Dead as a Doornail

Written by Charlaine Harris

First published in USA by Ace Books in 2005

Character

Sookie was excellent in the last book: proactive, brave and with enough wits to stay out of trouble. This book completely threw that out the window, making her once again the book’s damsel in distress. In short order, she gets shot, survives a major house fire and gets swiped by a werewolf. She doesn’t have as much of an active role, either, and serves as more of a spectator to the murder mystery plot rather than the driving force. I suppose you could say that she didn’t have as much of a personal connection to the victims but it’s still not a very welcome change. At least, the author dares to give her a tiny moment of pettiness to add a bit of tarnish to her character but it doesn’t really do much.

That tarnish comes from Bill getting a new girlfriend. Yep, Bill’s still in this story, whether you like it or not. Though he and Sookie have broken up, he doesn’t seem to have fully given up on her (yeah, that’s not going to cause any future problems) and, of course, gets together with someone who, for lack of a more fitting term, is a total bitch. Not much else to say but that he was just there to give Sookie something else to worry about.

Another source of Sookie’s worry is Eric, who now has his memory back and is rather keen to find out what he and Sookie did while he was an amnesiac (which he conveniently doesn’t remember). While his persistence can become very annoying, he still serves as a good ally to Sookie and the one who helps her out of a lot of sticky situations, along with being the forerunner to the ‘romance Sookie’ race. He’s still completely arrogant and gives an abused woman an uncalled-for dressing-down so I still can’t say I like him.

Three characters need to be touched upon before moving on: Mickey, Charles and Sweetie. I knew Mickey was going to be trouble as soon as he was introduced and I wasn’t wrong. The extent of his villainy is rather well-built up in that we all know he’s abusing a human woman but it’s never spelled out until he’s been dealt with. Charles, though introduced early, only really got the explanation for his behaviour and development for his character (beyond being a sexy pirate) through other people and after he had been eliminated. The same held true for Sweetie. Her deeds were the main mystery and driving point of the book but, when it came down to it, she was just a moustache-twirling shifter-hating villain and her development was rushed and motive forgettable.

So, this book really falls down on character. Sookie is demoted to damsel-in-distress, the male vampires contribute nothing by tedious romantic strife and the book only gets only one out of three villains right.

3 out of 10 drops

  

Research

Again, not much fact-checking needs to be done on this book. First off, I expected the fairies’ aversion to lemons to have some mythological significance but it turns out to be the author’s invention. Lemon balm is a mild calmative and works well against viruses but I don’t think that’s important. Of course, the werewolf’s aversion to silver is down to silver’s purifying qualities, which makes sense, but I can’t see any significance in fairies disliking lemons.

I might be looking too much into this (because there’s not a lot else to look into) but I think the songs mentioned on WDED might have some meaning, especially regarding the men in Sookie’s life. ‘Here Comes the Night’ by Them refers to a rejected man wondering if his previous girlfriend is happy with her new choice, which might be a reference to Bill. ‘One of these Nights’ by the Eagles is about a man looking for the perfect girl, which could apply to Eric. Lastly, Frank Sinatra’s ‘Strangers in the Night’ is about a couple falling in love after a chance meeting, which could apply to Alcide. I don’t know. Maybe, I’m overinterpreting this.

Only a few little tidbits to fact-check and they don’t make a lot of sense.

2 out of 10 drops

 

Originality

I am really starting to get tired of murder mysteries. I get this is the Southern Vampire Mysteries but they seem to be running out of mystery plots. We’ve already had a serial killer plot and, while the idea of a sniper picking off shifters is a scary one, the reader just can’t get involved with that fear. Not to mention, the culprit doesn’t get much development and has a rather uninteresting motive because of the climax being so rushed.

I’m also starting to get very weary of Sookie being pulled in every direction by every eligible supernatural male within a five-mile radius. Not only is it extremely tiresome to have a protagonist who attracts too many suitors but the suitors are becoming much less attractive. Alcide (who I previously liked) is showing a classist side, Calvin is coming on much too strong for someone old enough to be Sookie’s father and, of course, Bill partners up with an unpleasant classist woman on the rebound, giving the audience a much too forceful poke to hate her. And, don’t get me started on Eric. I really wanted her to just pick a guy or not at all so we can be free of this.

Speaking of romance, I also think making the male fairy gay is pretty much the biggest cliche I can think of. I’m also starting to get tired of Jason being suspected for every crime in the neighbourhood. The police have been wrong about him on many occasions. Can’t they take the hint?

Okay, rant over. The contest for supremacy over the werewolves is what you would expect (a fight to the death) but with a few little twists such as a pain endurance test (which sounds rather nasty) and an agility test (a more extreme version of Crufts). A very interesting process but a not entirely unexpected one.

The ‘getting rid of a friend’s abusive boyfriend’ subplot was also rather well done. We all know the boyfriend is doing something wrong but the girlfriend is unwilling to accept help and it takes a very dramatic intervention to get rid of him. This isn’t uncommon in real life and it’s good to see it done well in this book, though I really could have done without Eric blaming the girlfriend. That is never helpful.

A few little hints of originality but I’m afraid not enough to keep me going.

3 out of 10 drops

  

World Building

This book moved off vampires (but I’m still going to review it anyway) and into the mechanics of the werewolf packmaster selection. We know that a diplomatic vote is involved followed by a test of strength and competency to solidify the winner’s position but not a lot else. Unfortunately, the politics simply aren’t expanded on enough and I was rather hoping that the sniper would be a member of a faction, looking to weaken the other by picking off their supporters, but it wasn’t to be.

I was also very disappointed when it turns out the arsonist that torches Sookie’s house wasn’t from the Fellowship of the Sun after all. While it would have only added to an already crowded plot, it would have been good to be reminded that they are still a threat. As it is, it turns out the Fellowship ID was fake and, while we learn that the leaders are still out there, we don’t get anything else.

We get a lot of mundane stuff about the people of Bon Temps and, yet again, they pull together to help Sookie in a time of crisis despite their bad opinions of her. Good to see.

I’m glad to say that we do get a few tidbits on vampires despite the emphasis on other things. For a start, they have a radio station, WDED (but I don’t think we learn what that stands for), playing songs that refer to death in some way or subtly refer to werewolves as a little tribute to them. We also learn a little bit more about the relationship between vampires and their makers. By their nature, vampires cannot defy their makers, though they can put off their orders if they can withstand the increased punishment for it. This connection, while strong, is not infallible, as Sookie and her abused friend learn to her cost.

The world building was mostly on werewolves this time around and, while I could have done with a bit more, it’s enough to get by.

6 out of 10 drops

     

Story

The major problem with this book is the storyline. It’s just too cluttered. In 300 pages, we have shootings, arson, a leadership contest and shovelfuls of romantic confusion. It’s too much and, more than once, I’ve had to say to myself ‘oh yeah, that’s going on’. The author really should have picked two of those things (and edited out a lot of tedious romance) at the very most. I certainly could have done with more details on the leadership contest and greater details on the political back-and-forth between candidates.

We do, however, get allusions to earlier books, giving the idea that the author knows where she’s going with this story. For instance, one of the major villains was spurred on by a subplot from the first book and a lie from an earlier book is really coming back to haunt Sookie. It’s good to see.

The one thing I’m very glad to see is the inversion of tradition: the ‘good guy’ doesn’t win. Sookie’s camp fails and an unknown, possibly hostile, entity holds power. It looks like this book could be a turning point and it certainly provides a nice shock at the climax that almost makes up for the cluttered bulk of the book.

6 out of 10 drops

     

Overall – 20 drops – A Positive/B Positive