Sookie Stackhouse returns. In the seventh book of the Sookie series, author Harris proves that it is indeed possible to keep a series entertaining indefinitely.

ALTOGETHER DEAD opens with Sookie still mad at an ex-love, cherishing time with a new romance , and uncertain what her relationship is with a third entity. Harris sprinkles her series with vampires, shape-shifters, and weres (there are more creatures out there than the wolf), but barmaid Sookie is always at the center. The ever present personal complications are bits of humanity readers can smile at. It is the story that raises this “Goth Series” to the very top of this relatively new sub genre in Mystery. Far from fantastical, Sookie’s world reflects today with a realism that pulls no punches. As Sookie (a telepath) gets ready to attend a Vampire Convention on behalf of the Queen of the Louisiana Vampires she’s still mourning friends unfound since Katrina, both human and non. The state she calls home has fallen on hard times. The summit at Rhodes may be the death of the queen, but it is also Sookie’s first plane ride and her first trip to the northern states. Harris sets up her tale with a mixture of excitement, confusion, grief and duty that is remarkable. Once we get to the Conference we get down and dirty. There is conspiracy. There is murder. There is peril. There is destruction. Throughout her long career, Harris has always written the stupidity of intolerance and the horror of violence like no one else. That she has managed through three series to do this with humor, truth, and a touch of Southern charm is amazing. When the unthinkable happens in Rhodes, Sookie and Harris bring their reader safely to the end. We are safe but the story is not. Sookie and Charlaine, with these gals in our corner reality is manageable.

Ruth Jordan