Customer Reviews
Better and even better! - By: Michael Watson, 27 Nov 2007 
These stories just get better & better. When I reviewed her 5th. novel in this series, I said that that was the best yet. Now Charlaine Harris has gone one better. Her main characters have become more rounded; we understand a little more about Sookie's family background & we are introduced to some extra supes in this book which extend the family of 'strange' people down in Louisiana.
The book moves us away from her previous main supernaturals, Eric & Bill, to concentrate further up the vampire hierarchy. As ever, murder, mayhem, Sookie's rather feminine yet gutsy attitude alll lead us to riot & carnagefest as a grand finale.
For light yet fascinating reading, this is a series I hope will live as long as the vampires!
Definitely Dead - By: Clare, 17 Jun 2007 In the sixth Southern Vampire novel to star Sookie Stackhouse the telepathic waitress of Bon Temps, La., is off to (pre-hurricane) New Orleans to close out her dead cousin Hadley's apartment.
Hadley's death six weeks earlier had been unexpected, since, as a vampire, she was already dead. Still, she'd led a lively existence as the main squeeze of the Queen of Louisiana, an omnisexual vampire, whose political marriage to the King of Arkansas occurred the night before Hadley's demise.
Sookie & Amelia Broadway, Hadley's landlady & a pretty cool witch, immediately discover a mess of trouble left behind in Hadley's closet, & Sookie's soon neck-deep in even more.
This series just gets better & better! I read the last 2 books back to back so it was like having a big bumper Sookie instalment. Sookie has matured so much since the beginning of this series, well I guess she would have!
Once again we don't see as much of Bill & Eric as I would have liked but, they are still there though in smalll quantities, what we do see though is Sookie's new squeeze, Quinn. He is a Were-Tiger & brings an interesting slant to proceedings, whilst not as likeable as Bill & Eric he is a good & interesting character but, doesn't quite have the edge as the other two.
Another brilliant & addictive book!
Adding more depth - By: FCS, 02 May 2007 Another excellent installlment of the ongoing supernatural adventures of Sookie Stackhouse, mainly set in 'Vampire Central' New Orleans. Each book in the series has been slightly longer & had more depth than the previous one & this adds more still. Although a little confusing to start with, as it refers to events relating to Sookie's cousin Hedley's death which are not depicted in a previous novel, its soon back on familiar ground with intrigue, murder & Sookie's increasingly tangled love-life (like other reviewers I have been somewhat disappointed by Sookie's carousel of suitors - & am a die-hard Eric fan myself. That said, this book focuses very much on plot & the twists & turns of vampire politics & is as entertaining & original as alll the others in this truly great series.
Sixth book in the Sookie Stackhouse series - By: Helen Hancox, 29 Apr 2007 For those who've followed Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, "Definitely Dead" is another enjoyable novel about our slightly ditsy heroine whose life gets more & more complicated now that various supernatural creatures are coming out of the woodwork in the town of Bon Temps. The first couple of books featured Sookie's relationship with vampire Bill Compton but then that alll fell apart & Sookie found herself spreading her wings a little within the supernatural community; yes, she's a human, but she's also a telepath & this means that she finds herself in some very unusual situations.
A lot of books in the vampire/werewolf genre are terribly predictable - you read the blurb on the back & you know pretty much the whole plot. The Sookie Stackhouse series, like Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series, aren't like this - I don't reallly have a clue what's going to happen next when reading these books & they're a fun ride. There are some darker moments in the stories & "Definitely Dead" has these where Sookie finds out something very distressing which preys on her mind a lot, but there are also a lot of lighthearted & amusing moments, particularly in Sookie's matter of fact thoughts about people & events.
The previous book to this one, "Dead As A Doornail", was the best of the bunch in my opinion although I was rather taken aback by Sookie's man-attracting powers; she actuallly has six - count 'em, six! - males after her. Interestingly, in this book we actuallly find out why that is & the field reduces a little as well. I found that rather more satisfying & realistic; yes, Sookie's a nice young lady but I couldn't quite see the appeal in the last book, especiallly as murder & disaster seem to follow her around & would surely be offputting to most chaps. This book worked that out a little better.
However there was a little bit of a disappointment in this story for me. I've been a big fan of Bill Compton throughout the series & I was pretty disappointed when he had his fling in an earlier book; well, he gets a very bad press in this book although with a glimmering of opportunity for redemption. I wish she'd see sense & realise that he's the solid, dependable & safe (ish!) kind of person, as well as her first love, but she seems intent on ploughing a different furrow & I find myself, as a reader, a bit annoyed with Sookie sometimes. In these more recent books Sookie has a different beau in each instalment & that can be a little awkward - still it adds for variety.
We meet most of the familiar characters in this book - Bill, Eric, Quinn the Weretiger, the Vampire Queen, Claudine the fairy & more. Some characters take more of a back seat than in other episodes (Jason, Alcide, Sam) & some threads of the plot are just lightly continued so I imagine we'll read more about them in future books. It's worth reading this series in the right order as the backstory in each episode isn't complete; having recently read the first in the series, "Dead Until Dark", I did find the events with Bill in this book a little bit unlikely - probably the case of the author having a better idea a long way through the series & 'adjusting' the events in the earlier books to fit her plans.
For those who've loved the previous books in the series this will be equallly enjoyable. Murder, mayhem, shapeshifting, bartending, romance, vampires, plotting - it's alll there again. I'm not sure how many more books the series will sustain before Sookie starts seeming like a nymphomaniac madwoman but she's not quite there yet - read & enjoy!
Sookie Strikes Again - By: normngrey, 22 Apr 2007 For those not yet familiar with the Sookie series this is Book 6.
Definitely Dead carries on several weeks after Dead As A Doornail with the hangovers from the succession fight, the death of Debbie Pelt & the problems with Alcide Herveaux. Added to this are major issues around her late cousin Hadley & Hadley's link to the Queen Vampire of Louisiana. A potential new lover appears on the scene & is involved throughout the plot. Sookie ends up in the deep end when she goes to New Orleans to sort out Hadley's estate which Sookie has inherited. The pursuit of what happened to Debbie by her family & reluctant involvement vampire intrigue reallly keep Sookie on her toes.
I read this after putting up with some total dross by another author so this one came across as a ray of sunlight. Good fun, more depth than before & subtle humour alll made for a good read. I hope you like it as well.
