Customer Reviews

Club Dead (Sookie Stackhouse Novels (Large Print))

5 star:		(149)
4 star:		(77)
3 star:		(42)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Sookie Stackhouse was only interested in one vampire and that was Bill, her boyfriend. However, Bill seemed to be putting some distance between them recently. Then he disappeared to another state! His sinister and sexy boss, Eric, said that Bill had been summoned to Mississippi by Lorena. She was a lady vampire Bill had lived with for some time before. That was enough for Sookie. She was on the way to Mississippi.

Alcide Herveaux was to be Sookie's contact/guide. He was a werewolf. With his help, Sookie could enter places that mere mortals seldom dared tread, such as Club Dead. The vampire king of Mississippi (yes, readers, you read that correctly) was Russell Edgington. Russell took interest in Sookie very quickly. Eric arrived on the scene, in disguise as usual. Several attempts were made on Sookie's life and Bill was caught in an act of serious betrayal against Sookie's love. Sookie was not sure whether to save Bill or sharpen a few stakes of her own!

***** Much better than book two. Again, this mystery could be read as a "stand alone" book. But the main and secondary characters remain the same. The love triangle between Sookie, Bill, and Eric gets much rougher. That triangle is enjoyed more by those who have read the first two previous books though.

This entire series, thus far, is humorous, fun, very sexy, and highly recommended! *****

I can't tell you how much I looked forward to this book, more than I've looked forward to books in a long time.

However, I was not as happy with this one as I could have been.

Of course, I still enjoyed it, read it in one sitting even. And i absolutly cannot wait for the fourth book (Anyone know when it will be?

But, some things to consider:

Watch out for the AB Factor. The AB Factor is the Anita Blake factor. I used to love the Hamilton series about the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter. However, after about oh, book four, Anita became quickly, EVERY other person's object of lust in the vicinity. Human, nonhuman, straight, gay, bi...whatever. EVERYone wants to *bleep* Anita.

Well, it appears in this book that this same factor is creeping into the Harris series. Please, oh please, Ms Harris...don't make Sookie the object of lust to everyone...please?

I wish the book had kept the men wanting Sookie to either Bill or Eric. Adding in Alcide, and the Weres, and such..well, it was just too much. Part of the charm of Sookie is that I can see her as EVERYwoman.

I loved that she sent both guys out of her house at the end, and I loved too that she acknowledged to herself that since dating Bill, she's been beaten more than any person ought to have to endure. That's a very telling factor of her life. It's gotten out of control.

I did get a tad annoyed that she's constantly being beaten up or threatened in this book....readers barely catch their breath before another attack happens.

I wanted more details too on Bill's infidelity....I'm shocked...what happened?????? What the heck is his deal? For an "old fashioned" vamp, he's definitely changed.

Please, hurry with the next one.....I need some closure...this book left me hanging and I need more :)

K.

The enjoyment factor on the Southern Vampire series is high. The consistency level on this particular novel is remarkably low.

The authoress, in her previous two novels, introduces characters that (I assume) are important to the progress of Sookie's life. In Club Dead, many of them are insignificant. Take Sam (my favourite Collie), for example- she spends two novels creating a grand tension between he and Sookie and then completely NEGATES his value in novel three. He makes more of a cameo appearance than anything else. Furthermore, we're introduced to Alcede (another lycanthrope), who acts as a sort of "red herring" in the romantic sense. We've still got Eric ( an old, lusty vampire) hot for Sookie's pants AND Bill to account for, not to mention the almost non-existent Sam. The threads begin to unravel at the onset of so many viable guys.

Which brings me around to another fine topic; what of Bill? Bill, Sookie's boyfriend and cheating, devious vampire lover (I've never liked Bill). He runs off to complete a secret mission (which is another definite lack of cohesion) and then-BAM-he falls back in love with an old flame-Lorena the Vampire. This is the second of a major incoherence-We're told NOTHING of Bill and Lorena's past. Since we aren't given an opportunity to understand the ties that bind them to one another, we're left in the dark about events that precipitate the motion of the plot. We only see Lorena, very briefly, when she and Sookie have an "encounter". So, to the reader, it seems as if Bill has simply run off (with no depth of complexity or reasoning) with some other chick. It's another loose thread that, sadly, accounts for many character motivations.

I can only hope Harris wraps Sookie's life a little tighter to home with the next novel. The charm is in the South, with familiar peoples, whom we've grown to know by now, and a tighter plot line. I'd love to see her easy, sweet style find its roots again.

I'd give CLUB DEAD a 4.5 if that were possible. First off, I really love this series. It's unique in its supernatural chills mixed with insightful social speculation, lusty romance and hoot-out-loud hilarity. (Hamilton's Anita Blake series, you say? Puh-leeze.) So I approach it as a solid 5 just for great world building and characterization, then work down from there.
I won't bother with a plot summary since it's already been done but this book is less balanced than the first two in the series. The characters are still vivid and grow in suprising but logical ways. Sookie is just as tough, wry and clear-sighted about her own situation and vulnerabilities. Her lover Bill The Vampire's unexpected treachery suprised me but Harris is nothing if not tough minded. She's consistently sprinkled reminders throughout all the diverting humor and action that vampires are fundamentally different; they do not share conventional human morality or emotions. Vampire area boss Eric is still a gorgeous hunk who cheerfully lusts for Sookie but shows signs of being a more simpatico, genuine friend, albeit somewhat reluctantly. (He's still a vampire and "doesn't *like* having feelings, remember.) The introduction of hunky (and breathing) Alcide the Werewolf, hung up on the Ex-Girl Friend From Hell, makes a poignant counterpoint to Sookie's situation. And Bubba, oh my GOD, the ineffable Bubba...(This raving won't make a lick of sense to anyone who hasn't read the series but betcha anyone who HAS can't keep from chortling.)
As always w/ this this series, there are some purely wonderful scenes. Sookie and Alcide nervously trying to dispose of a corpse wrapped in a shower curtain, "like a big green burrito." And as usual Harris seamlessly, suavely injects unexpected humor into horror and vice versa. An appalling bloodbath at Club Dead jolts weres and shapeshifters, already jittery from the full moon, into drifting through the carnage as falcons, German Sheperds and a stray bison. It's pretty danged disconcerting to snicker during a scene where the thoroughly likeable main character gets a stake driven into her side.
But that leads to my one caveat about this book. It's exhausting in its relentless violence against Sookie. Over the span of a few days she's subjected to one horrific assault after another, bam, bam, bam. She isn't granted any respite or downtime and neither is the reader. Even after her harrowing rescue of Bill from the torture chamber--a logical watershed moment--she's ambushed and/or brutally assaulted two more times (once by Bill) and then once again when she finally, grimly flees home. Maybe the constant violence and terror (no matter how deftly leavened with wry humor) set up Sookie's decision to slam the door against her dear undead but the book still ends with a thump. The relentless tension never really gets released; it just...ends.
I'm sure (uh, I *hope*) Charlaine Harris will back-fill the aftermath in the next book. (Soon, please!) It just would have been satisfying to have that coasting-down and wrapping-up at the end of this book for balance. I feel a little thwarted of conversations and resolutions that could have served as coda to this installment. Bill helplessly marching backward, her brush still in hand, doesn't quite cut it. It's not like Harris hasn't built huge suspense already...how will Sookie cope now, with her increasing familiarity and fame with the undead and supernatural ? If she can't "go back", where can she go...and where and how far does she *want* to go? Great stuff.
Please place these few, very minor quibbles in perspective. This series is a genuine, rare *find* for readers jaded with the same old same old. Charlaine Harris is a writer, not a by-the-numbers word factory, who won't insult your intelligence, waste your time or money. If you haven't read the series, you're in for a treat.

Club Dead is an great book,an interesting mystery, but I would actually tell people to read this book before reading the first two of the series: Dead Until Dark and Living Dead In Dallas.
The problem is an inconsistency in some of her characters' behavior, especially Bill and Sam. This is, unfortunately, a fault in another one of Ms Harris' mystery series, The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries. It appears, that when a storyline get difficult, Ms.Harris either kills, removes, and/or changes the character's personality abruptly.

This is a good book, I enjoyed it, it was entertaining, and I am glad I bought it. But, the character jumps in a second Harris series were an irritant.

Some spoilers follow.

I am probably having a different experience coming to this series when so many books are already done. Thus I can move from book 2 to book 3 in a day, and not have to wait a year the way the folks who have been reading the books as they come out do. With that in mind, it seems to me that Harris changed her mind about what book three was going to be. Book 2 ended with Sookie's relationship in fairly good shape and the implication that she was going to have to deal with her increasing superhuman-ness (she was worried about glowing again as the book ended).

To my mind, the change in direction was a good idea. In my review of book 2 (Dallas), I complained that the series was not enough "Urban Fantasy" and too much "Supernatural Romance". You didn't have to worry too much because no matter what, TRUE LOVE would win, and Sookie and Bill would always be together. This book reminds me a little more of Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan books. In those, Rachel fell head-over-heels for a rat and finally ended up leaving him. I'm not saying that Sookie _should_ leave Bill, but he has some heavy duty explaing to do, and I really like Harris's leaving the possibility open. Furthermore, I complained that in book 2, Sookie was very much on a "high horse" about other's moral failings. In this book, she has some "failings" of her own, especially in allowing Eric to get to third base with her.

I would probably rate the first book as five stars for introducing Sookie. I rated the second book at two stars for some plot and character problems. I would probably rate this one as four stars for the change in direction, but plot and setting problems knock it back to three. First, I simply do not buy the vampire organizational setup. They divide authority into regions which map exactly to US states? That just does not make sense, especially since the book drives home how old the vampire setup is by mentioning the Lousiana Purchase. State boundries are pretty recent. Does the vampire king of Virginia still "rule" West Virginia? If not, why not? Second, the mcguffin of Bill's list (confusingly called a "computer program" here as if the words "list" or "database" are unknown to Harris) is just not convincing. How much structure can these vampire kingdoms have if they don't even know who most of the vampires are? Why not wait until Bill was finished with it? If Bill was worried about it endangering him, why not just put it on the internet? He wouldn't make any money, but the cat would be out of the bag and the list would be out there for anyone who wanted it. Third, Harris is introducing too many supernatural species without thinking it out. In this book, there's a goblin, ergo there must be _lots_ of goblins. Same for the shapeshifters. She even raises the possibility (though she doesn't confirm it) that there might be human magic workers (witches). At some point it gets to be too much to keep quiet about. Fourth, there was that bit about her meeting her high-school friend in the vampire bar. What was that all about? It seemed to serve no plot purpose and raised a lot of unanswered questions: a) It seems to re-write the history of the disastrous 'orgy' in book two. In that one, Tara was mind-wiped. Here she seems not to have been. b) What in the world was she doing with a vampire? She should be well shy of the supernatural after the events in book two. c) She's now Sookie's "best friend"? It had been several years since Sookie had much to do with her in book two. d) She & Sookie had 'no idea' their high-school talent show dance was 'sexy'? Come on, Sookie admits to having plenty of sex drive back in book one, even if she never did the deed, and she can read minds. Right, she had no idea.

Anyway, you get the idea. It appears to me that Harris understands that the series can't _stay_ the story of a rural working-class girl dating a vampire. (Realistically, Sookie can't even keep her job through many more absences like this), and I'm glad she's growing the character and really making her think about her life, but she has some rough edges on the plotting world-building that need some more work.

Club Dead (2003) is the third Rural Fantasy in the Southern Vampire series, following Living Dead in Dallas. In the previous volume, the maenad didn't leave any survivors on the deck except Tara. Eric and Bill set fire to the beach house to cover the deaths. Portia took her brother Andy home, Sam took Tara and Eggs back with him, and Eric returned to Shreveport. Then Bill and Sookie also left and Callisto wandered off to who knows where.

In this novel, Bill Compton leaves town after hiding his database files and computer system in Sookie Stackhouse's closet. He tells Sookie that he is going to Seattle, but she knows that he is lying. Then Bubba shows up sitting on her front porch swing.

Bubba says that Eric has sent him to guard her, but doesn't know why. Sookie is on her way to work, but decides that Bubba can't go into the bar area; after all, he is too well known to just sit at a table. Bubba refuses to stay in the car in the back parking lot since he couldn't know when she is threatened. They finally agree that Bubba can sit in the office while Sookie is working.

As Sookie goes into the building to get Sam's permission, a Were gang member grabs her and then Bubba crushes his throat. After a bit of confusion involving Kevin -- a local cop -- Sookie, Sam and Bubba clean up the area and stash the body out of sight. Then Pam shows up later asking about Bubba.

In this story, Sookie learns that Bill has gone to Jackson after being summoned by Lorena, his master. He had called Fangtasia the previous night stating that he was coming back to Bon Temps to take care of some business, but he had never arrived. Eric has learned something about Bill's whereabouts from paid informants, but he can't just go searching for Bill since Mississippi is outside his jurisdiction. Indeed, it is a separate Vampire Kingdom.

Sookie can't read vampire minds, but she can go listen to the human minds in the Mississippi Kingdom. Eric has arranged for a Were named Alcide Herveaux to take her to Jackson and to provide an apartment. Alcide will also escort her in Josephine's, a vampire bar that caters to other supernaturals as well. The Weres, however, call the bar Club Dead.

Sookie is really hurting in this story. Bill has lied to her and then went to another woman. Even if this woman had brought him over, most vampires go their separate ways after the first few decades. Why did Bill go to Mississippi?

This story introduces Debbie Pelt, a shapeshifter who had been dating Alcide, but had recently left him for another shifter. But Debbie doesn't like other women in Alcide's life. She is a vixen in more than one respect.

Sookie also meets Janice Herveaux Phillips -- Alcide's sister -- whom she likes very much. Janice owns a hair salon and insists that Sookie have her hair and nails done properly for Josephine's ambiance. Sookie has never even been in a hair salon before this and really enjoys the experience. She even gets to repeat the experience the next day.

Sookie has problems with the Jackson Weres. The Were who had attacked her in Merlotte's Bar had been from Jackson. Then Jerry Falcon, another member of the same Were gang, accosted her in Josephine's and was forcibly removed. Jerry's body later showed up in Sookie's apartment in Jackson.

Highly recommended for Harris fans and for anyone else who enjoys murder mysteries with vampires, werewolves and other preternatural creatures.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Another wonderful book in the Southern Vampire Mystery series. Sookie Stackhouse is back once again, caught up in the search and rescue of her Vampire lover/boyfriend Bill, a Civil War Vet turned vampire, who has gone missing in Mississippi. More than one mystery unfolds in this short but excellent addition to the series. Ms. Harris brings together all the wonderful characters created in the first 2 books, including Elv.. I mean Bubba, and has expanded into other territory, with new "Supes" (supernatural creatures - mostly Weres) while bringing the reader more definition to their abilities. Big-hearted Sookie is no push over, even when faced with the dilemma of her enigmatic and purportedly cheating boyfriend. Back to make Sookie's life difficult is the amorous and sexy vamp Eric (Bill's boss). A new big and brawny werewolf, Alcide, steps into the action to help Sookie find Bill and keep a werewolf posse out to avenge a missing member of the gang at bay. At the end of this book I let out a BIG cheer for Sookie! I can't wait for the action to pick up in the next book. Please Ms. Harris, don't make us wait too long!

I've read all three books in this series and I loved the first two. This one was okay and it was interesting to see some of the other characters like Eric and "Bubba" get into the spotlight more. I think the reason I gave this book four stars instead of five has to do with Bill's betrayal. Its so sudden and there's no explanation for it except maybe because the other vamp had some power over him. What happened to his desire to mainstream? To me, Bill was just not acting much like Bill for most of this story. I hope the author chooses to deal with this in the next book and I was greatly encouraged by the ending.

Elvis the Vampire???

This is the third volume in Charlaine Harris's series about Sookie, a rural Southern telepath and her vampire boyfriend Bill. At the start of this series Harris started out by breaking several vampire story taboos. For one thing, Sookie is just-plain-folks, who happens to have an inconvenient talent and an odd boyfriend. In Harris' alternate reality the invention of artificial blood has enables vampires to come out of the coffin. In the U.S. especially, they are trying to enter mainstream society - with mixed success.

Sookie's wry, humorous story-telling shows us what happens to someone who has one foot in both the human and the supernatural world. Vampires and werewolves traipse thought this story with all the grace of a road crew - frequently leaving Sookie upset, angry, and just a little bit trashed. Not all vampires are willing to give up their old ways, and the conflicts this creates are the meat of Harris' stories.

This time, Bill has disappeared while working on a vampire data base for the Queen of Louisiana. She discovers that Bill left to start up an affair with an old vampire lover, who then sold him out to a competing vampire clan. Sookie sets out to rescue Bill with the aid of Alcide - a werewolve in the construction business. The interplay between Sookie's anger at Bill and her attraction to Alcide (and Eric, yet another vampire) make this a romantically complicated story. While there is plenty of action, it clearly takes second place to the emotional content, and suffers from a bit of discontinuity as a result.

While the story is quite enjoyable, it is a far cry from standard vampire fare. In addition, the complex relationship between a human, a werewolf, and a vampire - with the required graphic bits - echoes Laurell Hamilton's plots a bit too much. Although no one would mistake Hamilton's writing style for Harris'. They are differnet, but there are moments when I think that someone may be trying to convince Harris to to make Sookie Stackhaouse a bit too much like Anita Blake. I hope not - Club Dead is a delightful confection. It provides some needed light entertainment in the usually dark morass of vampire fiction.