Dead In The Family by Charlaine Harris - Review by Alexandra Fields-Gerrity

I just finished “Dead in the Family” last night. I really have enjoyed all of the Sookie Stackhouse novels so far, and I really love True Blood, the show inspired by these novels. I have to say, however, that this one was not my favorite. All of the other books have had a big event that has involved a lot of action and story telling and they’ve been wonderful; this one? Pretty lackluster. I feel like Harris may have just written this one because she felt she had to. After all of the popularity of True Blood and her growing following because of it, she may have felt the pressure to put something else into our hands. There weren’t really any new characters to get to know or experience, and it was truly almost… a placeholder? I’m pretty disappointed. There was absolutely no action until the last several pages of the novel and even then, it wasn’t really exciting.

I think the most disappointing part about this is that we are led to believe (in the beginning) that there is going to be some massive show down between the Area 5 Vamps and the new King/Regime of Louisiana. We are left wondering. I understand that this gives Ms. Harris a lot to talk about in book 11; but the lack of anything really exciting happening kind of frustrates me as a reader. There are a few subplots regarding the politics of the Shifter/Werewolf community and Eric’s maker being in town. However, they are both so flat that it’s kind of pointless to include them. I am sad because I think Charlaine Harris is an excellent writer and I expected much more from her.

To sum things up – should you read this? If you’re reading the rest of the series, sure – why not? I honestly believe, though, that you could skip this one and nothing would be missing. I hope that Sookie’s next appearance is far more impressive or I might change my “The books are so much better than the show!” tune.

Alexandra is a married 20-something student residing in Winter Garden, FL. You can visit her personal blog at www.duckieresolved.com where she writes about life, books, and food - and how they all co-exist in her world.