Club Dead

Club Dead for me is where the Sookie Stackhouse series really starts getting its feet under it. Things are definitely not well between Sookie and her boyfriend vampire Bill, and as Sookie heads to Mississippi to track him down and rescue him from lethal peril, she is torn between the attentions of the werewolf Alcide--and way more attention than she'd like from the vampire Eric, who is growing more and more interested in her with every book. Unfortunately for Sookie's peace of mind, the interest is becoming mutual. ;)

Only on my re-read through this book did I realize that this is actually one of the things I respect about this series: that it is possible in a long-running series for relationships to shift and evolve, and sometimes not necessarily in a positive way. The love interest in Book 1 need not be the love interest in Book 3 or Book 4. And love interests may never progress past the stage of "potential". There have been times in the Sookie series where I've been weary of every single supernatural male in her vicinity being interested in her, but the re-read I'm doing is shifting my opinion on that, I'm pleased to note.

I liked seeing a bit more of Tara Thornton, who I'd completely forgotten about from before--and who is an interesting contrast to her TV counterpart. Look also for some great Eric participation in this plot towards the end, as well as excellent appearances by "Bubba". My only real beef about this book is that the reason why Bill is abducted in the first place feels kind of thin. But the Eric mileage here is nifty enough that I'm willing to overlook that! Three and a half stars.