Dead to the World continues the Charlaine Harris series about a waitress in Louisiana called Sookie Stackhouse who finds herself repeatedly involved in the events of the supernatural underworld around her. It is true that vampires have come out into the open, albeit at night but there are many other supernaturals inhabiting the world in general and they are just as dangerous.
Plot in Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
Sookie is coming home from Merlotte's one night when a beautiful man runs in front of her car. Naked. Imagine her surprise when she realises that it is Eric Northman,vampire, Sheriff of Area 5 and patron of Fangtasia, Shreveport's premier bloodspot.
She decides to help him but there is a problem. He has no idea who she is, which is unexpected as Eric has certainly made it plain that if there is one thing of which he would like certain knowledge, it is Sookie. He is also clueless about who he is, where he is from, who he associates with. Sookie will have to nurse him until his minions, Pam and Chow show up.
Eric and Sookie in Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
Eric's amnesia allows Charlaine Harris to present a completely different Eric: one who lacks confidence, looks to others for reassurance and orders; an aged vampire with innocence. This adds an extra dimension to the relationship between Eric and Sookie and we read to see how Sookie will react to this new unadulterated Eric. He shows none of the traits that normally check her attraction to him so it could be only a matter of time before Sookie finally submits to the desire that she feels for him. Her romance with Bill is over and besides, he has gone to Peru and is no longer on the scene. Barriers to a new dalliance have been toppled - could it happen at last?
Jason's disappearance in Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
Juxtaposed alongside the plot involving Eric, Harris places the disappearance of Jason, Sookie's brother. Jason skips work and Sookie is phoned by Catfish, his supervisor. Jason is many things but work shy he is not and Sookie becomes worried. When blood is found on the pier behind Jason's house, everyone fears the worst for Jason but as no body is found, the circumstances of his disappearance are a mystery.
Sookie's stress is mounting. Having already found her grandmother dead in Dead Until Dark and been betrayed by her vampire boyfriend in Club Dead, Sookie feels truly alone and vulnerable. Jason is her only living relative and her only real link to her gran and happier, less complicated times. Harris, in her creation of Sookie, shows a woman who keeps her head together in the most extreme of situations and her composure shows mental strength and determination. This contrasts sharply with the way that she is seen by most of the people in Bon Temps who, due to her telepathic ability, are guarded around Sookie, viewing her as some sort of weak-minded freak. The irony of this is not lost on this reader especially with the growing amount of traditional freakish creatures in the immediate environs.
Sookie knows that not only must she help and protect Eric while he is vulnerable but that she must find her brother or what has happened to him.
The Supernatural in Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
All of the different groups of creatures in Harris' books are feuding in some way. To date, vampires and werewolves are in conflict as well as maenads and in this book, Harris chooses to introduce witches and other were-creatures into the equation as well. A weird world indeed.
It is the witches and in particular, a witch called Hallow who has cursed Eric and it is decided that her coven must be destroyed as she not only has designs on Eric but his business interests as well.
The supernatural beings previously wrangling with each other unite to defeat a common enemy and this allows Harris to continue the tension between Sookie, Alcide (the werewolf from Club Dead) and his ex-fiancee Debbie. As Debbie has already made her feelings about Sookie perfectly plain, the threat to Sookie is palpable and Debbie takes advantage of a fight situation to attack her incognito. Luckily, a stray hand saves Sookie but Debbie is undeterred and attempts to confront Sookie once more. How this ends is one of the key events of the book.
Weaknesses in Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
If there is one weakness that this reader felt on reading Dead to the World, it was the lack of development of the character of Hallow. She has managed to put a debilitating curse on one of the most powerful vampires in Louisiana and she is a threatening presence throughout the book as she exerts power over other witches to do her bidding. Harris, however, has chosen not to present her personality within the book. She is merely the witch who needs to be expunged. I felt that there was more scope here for another strong female for Sookie to combat and the lack of it was disappointing.
On the whole, Charlaine Harris has achieved another successful book, creating a world where the threat to Sookie is never far away. However, whilst being terrified most of the time, it seems to me that Harris has in Sookie created a fairly well-balanced heroine who the reader knows will come through, not unscathed, but stronger and more passionate than before.
Source
Dead to the World, Charlaine Harris, Gollancz, 2009
Rachel Deeming - Rachel is a mother of two boys, one 18 months old and the other a busy boy of four. She used to work until recently as an English teacher ...
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