Dead as a Doornail
Sep 16, 2005

Reviewed by AKA: Meritt
http://coffeetalking.blogspot.com/

Publisher: Ace/Penguin Putnam
Publication Date: May 2005

For those of you familiar with the name Sookie Stackhouse, you must have picked up a book by Charlaine Harris at some point over the last 2 years. The 'lightweight' writing style isn't one to be discussed in serious book clubs, but if you are a fan of vampire stories of any kind and you are not too picky, it has a following.

Two years ago I picked up "Dead Until Dark" and met the Louisiana Barmaid named Sookie Stackhouse. She lives in a world where vampires have 'come out of the closet' and while not completely accepted in our world, they are not a hidden underground anymore. Sookie is a typical Southern girl with all the charm, wit and grace to be expected of a Southern Belle, except for one tiny plus; she has the gift of telepathy.Still, she manages a nice quiet life until Bill, a vampire walks into her bar and into her life. This started the 'Sookie' series that surprisingly continued with more than just one short lived and sorry-written book.

Because the first was so bad, I could only recommend it as very very 'light' reading for someone who needed a lightening quick read, or maybe fodder for a plane ride or a beach vacation. If you lost the book or left it at the airport you might not even notice it was gone for a week or two.

However! Almost two years later, being desperate for reading material and having a Coffeekid waiting for me in the Land Rover while I 'ran into the library really quick' I grabbed the first three books that looked remotely readable. One of Charlaine Harris's latest books in the series was standing up at attention on an end cap calling to me, so I answered.

I picked up Dead As A Doornail.In the last couple years she's managed to take Sookie through a few more vampire and werewolf friends with Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead and Dead to the World, all of which I have not read. I'm very happy to note her writing has improved with these books and Dead as a Doornail was a good read. Still light and quick, it's not for pondering over or discussing in your local coffeehouse, but for a quick, fast paced light vampire mystery story it's worth your time.

In this latest (of five) Sookie-adventures, her brother Jason has just become a were-panther. At the same time someone is picking off the local shapeshifters with a shotgun and of course Sookie gets caught up in that as well as being woo'ed by numerous male suitors, none of which are human, being interviewed by detectives for yet another death that she did, indeed cause, keeping up with a couple past vampire boyfriends, and trying to stay alive while someone is trying to kill her by fire and bullets. Going from one mishap to another she is finally an unwilling spectator (and human lie detector) at her friend Alcide Herveaux's father's bid for leader of the local were-pack.

If you like heavier reading I'd go for one of the Anita Blake Vampire series books, but for the light, witty and humorous reading that we all need in our lives once in a while I can recommend Dead As a Doornail as a great vampire mystery read. Charlaine Harris has come quite far in her writing abilities since the first installment.

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