Review: Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse #11)

******** Not Young Adult*********

Title: Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris
Published: May 3rd, 2011 by ACE
Source: Bought this book
Grade Rate: C+

With her knack for being in trouble's way, Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area. Sookie suspects otherwise, but her attention is divided when she realizes that her lover Eric Northman and his "child" Pam are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, Sookie is drawn into the plot-which is much more complicated than she knows...

My Review

I have been reading this series for a while now, and eagerly await my yearly visits with Sookie, but I have to say that books 10 and 11 have been kind of a disappointment to me.  'Dead Reckoning' is a relatively short book and its filled with a lot of mundane, everyday tasks, such as doing laundry or fixing a ham sandwich.  Don't get me wrong, a lot of Sookie's expressions and inner thoughts are very funny, and love her 'voice.'  It's just that I think Ms. Harris is kind of fluffing the book up with irrelevant things, instead of concentrating on the plot, specially since the series will end with book 13. 

'Dead Reckoning' has a lot of characters that we have come to know, like Bill, Eric, Pam, Mr. Cataliades, Alcide, Claude, Amelia, Sam, Hunter and others.  There are a few new characters introduced and the conspicuous absence of others, such as Jason.  The characters, as always, as well developed and each one was a very distinct voice.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this novel and there is a lot going on in a short period of time.  A don't know what to think about the item Sookie found (code name: 'cd') or the new development with Eric, or how out of character certain comments from Bill are, or what are the fairies planning.  This book leaves many untied ends and raises more questions than answers.

For those of you who watch 'True Blood', I have to say (like in most instances,) that the books are much better than the series (even though I do watch it.) The novels are always written from Sookie's point of view and therefore we don't get a lot of insight of what is happening to other characters, unless she is told about it or she is involved in the scene, therefore the TV series makes up A LOT of things to fill in the blanks. 

I do hope that the next two installments are better and that, at the end, Sookie can find her happy ending.  I will still read the remaining books (I am invested in the series now!)

About the cover:  I like all of the covers for the series, the art is very nice and always ties in with the title and the plot of the book.