The Barnes & Noble Review
Dead to the World, the fourth novel in Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire saga (Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, and Club Dead), begins with everyone's favorite telepathic waitress, Sookie Stackhouse, making a New Year's resolution: to not get beaten up by supernatural beings. Yeah, right!
Sookie's life is at a crossroads. Her former boyfriend Bill, a strikingly handsome 137-year old vampire who has arguably been the source of most of her problems, has left for the country on a fact-finding mission for the vampire Queen of Louisiana. For the first time in a long time, Sookie has control of her own life. She duly resolves to stay out of trouble with supernatural beings, but on the way home from work, she sees a naked blond man running down the road. Being the kind-hearted soul that she is, Sookie stops to help. The man turns out to be Eric, a powerful vampire who not only owns Fangtasia, a popular tourist bar in Shreveport, but is also one of the most influential vampires in the region.
After taking him home, Sookie quickly realizes that the blond vampire has amnesia. She calls Eric's trusted subordinates and is stunned by what she hears -- the area has been invaded by a coven of shape-shifting witches bent on controlling all supernatural groups! To complicate matters, Sookie's only brother, Jason, is missing. Can Sookie keep Eric safe and find her brother without breaking her New Year's resolution? Of course not!
Overflowing with vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, and witches, Dead to the World epitomizes escapist literature -- a little bit of fantasy, a little bit of mystery, and a whole lot of fun.
Paul Goat Allen
Fans of Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake looking for a lighter version of the vampire huntress should cotton to Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic Louisiana gal who really wants to be normal, but suffers from a huge self-confidence problem, a case of permanent bad luck, difficult relatives and a penchant for attracting unsavory characters of the not-quite-human kind. In this fourth quirky installment in this hitherto mass-market series (after 2003's Club Dead), Sookie finds that her bad luck has taken a new turn for the worse. Sookie's love interest, Bill the vampire, runs off to Peru to do research. In his place, Sookie is stuck with Eric, Bill's boss (and head vamp for the district), who appears out of thin air buck naked with no memory of who he is or what he does. Coincidentally, Sookie's brother Jason goes missing. Less coincidentally, but more ominously, a coven of witches (who also happen to be shape-shifters and vampire blood addicts) comes rolling into the nearest big city, looking for trouble. Consistent, well-built characters and a strong, action-packed plot that will keep readers guessing to the end distinguish this frothy fusion of romance, mystery and fantasy. Agent, Joshua Bilmes at Jabberwocky. (Apr. 27) FYI: Harris is also the author of Poppy Done to Death (2003) and seven other titles in her Aurora Teagarden mystery series. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
