Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse Book 12)

At some point, things HAVE to start looking up for this girl! Lucky for her, there is only one book left in this series. At least she'll have some closure soon, right? ;)I'm going to introduce the basic plot, so consider this a warning for minor spoilers. But don't worry, I absolutely will NOT ruin the ending or any important goodies for you."Deadlocked" tackles several story lines and does actually wrap up a few things that shouldn't have to be covered in the final book. It picks up several weeks after the time where "Dead Reckoning" finishes, so the volatility in Sookie and Eric's relationship is evident from the beginning. Felipe de Castro, the not-so-wonderful King of multiple states, has come to town to question the death of his regent Victor whom he suspects was killed at the hands of Eric and company. Which, of course, is exactly what happened... not that Felipe needs to know this.Eric is reluctantly hosting a shindig for His Sneaky Majesty at his house, and Sookie's presence is requested. When she arrives, she *gasp* finds her already-in-the-doghouse Viking lover feeding off of some trashy chick in HER bedroom. Yet he seems drunk and unable to control himself... and the girl appears to be half-were... and gives of the feel of being some other type of "supe"...Post-awkward moment, our semi-unhappy couple proceed to Eric's living room turned interrogation chamber to talk to Felipe when all of a sudden the police arrive! Eric's recent snack is now dead, a la snapped neck, on his front lawn. Why should we be surprised? Of COURSE the book starts off with a corpse!In an effort to help clear Eric's name (hey, his house and his fangs... doesn't look good), a manhunt... er... hunt for (and hiding of) certain critters ensues. Also, there is an ongoing hunt for various characters who might talk to Felipe about Victor's demise. So Alcide's pack gets involved. And Bill is very involved in the investigation.Since we're talking about the pack, something is up with Jannalynn, Alcide's enforcer and Sam's current love-muffin. She's not a real Sookie-fan, and it seems like there might be something up her sleeve.Turning away from the police investigation, Niall makes a surprise appearance -- yes, even after the declaration that the portals to Faery have been closed. In an effort to determine who placed a spell on Dermot, Niall takes Claude with him back to Faery.And we finally meet Queen Freyda, Eric's betrothed. I'll tell you right now, I don't like this beeeeeechnut of a vampire one bit.There's a good dose of the majority of the big players, and some other folks from past books make reappearances.There are a couple of plot lines that are completely concluded (unless Ms. Harris decides to resurrect them, although it looks unlikely). Yeah, there are a couple of cliffhangers and some things that aren't wrapped up, but there is one more book in the series due to come out in 2013. Some loose ends are allowed. Am I pleased about it? Not particularly. Waiting another year for resolution stinks. But that's the way it goes when you read a series of books instead of reading independent novels.I thought this book was better written than a lot of the previous ones. The multiple story lines each held a distinct presence, yet they wove together which prevented the book from becoming choppy and hard to follow.Sookie resurrected some of her inner tough girl, screw you, stubborn independence which was awesome. She starts drawing a line between what she wants, what she needs, and what she knows is right. It's very reminiscent of the Sookie we saw in the earlier books. Thank goodness because this is exactly what she needs when she is constantly being hounded by numerous parties. Mr. "I'm still in love with you" Bill, clingy Great-Uncle Dermot and the Louisiana fae's, Alcide + pack, ever-present Sam, the police, and the entire town of Bon Temps that never seems to know when to leave Sookie alone. And Eric. Especially Eric. You could cut the tension in their relationship with a knife.This was one of the better books in the series and a great way to lead up to the finale. I'm definitely looking forward to the final installment!

Another book I couldn't or down. Keeping my interest twelve books in is no small accomplishment! I just don't want the series to end.

I haven't really enjoyed any of the books in this series since  All Together Dead: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood) , the seventh book. They're still fun, yes, because you can't take them *too* serious. But after ATD, things seemed very fragmented. Plot points would be picked up and dropped, only to be quickly tidied up at the end. So many characters would be coming and going that my head would spin to keep up with them. And a little too much time was spent on werewolf and fae politics, and not vampires, which is where Harris is at her strongest.It seemed that True Blood hit it big, and her publisher required her to write quite a few more books than she had planned. The quality suffered because of contracted. The books began to take on a soap opera like feel, no longer functioning as standalone novels. As such, it's like watching an episode of a TV show, then having to wait a year for the next one.In Deadlocked, Charlaine Harris does a better job than usual of refreshing your memory on important plot points subtly and efficiently. She also name drops a lot of characters that haven't been seen or heard from in many books (but have since featured prominently on the True Blood TV Show) Still, I did have to turn to the trusty  The Sookie Stackhouse Companion (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood)  on a couple of things, but just because I was curious, not because they were important.Sorry for all that! On to this book!Deadlocked is a return to the mix of suspense and fun that made the series addictive in the first place. The beginning is very fun, with a visit to Hooligan's, Claude's strip club, but once the murder occurs it's almost non-stop suspense until the end. There are a couple of lulls, but compared to the last few books, the plot doesn't go off track too much. It manages to not totally ignore the werewolves and fae, but not get too bogged down in their societies. As much as I dislike them and their drama, they have become pretty critical to the overall plot of things and can't be ignored.I will say that I felt the ending was a little anti-climatic and unimaginative. Plus, the whole mystery, which started out pretty interesting, ends up being convoluted and motivated by petty concerns. And Sookie makes one or two "Seriously, girl? Really?" decisions that are uncharacteristically stupid and serve only to further the plot. There's no sex scene either. They're usually really awkward and weird, rarely sexy, but I kind of missed it. Eric fans will probably be disappointed at his lack of page time, but I never saw the appeal of him in the books.Deadlocked ties up a lot of loose ends, wraps up some plot lines that should have ended years ago, and seems to be moving things along in a direction I approve of (and had hoped for) for the final book next year. Looking forward to the conclusion.--chancelee.com

Good read and dark humour

Só pra completar minha coleção... A autora perdeu o rumo da seria lá pela metade dos livros. Como já tinha comprado um bocado deles, terminando os últimos três q faltam.Esses livros de bolso são horríveis, ficam amarelos, e não valem o dinheiro a paguei neles. Mas enfim, vamos que vamoz

Temevo che a lungo andare la saga della Harris mi avrebbe stancato, invece nonostante siamo all'undicesimo titolo rimane sempre divertente e piena di suspance. Adoro come descrive la vita quotidiana di sookie, i personaggi a cui ormai ci siamo affezionati e le atmosfere di Bon Temps. Non mancano i colpi di scena (da brividi il finale con Sam!). E-book ottimo come sempre, l'ho dovuto acquistare in inglese perchè come al solito l'italiano non è contemplato. No problem, il linguaggio è molto chiaro e comprensibile a tutti

Man, there is so much going on in this book, I'm going to have to read it again just to make sure I got it all! Charlaine Harris has another winner in her Sookie Stackhouse series. I enjoyed this so much, I just can't wait until the next book to see what's going to happen next! As in the whole series of books, this is a "Must Have" book! If you read the last book in the series, this one is going to throw you through so many hoops you will also probably want to read this again! A++

Je suis fan de ces romans, que j'ai lus et relus. Pour ce volume, qui est prévu comme l'avant-dernier de la série, contrat rempli!L'héroine, Sookie, plus attachante que jamais, continue ses aventures dans un contexte haut en couleurs: on a d'une part l'ambiance du sud profond des USA (Lousiane), et d'autre part la toile de fond des communautés d'êtres surnaturels (vampires, loup-garous, fées) qui ont émergé au fur et à mesure.Sookie est toujours avec le beau et ténébreux vampire Eric, mais leur relation est mise à rude épreuve et prête pour un tournant décisif... je n'en dirai pas plus pour ne pas gâcher le suspense.