Review: Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

Dead and Gone is the ninth book in the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris, the basis for the television series True Blood.

Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress working in Merlotte’s Bar in Bon Temps. She also happens to be a telepath, and involved with supernatural creatures. In this world, vampires have come out into public view, thanks mostly to the development of artificial blood (“True Blood” is one of the brands available). Still hiding from the regular world have been weres/shapeshifters, witches and the even older race of fairies.

In this book, Sookie finds herself drawn into darker places than in previous books. The world has already been changed by the public revelation of vampires, and now the weres and shapeshifters decide to follow suit. This revelation sparks off a series of violent acts that impact Sookie’s life directly when a shapeshifter is killed and crucified behind Merlotte’s.

It is refreshing to see a darker tone taken in this book, with Sookie’s relationships taking a backseat to some of the greater events happening in her world. Fans of the romantic plots need not fear – there is still exploration of her romantic entanglements, just not as a focus of the main plot. The darkness in this book might be confronting to some readers, especially those used to the light tone of the earlier books.

Harris’ prose has evolved over the course of the nine books, and this one is perhaps the best written of them. It still suffers at times from a too-light tone that acts at odds with some of the events happening, as well as a sense of being rushed, with some events that should have greater impact being glossed over.

This is definitely the most adult in tone of the books so far, reflecting perhaps the maturation and development of Sookie herself as a character as she gets drawn into dark and ancient conflicts and is forced to confront some of the own darkness within herself.

Dead and Gone is published by Gollancz.