Book Review - Club Dead

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

This is the third book in the Sookie Stackhouse mystery/romance/supernatural novels and this time Sookie has found herself in the middle of Bill's kidnapping, which is what the basic plot centres on.

This time Sookie travels to Mississippi, which unfortunately like the previous book Living Dead In Dallas: A True Blood Novel takes most of the action away from Bon Temps again. This is slightly disappointing because Bon Temps is such a good setting, but it does make room for the introductions of a few new characters, most notably Alcide, a Werewolf who aids Sookie in her investigation into Bill's disappearance. Of course, the character quickly becomes more than just an aid, he becomes a love interest for Sookie, who at this point has found herself with a boyfriend who has betrayed her, Eric who lusts after her and Alcide who she finds herself attracted to from the off.

The writing, as usual is good if a little simple, but that isn't a bad thing as it fits in nicely with Sookie's own vocabulary. There is a sense that these books are written by an older person since they have a very cosy feel to them, despite featuring murder, violence, rape and gore amongst other things. But you will find yourself addicted to the story and you probably won't take long reading this book as you will want to know what happens next.

There are however a couple of weak points or underdeveloped story lines, which I'm not sure will carry over into the next book(s) or not, so I won't say too much about them, but the one that really bugs me is the reasoning surrounding Bill's kidnapping. It seems very weak towards the end of the book, almost as if the author couldn't come up with something better and stronger.

Still, this is an enjoyably addictive book, which for fans of the vampire/mystery/supernatural genres will enjoy if looking for a quick but fun and entertaining read. For fans of the show, I've said this in my other reviews of the previous books, the books are very different to the show and vice versa, so if you have come to the books looking for something like the show then you might be disappointed. Of course, you can like both, but the books and series are two very different things.