Charlaine Harris – Dead to the World

122. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris (2004)
Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 4

Read my review of book:
1. Dead Until Dark
2. Living Dead in Dallas
3. Club Dead

Length: 292 pages
Genre: Fantasy; Mystery; Romance

Started: 07 October 2009
Finished: 10 October 2009

Where did it come from? Amazon.
Why do I have it? I bought the box set after reading the first book.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 10 September 2009.
Verdict? Keeper.

Turns out it’s not just
Eric’s personality
that makes him so hot.

Summary: Dealing with (and dating) the supernatural community of northern Louisiana has brought Sookie Stackhouse nothing but problems, so she’s made a New Year’s resolution: this year, she’s going to stay out of trouble… and stay out of the business of vampires, werewolves, and shapeshifters. However, that resolution becomes somewhat harder to keep when she’s driving home and sees the viking vampire Eric Northman, mostly naked, along the side of the road, fleeing for his life. He has no memory of who he is, who Sookie is, or what happened to him, and Sookie agrees to hide him while his vampire compatriots work to figure it out, and stop those responsible. But having Eric in the house puts Sookie right back in danger, and when her brother Jason disappears without a trace, it becomes clear that her resolution isn’t working… but staying away from vampires is hard when you’ve got a sweet, gentle, and extremely hot (albeit amnesiac) one following you around like a devoted puppy.

Review: Oh, this one was really, really good. It’s the same fun mixture of romance and fantasy and mystery and chick-lit as the rest of the series, but it comes together much more smoothly here. I liked that Harris continues to expand the borders of her supernatural world; we get our first glimpse of witches and fairies, as well as more information on how weres and shifters work. I liked that Jason got more screen time, as well as some stuff to do, and promise of a more prominent role in future books. I liked that Bill, who in recent books had kind of started seriously sucking (and not in the fun sexy vampiric way), was absent for most of the book, and when he was around, I enjoyed watching him get some small measure of comeuppance. I liked that Alcide was back, although there are definitely some lingering emotional threads with him that could have been better developed. I liked all of that… but I loved amnesiac Eric. While the whole book was good, I found myself getting antsy during the daylight scenes, just because it meant that there was no chance of funny, sweet, and sexy-as-hell Eric turning up. But, really, the book ticked along at a fast pace, the plotting was much smoother than it has been previously, there were lots of individually great scenes, and plenty of interesting set up for future books… so I’m very excited to see what happens next. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Best one in the series so far.

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Other Reviews: Another Great Read, Avid Book Reader, Beth Fish Reads, Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Book Magic, Confessions of a Bibliophile, Desert Rose’s Booklogue, Eclectic/Eccentric, I’m Booking It, Love Vampires, Medieval Bookworm, The Novel World, One Literature Nut, Racy Romance Reviews, Reading Comes from Writing, Scooper Speaks, Ulat Buku in the City
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First Line: I found the note taped to my door when I got home from work.

Cover Thoughts: Cute, and actually depicting a scene from the book. I also like that It took me several times of looking at it to notice that there were wolves mixed in among the tombstones.

Vocab: (see the whole list)

• p. 65: “They were supposed to look like silk, but I was sure they were some artificial blend. Too slithery for me; I liked percale.” – a closely woven, smooth-finished, plain or printed cotton cloth, used for bed sheets.
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• p. 221: ““I abjure you,” __________ said.” – to renounce or give up under oath; forswear; avoid or shun.