From Dead to Worse
Sookie Stackhouse series, Book 8
Southern Vampire Mysteries

by Charlaine Harris

       Each innovative book in the dynamic Sookie Stackhouse series brings the reader closer to understanding the complicated and unusual heroine of the series. Sookie is a telepath, with a weakness for "Vampire company". Despite her negative experiences in the past, cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse manages to be tangled up once again with the supernatural and mysterious in this eighth book of the series. (Book seven, also reviewed by yours truly, can also be found on at Myshelf, including an informal interview with the author).

Supposedly, Sookie is still partnered with were-tiger Quinn, who has a business that caters to vamps, and he is, well, shall we say, "missing in action?" Add this to Sookie's concerns over whom her boss Sam is dating, her brother's bizarre relationship with his were-bride, and Sookie's emergent revelations about her relationships within the fae community and you have a tense, volatile Sookie! There is a feel of novellas with this book, since Ms. Harris is addressing many of the ongoing threads from previous books. However, as always, Charlaine has a firm hand on the reins, and doesn't allow her characters to run too amok.

We learn a lot about Sookie's family history here, and it is full of startling eye-openers, as are her friendships at Merlotte's, the bar where she works, and her roommate Amelia, the witch from New Orleans. Woven within the life Sookie lives in Bon Temps, Louisiana are the threads of the life Sookie would like to lead, free of niggling attachments to Eric and Bill, the vampires, to the were-community and to the shape shifters that invade her day-to-day life. Nevertheless, there are still traces of the weirdoes known as Fellowship of the Sun, her "fairy godmother" and an ongoing sense that there is something going on between Sookie and Sam. Do they know it yet? With so many characters and strands to maneuver, Charlaine Harris has once again done a powerful job of moving the Sookie story further, and leaving her readers gasping for more. A fantastic entry in the WWSD (What Will Sookie Do?) adventures. ENJOY!

Reviews of other titles in this series

Dead Until Dark, Book 1    [review]
Dead to the World, Book 4    [review]
All Together Dead, Book 7    [review]
From Dead to Worse, Book 8   [review]
Dead and Gone, Book 9   [review]
Deadlocked, Book 12    [review]