Oh, Charlaine what have you done?

I recently finished the ninth entry in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, Dead and Gone, and boy, am I worried. Normally, when I finish a Sookie book I feel charmed; after finishing this book I was depressed and unhappy. Generally speaking, this book is just a hot mess. Did Charlaine Harris really write this? If so, why didn't her editor do their job and step in and make sure the finished product was worthy of publication?

Be warned before reading further, here there be spoilers.

I have been a fan of the Sookie series from the very beginning. (In fact, I remember giving my husband my copy of the book to take with him when he deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom right after 9/11.) I have enjoyed seeing Sookie grow over the years from a dependent, passive small town girl living in a narrow world, coping with a "disability" to an insightful, independent, self aware young woman who refused to be a victim in a sometimes violent and confusing world, all the while retaining her basic goodness and trying to use her abilities for good.

Unfortunately, that Sookie wasn't in this book. I'm not sure who the woman in this book was who was calling herself Sookie, but I didn't much like her. The Sookie in this book didn't seem to feel much of anything she normally would have (no anger at being tricked into being "married" to Eric, no concern for her friends and family who may be targets because of her, no feeling the need to support Jason in his loss of his wife and child, no real remorse at having to kill in self defense or having someone die in her defense, no need to try and defend a character who faces death for something that ultimately wasn't his fault, no real grief at the death of someone close to her who had saved her life on more than one occasion...I could go on, but you get the point) and she made really stupid decisions, over and over to boot. The REAL Sookie of earlier books would have warned her friends and brother they were in danger (even if she was still mad at Jason), would not have followed Eric's orders about the package without questioning them, would not slept with Eric (and certainly not taken more of his blood) until she had figured out what part of her feelings were real rather than blood bond influenced and the prior book Sookie would have asked for advice and protection the minute it was needed (not to mention been bright enough not to stop for the mail or leave her protection behind at a stoplight).

Unfortunately, Sookie wasn't the only one acting uncharacteristically. The ever mysterious Eric spills his guts about his origins (in a public place, no less) and leaves Sookie unprotected after he gets his roll in the sheets, Pam is off doing Other Stuff while Eric's life is in danger, and Quinn (who really only has a pointless cameo) has lost all his charm. (There are lots of pointless cameos in this book. I wondered for a minute there if Ms. Harris was paid by the character.)

I hate continuity errors in a series. Given the fact that there is up to a year between books, they have to be pretty big for me to notice them, but this book had enough of them to stop me in my tracks and completely take me out of the story. Names are wrong (Claudine and Claude's sister was Claudia, not Claudette), events are remembered incorrectly by people who should know better (t was Chow and not Clancy who attacked Hallow), Eric worries that he is "too big" for Sookie in the middle of sex (even though he supposedly remembers that they have slept together before and there was no problem then), vampire tears are described as red when they have always been pink before...details, yes, but it's the "everyday" things that make a world believable and the author and editor's job to make sure a world is kept consistent.

The plot elements are threefold: the weres come out of the closet, fairy is at war (because one faction wants to cut off contact with the human world) and the FBI is looking into Sookie because it wants to use her abilities. Unfortunately, none of these elements are really dealt with in depth and bits and pieces are just thrown in as accompaniment to the action, 90% of which is violent.

Oh, yes, this book is filled with senseless violence. Pregnant women drop like flies. Sookie is tortured by incestuous fairies. (Luckily I didn't like her much by the time that happened so it didn't bother me terribly.) Central characters we have grown fond of die for no reason. (Claudine, for one, deserved better. After being a good friend to Sookie and saving her bacon more than once she deserved a death that counted for something and someone to grieve for her. Instead her death is mentioned only in passing and no one seems to care much, despite the fact that she was pregnant.)

All the death and torture in this book seem to serve no real purpose (the "good" fairies win the war but decide to cut off the human world anyway and the individual who loses his life over Crystal's murder isn't the one who did the killing), so in the end it has no meaning. (If this ends up being a "Sookie had to go through hell so she can grow as a person" ploy I will be really ticked. After 8 books and so much character development for Sookie, PTSD-worthy events shouldn't be required for her to grow further in the series.)

This series is one of the few that I have been willing to pay hardcover prices for, but after reading this entry in the series I will now be waiting for the paperback releases to buy the new books. Hopefully, by next spring Ms. Harris will have the series back on track - and if she doesn't, I won't be out $20!

(Note: The next entry in this series, A Touch of Dead, is due out in October but it is merely a compilation of Sookie Stackhouse short stories, many of which have appeared elsewhere. I have read most of them when they were first published and they are hit and miss.)