Deadlocked Review

Deadlocked    

Author:  Charlaine Harris

Publisher:  Ace Books/Berkley Publishing

American release date:  May 1, 2012

Format/Genre/Length:  Novel/Fantasy/327 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

Sookie and some of her girl friends—including a very pregnant Tara—decide to visit Hooligan’s on lady’s night. The girls are dying to see Sookie’s cousin Claude—as much of him as they can—and Sookie goes along with them, although truthfully she’s seen Claude in the altogether, and not by choice, as her faery cousin has no inhibitions and wanders the house in the buff.  Luckily, none of the ladies notice anything odd about the establishment, or those that frequent it. The show is nice, but comes with an unexpected surprise in the form of JB du Rone, Tara’s husband, stripping onstage.

Synopsis:

With Sookie where there’s one surprise, there’s generally more, and tonight is no exception, as she receives her great-grandfather Niall in her home, last seen when most of the faeries departed and the entrance to Faery was closed. Sookie isn’t happy about the way he treats his own son, Dermot, her great-uncle who could be Jason Stackhouse’s doppelganger. When Niall leaves, he takes Claude with him, leaving a heart-broken Dermot behind.

The next morning Eric’s dayman, Mustapha, shows up on his motorcycle to warn her that the shit’s about to hit the fan—Felipe de Castro is coming to Shreveport to talk about the disappearance of his buddy Victor. Not that he’ll find him, of course, as Sookie and Eric, among others, were party to his death. Sookie is disturbed that he found out through Janalynn that Sookie has loaned some money to Sam Merlotte—that should have been private business. 

Sookie’s Gran left her a powerful gift in the form of an ancient cluviel dor, and Sookie is unsure where to keep it, vacillating between hiding it in her drawer or carrying it with her. She doesn’t even know how it works or what it does, just that it’s very powerful and very rare.

There is to be a meeting at Eric’s house with Felipe and his group, at nine Pam says, but Mustapha calls back to tell her to make it ten. Not that she’s in the mood anyway, but she agrees, as Eric’s wife. When she arrives, Bill is on patrol outside and warns her to go, but she says she can’t. Inside the house, the guests are behaving badly and crudely. When she asks for Eric, she’s told he’s in the bedroom, so she heads to find him, only to catch him in flagrante, drinking from the neck of a younger, skinner blonde!

As if this isn’t bad enough, Sookie realizes the blonde has been “enhanced” with faery blood, to make her even more irresistible to vampires. If Sookie hadn’t shown up, or been later, he’d possibly have lost control and killed her! Sookie and Pam manage to get rid of the girl, but unfortunately she turns up again later—dead, on Eric’s lawn!

Sookie has to prove Eric’s innocence while dealing with the usual confusion in her life, among them Claude’s absence, the murder of the girl, the appearance of Eric’s “betrothed”, Felipe’s investigation—not to mention the cluviel dor and what to do with it.

 Commentary:

Not much time left, only one Sookie book remains. I know I shall miss this spunky heroine very much. Nothing is ever simple for Sookie; makes you wonder where’s her happy ending and when’s it coming? And who will it be? Although by the end of the book, there’s evidence of who it won’t be, never say never until it happens, ‘cause appearances can be deceiving.

This book has its fair share of surprises along with some tender moments, such as with Tara and JB’s twins. Andy and Halleigh are expecting too, and both Hoyt and Jimmie and Jason and Michele are preparing to tie the know.

I enjoyed this twelfth volume very much, and anxiously await the next and last volume. I’ll say it—I want Sookie to end up with Bill. I’m not holding my breath, but if it would happen, I’d be happy.  Most importantly, I want Sookie to be happy.

So now we wait for next year and the final story in the Sookie Stackhouse saga!