dead and gone

I finished "Dead and Gone" yesterday before I left the house at 9:00. Yep, read that one in less than 24 hours. Gosh, I love Charlaine Harris and her every growing character, Sookie Stackhouse.

In Sookie's world, the vamps have been 'out of the coffin' for a while and now the 'were' creatures have joined them. When folks start shedding their human forms and revealing their animal forms, you know things won't stay calm. Unfortunately for Sookie and her friends, the first 'were' to be killed is her brother Jason's estranged wife who just happens to be a were-panther. But true to Harris' style, this isn't the only complication in Sookie's life. She is also juggling her every growing connection to Eric (the viking vampire), along with Niall, her fairy great grandfather, and the ever present Vampire Bill, Sookie's first love.

Harris manages to juggle all of these plots, all of these characters and present a book that is very entertaining. Unlike some other paranormal series that have lasted this long, I don't feel Harris has become jaded in her writing or has strayed away from the true nature of her characters. Sookie is still a barmaid in Bon Temps who has a lot of very extraordinary friends who all have very human issues. And that is the true magic in these books.

A year is a long time to wait for the next installment in the Sookie Stackhouse series.