Review of Dead in the Family

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

Pages: 311

Genre: Adult Fantasy

Pub. Date: May 4, 2010

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Goodreads says, " Sookie Stackhouse has finally settled into a relationship with the Viking vampire Eric, and her errant brother Jason seems to have his life in order, too. But all the other people in Sookie’s life – Eric himself, her former lover Bill, her friend and boss Sam – are having family problems. Eric’s maker shows up with Eric’s ‘brother’ in tow, the ailing Bill can only be healed by a blood sibling, and Sam’s brother’s marriage is about to take place... or will it? The furor raised by the coming out of the two-natured has yet to settle; some people are just not ready to sit down to dinner with a man who turns into a dog. And Sookie herself is still recovering from her last ordeal. She’s definitely improving, physically and mentally, but she’s always going to have some dark moments now. The werewolves tell her that there have been strange and ominous passers-by in the Stackhouse woods; now Sookie is about to come face-to-face with one of her more distant relatives...

The Fae War is finally over.  Sookie is recovering and is rather depressed.  On the bright side, Eric and Sookie are actually together and give their love a real chance.  Bill is also recovering from a very serious silver poisoning that was acquired during the Fae War and is taking some time to recover, which concerns Sookie.  All seems well until Eric's maker comes back into the picture, then she finds out something/someone supernatural is lurking in her woods, and on top of that she gets involved in some Were politics with Alcide.  The readers also get  more of her distant family members and of course, there will be more of Tara, Sam and Merlotte's.  As expected, Charlaine Harris gives Sookie her fair share of conflict in the entertaining tenth installment of the Sookie Stackhouse series, Dead in the Family.  

I was pretty excited to get back into Sookie's world. I mean who doesn't love her lawn chair sitting, sweat tea drinking, tanning loving, and bikini wearing while gardening?  I love all of Sookie's idiosyncrasies and the southern town of Bon Temps that Harris so brilliantly created.  I was also eagerly anticipating more of Eric (YES, please!) This is especially true now that I can visualize his True Blood character.   However, Sookie and Eric's relationship was odd to me. Something was missing.  Did anyone else feel that way? I really wasn't a fan of them together, which is crazy, because I wanted them to be together from the first book in the series.  Maybe it didn't live up to my expectations?

The only other thing I didn't enjoy was the various story lines. It was really hard to keep track.  Perhaps Charlaine Harris, after ten books, is getting involved in too many conflicts for Sookie and things sort of get fuzzy? Some of the different situations seemed so bizarre that I felt it was forced and not really following a natural plot line.  But don't get me wrong, this book was extremely entertaining.  Why is that you ask?  Harris's writing style is fantastic. It's no doubt that I am a fan.  You don't have to think too hard and can just turn off your mind when reading her novels and be transported into Sookie's mystical world.  

Also, I love her characters' witty remarks and I found myself laughing out loud as I always do with the Sookie books.  I wonder if her writing is this witty in her other series?  I plan to investigate this.  I am definitely going to check out Grave Sight (Harper Connelly Mysteries) this summer when I need a break from YA.  A big thank you for the recommendation from my awesome Twitter friend and UK blogger, The Bookette. But I digress.....

As much as it hurts me to say this, I hope the series ends soon, because it needs to come to a close in my opinion.  There's just too much going on!  But I am such a fan, that if Harris wrote 20 books for this series, I would probably read them all! Either way, fans of the series should read this one, because it is unlike the others. The tone is rather dark and moody, but I think it's essential for the series.  This book is perfect for a hot summer night on the deck sipping a cold one or laying out in your beach chair with a good book.  And it's perfect timing, because True Blood (YAY!) comes back to HBO next weekend. I don't know about you, but I definitely need my Eric fix!   All in all, Dead in the Family is a fun summer read, but not my favorite in the series.  

*Buy Dead in the Family

*Buy the Sookie Stackhouse Box Set

*Read the first chapter of Dead in the Family