Club Dead

The third Sookie Stackhouse novel, Club Dead by Charlaine Harris, starts out with Sookie and Vampire Bill on the outs. This is because Bill has left Sookie for his old vampire flame Lorena. Eric of course attempts to use this situation to his advantage in his ongoing attempt to bed Sookie. What gets Sookie to play along is the fact that Bill is being held hostage and tortured.

The majority of this novel takes place in Jackson, Mississippi and involves the vampire King of Mississippi. Now if you watch True Blood the vampire royalty was already revealed in season two, in the novels this is the first mention of the power structure above Area Sheriff (Eric’s rank). Essentially Bill’s captivity is a power struggle between the King of Mississippi and the Queen of Louisiana (although the Queen is kept in the dark because Eric doesn’t want to face her wrath).

We are introduced to Alcide, a werewolf in Eric’s debt, who is Sookie’s daytime escort/protector. Club Dead is the name of the Club in Jackson where Sookie and Alcide go to investigate using Sookie’s telepathy. Through Alcide we get a better look at the werewolves in the Sookie-verse and also learn more about shape-shifters. We also encounter a werewolf biker gang, and the vampire Bubba also plays a large role.

This novel differs from the previous two in that since Sookie is mad at Bill she is allowing herself to have feelings/sexual desires for Eric, and also Alcide. This changes the dynamic of the books quite a lot. Again the majority of this novel, like the last, occurs outside of Bon Temps so most of the characters from Dead Until Dark only have brief appearances, and instead we get to visit a whole new cast.

Harris stays with what works for these novels. They are short and fast reading. The story stays focused on the plot and the whole novel really only covers a few days time. I like the fact that throughout the series each novel gives us just enough more information about the supernatural community to keep us hooked, but only just, so that you really want to start the next book to get a that little bit more.

The one thing I dislike about this novel is a scene in which Bill, who has been starved and tortured, wakens in a tight space with Sookie and essentially rapes her before coming to full alertness. What I find odd is that after this happens Sookie more or less just moves on, and apparently does not suffer any emotional turmoil over it. However, other than that I enjoyed my brief time with this novel. I give it a 3.5/5.