It seems to me like I'm churning out these Charlaine Harris reviews like there's no tomorrow! The actual reason is that I want to write a review on a book before I move onto a different book and being that the Sookie Stackhouse novels are only short (less than 300 pages!) and I'm always eager to read the next one once I've finished a book, I seem to be in a bit of a writing frenzy! Though I'd rather that than have a backlog of reviews on books that I can barely remember reading.

As Club Dead sets off, things between Sookie Stackhouse and vampire boyfriend Bill Compton have become strained. Bill has been commissioned by the Queen of Louisiana for a top secret assignment. An assignment which even Sookie isn't allowed to know about. But when Bill suddenly up and leaves with little explanation, its Sookie's responsibility to guard said assignment.
Soon after his disappearance, Sookie is informed (by the very dashing Eric) that Bill is missing, regarding the data now hidden in Sookie's house and all leads point to Mississippi and a mystery vampire lover from Bill's past named Lorena. Despite Sookie's deep feeling of betrayal, she misses Bill. She misses him more than she's missed anything in her life. Intent on finding him, Sookie heads to Jackson with the help of the ruggedly handsome Alcide Herveaux to rescue Bill from the King of Mississippi himself.

Anyone who has watched the third season of True Blood, this is the book it came from. Whilst obviously there are some changes, I would DEFINITELY advise people to watch the series first. It elaborates on a few points which I’d read and totally hadn't understood. I also found the description of Alcide quite lacking (all I gathered was that he was tall and with messy hair,) so seeing a visual representation was a great help.
One of the differences which shocked me was the difference in Russell Edgington. In the novels, Russell was made Vampire when he was in his early twenties, and is referred to by Sookie as the "gay vampire Hugh Hefner" as his house is swarming with young attractive male vampires. Whereas in the series, Edgington is significantly older (I'd guess at mid to late forties) and is dedicated to him vampire husband of 700 years, Talbot, (who is human in the novel.)
In this novel, Sookie seemed to 'grow a pair' and really had the heroine flair. I liked her in the previous novels, but in this one she stopped being so weepy; she accepts that her boyfriend is cheating on her, she accepts that he's been kidnapped and tortured, she gets beaten up multiple times by a variety of races (I mean like Vampires and Werewolves, not Indian and French people) and instead of crawling into a hole and crying, she rolls up her sleeves up and gets on with what needs to be done. Girl Power!
My Verdict
Full of violence and not as much romance as I would have liked, but it was a thrilling and adventurous. (I bet Charlaine Harris could write these in her sleep!) Whilst not a literary masterpiece, it’s great for filling a few hours, whilst converging to the standard set by the previous Sookie Stackhouse novels.
8/10

Labels: Club Dead