Definitely Dead - Charlaine Harris

   2006; 324 pages.  Book 6 (out of 13) in the (completed) “Sookie Stackhouse” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Paranormal Mystery; Gothic Romance; Vampires.  Overall Rating : 6½*/10.

 

    It’s a sad time.  Sookie’s cousin, Hadley, is dead, a stake driven through her heart, and it now falls to Sookie to make a trip to New Orleans to clean out Hadley’s apartment.

 

    Before Hadley's demise she had a pretty high-ranking position: she was the consort to the queen of the Louisiana vampires, Sophie-Anne Leclerq, who recently married the Vampire King of Arkansas, Peter Threadgill.  Like many royal marriages, it’s an arrangement of convenience, not of love.

 

    Sophie-Anne and Hadley were close.  Extremely close.  Perhaps even embarrassingly close in the eyes of Sophie's new husband.  Particularly if a certain item, given by the King to his bride and presently rumored to be missing turns up somewhere else.

 

    So be on the lookout when you’re going through things at Hadley’s apartment, Sookie.  And be careful if you find anything that looks a bit …um… regal.  Someone may be willing to kill for it.

 

What’s To Like...

    Definitely Dead is the sixth book in Charlaine Harris’s "Sookie Stackhouse" series, which I’ve thus far been reading in order.  Vampires take center stage here, with Sookie once again reluctantly getting involved in their affairs.

 

    The shape-shifting weres (as in “werewolves”, “werepanthers”, “werefoxes”, etc.) are also around, and it was nice to also see demons, including “half-demons” and “semi-demons”, and fairies getting some ink.  I was especially delighted when a witch or four showed up, and it’s always a pleasure to have Bubba show up, even if he's just making a cameo appearance.

 

    There are plenty of plotlines to keep Sookie busy and the reader turning the pages.  Children get lost, pregnancies lead to complications, The family of the late Debbie Pelt still wants answers about her disappearance, messengers get waylaid, and all sorts of people – dead and undead – are way too interested in what’s in Hadley’s apartment.  Also the recurring theme of who Sookie should give her heart to (metaphorically, not literally) – Eric or Bill – now gets a bit more complicated with the emergence of a third suitor.

 

    I enjoyed the music nods to No Doubt, NIN, Eminem, and Usher, as well as the mention of two favorite "undead" songs: “After Midnight” (see below) and “Bad Moon Rising”.  Sookie gets a genealogical jolt late in the book that helps explain why undead males seem to always be attracted to her.  And it’s always fun to see Tarot cards being used.

 

    The ending is suitably exciting, if a bit straightforward.  Sookie saves the day and most, but not all, of the plot threads are resolved.  The book’s title is referenced a couple of times, but mostly it’s just a general caveat about declaring someone dead in a world where all sorts of undead possibilities exist.  There is some cussing, but not a lot: I counted 37 instances in the whole book, the majority of which occurred in the later chapters.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.7/5 based on 1,640 ratings and 560 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.01/5 based on 198,265 ratings and 4,148 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “The boss wants to see you,” she said.  “I’m calling from his office.”

    Eric’s office, in the back of his club, Fangtasia, was well soundproofed.  I could barely hear KDED, the all-vampire radio station, playing in the background: Clapton’s version of “After Midnight”.

    “Well, lah-de-dah.  He’s too lofty to make his own phone calls?”

    “Yes,” Pam said.  That Pam—literal-minded was the phrase for her.  (pg. 32)

 

    Somewhere close, there was a lot of hostility and evil intent.  We left the sidewalk to cross the street to the parking lot.  I gripped Quinn’s arm and then let it go so we could clear for action.

    “Something’s wrong,” I said.

    Without replying, Quinn began scanning the area.  He unbuttoned his suit coat with his left hand so he could move without hindrance.  His fingers curled into fists.  Since he was a man with a powerful protective urge, he stepped ahead of me, in front of me.

    So of course, we were attacked from behind.  (pg. 96)

 

“You look better than a Happy Meal to a three-year-old.”  (pg. 276)

    I had a couple of quibbles with Definitely Dead, mostly with the storytelling.

 

    The book starts out slow, as we get reintroduced to all sorts of secondary characters who frankly will not play any part in the story, including The Fellowship of the Sun, a group of baddies from earlier books in the series.  Backstories are given, acquaintances are made, but unless this is your first book in this series, it's all old news and doesn't lead anywhere.

 

    The same holds true for several of the plot threads.  A little boy goes missing, Sookie’s telepathic talent saves the day.  Jason’s werepanther girlfriend has had a miscarriage and is in desperate need of medical help, Sookie comes through with the discreet, paranormal medical connections.  I kept waiting to see how both of these would later impact the main storyline, but they never did.  Frankly, after a hundred pages, I still had no idea what the main storyline was.

 

    Then there’s Hadley.  How come I can’t remember anything about her?  Well it turns out she'd never appeared in any of the previous books in the series.  She and her fatal backstory were introduced in a one-off short story titled One Word Answer, published elsewhere in a gothic anthology magazine.  Unless you happened to have also read that magazine, Hadley will blindside you.

 

    It almost felt like Charlaine Harris came up with this great idea for a plotline, then realized it was only good for 150 pages, so she padded it with all sorts of tangents and backstories to turn it into a full-length novel.

 

    6½ Stars.  Definitely Dead may be filled with filler, but it still does fine as a beach read or airport novel.  High-brow it isn’t; highly-entertaining it is.