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Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12) by Charlaine Harris.

Reviewed by Marlyn Beebe.

Felipe de Castro, the vampire king of Louisiana, is visiting Shreveport.  A party is being held in his honor at the home of Eric Northman, and Sookie's presence is requested.  She walks in on Eric feeding from a young woman, and is (understandably) upset.  Though Eric orders the girl to leave, his response is noticeably sluggish.  When she's found dead soon afterward, Sookie realizes that Eric has been set up.

What is difficult to determine is the reason for the elaborate plan, and just who concocted it.

On top of this, Sookie has to deal with the rest of her life, as complicated as ever.  She's now an investor in Merlotte's Bar & Grill, having lent Sam some money for structural repairs, and therefore has more responsibility. Sam's girlfriend Jannalynn is deeply jealous of Sookie's friendship with him, and is making their working relationship very difficult.

Tara is expecting twins very soon, and though her boutique is doing well, she and her husband JB are worried about finances. Sookie's fae housemates Dermot and Claude are homesick, since the portal to their homeland was closed and they're unable to go back and forth as they once did.  And she also has to keep the magical cluviel dor safe while she decides what to do with it.

Sookie, who has always been remarkably forbearing about her complicated life, is starting to feel stressed.  She's annoyed that Eric is distant and uncommunicative, and feels caught between the various factions of supernaturals, all of whom seem to think she should be on their "side".

Make sure you start this book when you have nothing else planned:  you won't want to put it down until you reach the end.

Charlaine Harris

 That this is the penultimate installment in the series has been known for some time.  On May 14th, it was announced on Charlaine Harris' facebook page that the final novel in the Sookie Stackhouse series, Dead Ever After, will be released on 3 May 2013.  This is not the first time that Harris has ended a series when she thought the story had run its course; she did the same with the Aurora Teagarden books, the Shakespeare series (protagonist Lily Bard did make a visit to Bon Temps early in the series)  and the Harper Connelly series.  





FTC full disclosure:  Many thanks to my step-daughter for lending me the book so I wouldn't have to wait for months to get a copy from the library!