Review: Definitely Dead (Southern Vampire #6)

Definitely Dead, by Charlaine Harris, is the sixth book of the Southern Vampire (“Sookie Stackhouse”) series. It is the spring season in Bon Temps (Louisiana), and everything was back to normal, or so Sookie thought. As a cocktail waitress at Merlotte’s Bar, Sookie Stackhouse has a secret gift: she is telepathic (she can read people’s minds). She considers her gift a curse. Sometimes, you want to avoid what the other person is saying about you. Or avoid being as an investigative tool for the police. She’s around 26 years old. Alcide, her former Were boyfriend, was still suffering the loss of his father during a Were pack ceremony. He has a new girlfriend, Maria-Star. Her brother has turned into a partial shape-shifter. She still cannot escape the death of Debbie Pelt which lingers in her mind mentally and emotionally.

Nevertheless, Sookie faces new problems. The police wanted her to help find a missing child. Two Weres tried to kill her on an evening date with Quinn, the tiger shapeshifter. In addition, someone murdered her cousin-turned-vampire Hadley in (pre-Hurricane Katrina) New Orleans. Once she heads to her cousin’s apartment, she discovers a dead Were-turned-vampire in the closet. Such conversions are prohibitive in the Were and vampire community. The Vampire Queen orders her to attend her marriage in New Orleans to find the truth behind the death of her cousin. Even worse, Sookie learns a terrible secret about one of her former loves. With the assistance of familiar supernatural allies, Sookie must again solve a mysterious death before she becomes definitely dead herself.

Anyways, this book was a very quick read (try four days!) for being almost 400 pages! And this book did not disappoint at all! I really enjoyed the Quinn character because he was not a seductive Bill or a stubborn Eric. He was a real gentleman despite his size and shapeshifter capabilities. I could not believe the truth behind one of Sookie’s lovers. Bill did not initially love her. He was ordered by the Vampire Queen to investigate her, even it meant seducing her. No matter how much Bill tried to persuade that he really loved her, Sookie was so hurt by his words that she ordered him to never come near her ever again! Wow, this was truly a shocker! I cannot wait to read the next book!

Overall, this book was nice for getting through those long days and perfect for indoors rainy weather season. I thought the last hundred pages of the novel were very disorganized because I could not understand why Sookie and Quinn were in one place (New Orleans) and suddenly in the woods in the next five pages! I understand that Harris has huge demand for her novels, but she must make sure that the chapters smoothly flow. Whenever she has major plot development, such as fights and battles, I can never really follow the action sequences. This is one of the few negative complaints I have about her writing style. I hope the next novel includes a truce between Sookie and Alcide. I certainly missed him in this novel although it was refreshing to do without his indecisive and stubborn behavior. Sookie was right to leave him since he always thought about his former girlfriend, Debbie Pelt. Ladies, when a man cannot make up his mind, leave him before he hurts your feelings!

Stay tuned for the next novel in the Southern Vampire series, All Together Dead.