Promotional Information

The Golden Globe award-winning series, now showing on FX, the channel that brought us DEXTER.

About the Author

Charlaine Harris is the author of several New York Times bestselling series. She is married, with children, and lives in Arkansas.

Reviews

Plot twists and fascinating characters abound in this welcome addition to Harris's Anthony Award-winning "Southern Vampire" series. Charming heroine and cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse must once again use her mind-reading talents to solve a mystery and take out some really bad guys. Someone has been shooting shapeshifters. Even Sam, her boss at Melotte's tavern, who from time to time turns into a collie, becomes a victim. For help, she turns to the local vampire honcho, the handsome, sexy Eric, who complies but expects a favor in return. As if this isn't enough, Sookie herself is targeted by an assassin; she almost dies when her house is torched and is then shot but fortunately not badly wounded. On top of everything else, her Were friend Alcide compels her to witness the brutal, bloody ritual used to choose a new werewolf pack leader. Much of the action here has its roots in Dead to the World, but the author unobtrusively keeps new readers apprised of what happened earlier. Harris lives in Arkansas.-Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Columbia, MD Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Harris's rousing fifth Sookie Stackhouse fantasy-mystery (after 2004's Dead to the World) pits vampires, were-creatures, shifters and one fairy godmother against a sniper with an apparent aversion to nonhumans. If trying to discover who's behind the shootings isn't enough, the telepathic cocktail waitress from Bon Temps, La., has to cope with a few other distractions: her sexy "Were" friend, Alcide Herveaux, needs her help in his father's bid to become the next leader of the local werewolf pack; her boss, Sam Merlotte (a collie in his spare time), gets shot; her house partly burns down; and what's she to do about the handsome vampire bartender who dresses as a pirate at Sam's place? Between one mishap and another, Sookie is one busy gal. Harris does an admirable job of creating a heroine who's not only interesting but completely believable in a world of the strange and the different. Natural and humorous dialogue and a nicely paced plot that doesn't dwell so much on Sookie's old boyfriends help make this entry the best yet in the series. Agent, Joshua Bilmes at Jabberwocky. 10-city author tour. (May 3) FYI: Harris is also the author of the Aurora Teagarden (Real Murders) and the Lily Bard (Shakespeare's Landlord) mystery series. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.