Dead To The World - Charlaine Harris

   2004; 291 pages.  Book 4 (out of 13) of the “Sookie Stackhouse” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Vampires; Paranormal Mystery; Gothic Romance.  Laurels : None noted, but  per Wikipedia it was “adapted as the fourth season of the HBO series, “True Blood”.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

    The vampire Eric has lost his mind.  Somebody apparently swiped it when he wasn’t looking.

    Okay, they didn’t take his physical brain, but they did erase his memory.  He has no recollection of anything from his past.  Heck, he doesn’t even remember his name.  Who would do such a thing?  And why?  Vampires are not to be trifled with.

    It’s lucky for Eric that Sookie Stackhouse recognizes him as he’s wandering along in a daze on a roadside, out on a cold December night in Bon Temps, Louisiana, wearing only a pair of jeans.  She takes him home, but quickly realizes that this is not the normal, hunky, demanding, arrogant Eric.  He’s confused, meek, and polite almost to a fault.  He’s kind of pathetic, actually.  But physically, he’s still quite the hunk.

    Which means he’s still kind of sexy.

What’s To Like...

    Dead to the World is the fourth book in Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series, which thus far I’ve been reading in order.  We readers are introduced to a new "magical" group here: witches.  They come in two flavors, white witches (aka: “Wiccans”), who practice “good” magic; and black witches, who naturally practice bad, “black” magic.  The human versions have power aplenty, but when you cross a witch with vampires, shape-shifters, and/or were-creatures, the enhanced result is something you don’t want to run afoul of.  One other new critter species is introduced, but listing that one would be a spoiler.

    Eric’s amnesia is just one of 4 or 5 storylines for the reader to follow.  Some characters go missing, others go rolling in the hay (so to speak), one goes to Peru for a while, and Sookie makes a New Year's resolution to not get beat up for a change.  We  pay a visit to Fangtasia again, the vampire bar in Shreveport, and that’s always a treat.  And we pass through Hotshot, a small whistle stop close to Bon Temps, where the townspeople are all decidedly strange.

    Dead to the World was published in 2005, and I chuckled at a couple “signs of the times”.  Sookie occasionally uses a pay phone while out on the road, and when figuring out how to go somewhere new, she gets out a map.  There’s even a mention of a Toys-R-Us store.  Things were certainly  different back then, and that's not too long ago.

    I liked the way the Wiccans were portrayed.  No warts or pointy black hats here; just average humans who happen to cast spells and make potions.  The story is again told from a first-person POV (Sookie’s), and there are 15 chapters (plus a prologue) covering 291 pages, which averages out to about 18 pages per chapter.  There’s some cussing and a fair amount of sex, but that’s been true since Book One.

    Everything builds to a suitably climactic and drawn-out battle which ties up several of the story threads.  Most of the others get resolved shortly thereafter, and some of those seemed rushed.  The Romance angle is left hanging, but that’s deliberate, and I suspect will continue through the next several books in the series.  I’m okay with that.

Kewlest New Word…

Inimical (adj.) : tending to obstruct or harm; unfriendly; hostile.

Excerpts...

    Alcide still didn’t look satisfied.  Of course, this was the man who had believed Debbie Pelt when she said that I was definitely back with Bill.

    I wondered if I could get some witch to cast a truth spell on Debbie Pelt, whom I despised because she had been cruel to Alcide, insulted me grievously, burned a hole in my favorite wrap and – oh – tried to kill me by proxy.  Also, she had stupid hair.

    Alcide wouldn’t know an honest Debbie if she came up and hit him on the ass, though backbiting was a specialty of the real Debbie.  (pg. 107)

   “Should have sent someone to the hospital with her,” Claudine said, shaking her waterfall of black hair.

    “I offered to go with her,” Eric said indignantly.  “She said it would be too suspicious if she went to the hospital with a vampire.”

    “Well, hel-lo, tall, blond, and dead,” Claudine said.  She looked Eric up and down, admiring what she saw.  “You in the habit of doing what human women ask of you?”  (pg. 175)

 If there were an international butt competition, Eric would win, hands down – or cheeks up.  (pg. 119)

    For maximum entertainment when reading Dead to the World, it’s best read to switch off your “thinking brain”.  Otherwise, the following questions might keep you awake at night.

    How does the excursion to Peru have any impact the main storyline?

    How does the main MIA thread have any impact on the main storyline, and why, for that matter, should it happen at the same time as everything else?

    Why teleport Shreveport-based Eric all the way to Bon Temps after zapping him with amnesia?  Why not just kill him instead?

    If you’re going to muscle in on some enterprise somewhere, shouldn’t your aspiration be a little higher than Shreveport?  Somehow, being the underworld kingpin of Shreveport doesn’t sound very impressive.

    I came to the conclusion that the main reason for writing Dead to the World was to introduce a new Romance angle into Sookie’s life.  Everything else – the turf war, the amnesia, the kidnappings, and the slew of killings of both the dead and undead – is just trimming, and didn't even have any plot twists to keep you on the edge of your seat.

    But hey, it makes for a great beach or airplane read.

    7½ Stars.  Add 1 star if you are reading this series for the Romantic Intrigue.  You will not be disappointed.  I read it for the paranormal mystery and suspense, and still found it sufficiently entertaining, mostly due to Charlaine Harris's writing skills.