Club Dead: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel

Sookie's boyfriend has been very distant-in another state, distant. Now she's off to Mississippi to mingle with the underworld at Club Dead-a little haunt where the vampire elite go to chill out. But when she finally finds Bill-caught in an act of betrayal-she's not sure whether to save him...or sharpen some stakes.

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Alcide Herveaux was to be Sookie's contact/guide. He was a werewolf. With his help, Sookie could enter places that mere mortals seldom dared tread, such as Club Dead. The vampire king of Mississippi (yes, readers, you read that correctly) was Russell Edgington. Russell took interest in Sookie very quickly. Eric arrived on the scene, in disguise as usual. Several attempts were made on Sookie's life and Bill was caught in an act of serious betrayal against Sookie's love. Sookie was not sure whether to save Bill or sharpen a few stakes of her own!

***** Much better than book two. Again, this mystery could be read as a "stand alone" book. But the main and secondary characters remain the same. The love triangle between Sookie, Bill, and Eric gets much rougher. That triangle is enjoyed more by those who have read the first two previous books though.

This entire series, thus far, is humorous, fun, very sexy, and highly recommended! *****

50 of 55 found the following review helpful:

I still love this series, but careful....rise of AB FactorJun 13, 2003

I can't tell you how much I looked forward to this book, more than I've looked forward to books in a long time.

However, I was not as happy with this one as I could have been.

Of course, I still enjoyed it, read it in one sitting even. And i absolutly cannot wait for the fourth book (Anyone know when it will be?

But, some things to consider:

Watch out for the AB Factor. The AB Factor is the Anita Blake factor. I used to love the Hamilton series about the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter. However, after about oh, book four, Anita became quickly, EVERY other person's object of lust in the vicinity. Human, nonhuman, straight, gay, bi...whatever. EVERYone wants to *bleep* Anita.

Well, it appears in this book that this same factor is creeping into the Harris series. Please, oh please, Ms Harris...don't make Sookie the object of lust to everyone...please?

I wish the book had kept the men wanting Sookie to either Bill or Eric. Adding in Alcide, and the Weres, and such..well, it was just too much. Part of the charm of Sookie is that I can see her as EVERYwoman.

I loved that she sent both guys out of her house at the end, and I loved too that she acknowledged to herself that since dating Bill, she's been beaten more than any person ought to have to endure. That's a very telling factor of her life. It's gotten out of control.

I did get a tad annoyed that she's constantly being beaten up or threatened in this book....readers barely catch their breath before another attack happens.

I wanted more details too on Bill's infidelity....I'm shocked...what happened?????? What the heck is his deal? For an "old fashioned" vamp, he's definitely changed.

Please, hurry with the next one.....I need some closure...this book left me hanging and I need more :)

K.

14 of 14 found the following review helpful:

Darker, more violent but still FINEJun 04, 2003
By bookstealth "bookstealth"
I'd give CLUB DEAD a 4.5 if that were possible. First off, I really love this series. It's unique in its supernatural chills mixed with insightful social speculation, lusty romance and hoot-out-loud hilarity. (Hamilton's Anita Blake series, you say? Puh-leeze.) So I approach it as a solid 5 just for great world building and characterization, then work down from there.
I won't bother with a plot summary since it's already been done but this book is less balanced than the first two in the series. The characters are still vivid and grow in suprising but logical ways. Sookie is just as tough, wry and clear-sighted about her own situation and vulnerabilities. Her lover Bill The Vampire's unexpected treachery suprised me but Harris is nothing if not tough minded. She's consistently sprinkled reminders throughout all the diverting humor and action that vampires are fundamentally different; they do not share conventional human morality or emotions. Vampire area boss Eric is still a gorgeous hunk who cheerfully lusts for Sookie but shows signs of being a more simpatico, genuine friend, albeit somewhat reluctantly. (He's still a vampire and "doesn't *like* having feelings, remember.) The introduction of hunky (and breathing) Alcide the Werewolf, hung up on the Ex-Girl Friend From Hell, makes a poignant counterpoint to Sookie's situation. And Bubba, oh my GOD, the ineffable Bubba...(This raving won't make a lick of sense to anyone who hasn't read the series but betcha anyone who HAS can't keep from chortling.)
As always w/ this this series, there are some purely wonderful scenes. Sookie and Alcide nervously trying to dispose of a corpse wrapped in a shower curtain, "like a big green burrito." And as usual Harris seamlessly, suavely injects unexpected humor into horror and vice versa. An appalling bloodbath at Club Dead jolts weres and shapeshifters, already jittery from the full moon, into drifting through the carnage as falcons, German Sheperds and a stray bison. It's pretty danged disconcerting to snicker during a scene where the thoroughly likeable main character gets a stake driven into her side.
But that leads to my one caveat about this book. It's exhausting in its relentless violence against Sookie. Over the span of a few days she's subjected to one horrific assault after another, bam, bam, bam. She isn't granted any respite or downtime and neither is the reader. Even after her harrowing rescue of Bill from the torture chamber--a logical watershed moment--she's ambushed and/or brutally assaulted two more times (once by Bill) and then once again when she finally, grimly flees home. Maybe the constant violence and terror (no matter how deftly leavened with wry humor) set up Sookie's decision to slam the door against her dear undead but the book still ends with a thump. The relentless tension never really gets released; it just...ends.
I'm sure (uh, I *hope*) Charlaine Harris will back-fill the aftermath in the next book. (Soon, please!) It just would have been satisfying to have that coasting-down and wrapping-up at the end of this book for balance. I feel a little thwarted of conversations and resolutions that could have served as coda to this installment. Bill helplessly marching backward, her brush still in hand, doesn't quite cut it. It's not like Harris hasn't built huge suspense already...how will Sookie cope now, with her increasing familiarity and fame with the undead and supernatural ? If she can't "go back", where can she go...and where and how far does she *want* to go? Great stuff.
Please place these few, very minor quibbles in perspective. This series is a genuine, rare *find* for readers jaded with the same old same old. Charlaine Harris is a writer, not a by-the-numbers word factory, who won't insult your intelligence, waste your time or money. If you haven't read the series, you're in for a treat.

39 of 46 found the following review helpful:

Club Inconsistent.May 10, 2003
By M. Friday
The enjoyment factor on the Southern Vampire series is high. The consistency level on this particular novel is remarkably low.

The authoress, in her previous two novels, introduces characters that (I assume) are important to the progress of Sookie's life. In Club Dead, many of them are insignificant. Take Sam (my favourite Collie), for example- she spends two novels creating a grand tension between he and Sookie and then completely NEGATES his value in novel three. He makes more of a cameo appearance than anything else. Furthermore, we're introduced to Alcede (another lycanthrope), who acts as a sort of "red herring" in the romantic sense. We've still got Eric ( an old, lusty vampire) hot for Sookie's pants AND Bill to account for, not to mention the almost non-existent Sam. The threads begin to unravel at the onset of so many viable guys.

Which brings me around to another fine topic; what of Bill? Bill, Sookie's boyfriend and cheating, devious vampire lover (I've never liked Bill). He runs off to complete a secret mission (which is another definite lack of cohesion) and then-BAM-he falls back in love with an old flame-Lorena the Vampire. This is the second of a major incoherence-We're told NOTHING of Bill and Lorena's past. Since we aren't given an opportunity to understand the ties that bind them to one another, we're left in the dark about events that precipitate the motion of the plot. We only see Lorena, very briefly, when she and Sookie have an "encounter". So, to the reader, it seems as if Bill has simply run off (with no depth of complexity or reasoning) with some other chick. It's another loose thread that, sadly, accounts for many character motivations.

I can only hope Harris wraps Sookie's life a little tighter to home with the next novel. The charm is in the South, with familiar peoples, whom we've grown to know by now, and a tighter plot line. I'd love to see her easy, sweet style find its roots again.

10 of 10 found the following review helpful:

Good, but irritatingMay 30, 2003

Club Dead is an great book,an interesting mystery, but I would actually tell people to read this book before reading the first two of the series: Dead Until Dark and Living Dead In Dallas.
The problem is an inconsistency in some of her characters' behavior, especially Bill and Sam. This is, unfortunately, a fault in another one of Ms Harris' mystery series, The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries. It appears, that when a storyline get difficult, Ms.Harris either kills, removes, and/or changes the character's personality abruptly.

This is a good book, I enjoyed it, it was entertaining, and I am glad I bought it. But, the character jumps in a second Harris series were an irritant.

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