReplyDeleteIs this series almost at an end? I did listen to the first book and watch the first two seasons of the show but hadn't found it as absorbing as I could have. Probably because I am more interested in the mystery than the romance. Do you think someone could pick this up and read it without having read all of the previous books or would the relationships be too confusing?
ReplyDeleteThere is only one more book in the series and this is definitely the kind of series where you have to read the books in order. Even with that, I found it confusing at times because there are so many characters to keep track of!
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