DEAD IN THE FAMILY.

A bit of a change to my line up of books - I was going to read Measles And The Dragodon by Ian Ogilvy as book 3 in my SEPTEMBER SPECTACULAR CHALLENGE but instead opted for Dead In The Family by Charlaine Harris. Not to worry though I will be reading Measle next and then The Lost Symbol as my final read. Apologies to those of you who were expecting Ken McCoy's Hammerhead, I promise I will read and review this at another time.

To view books ONE and/or TWO read for this challenge simply click on the relevant link. Whilst to view what other bloggers are reading as part of this challenge click HERE.

DEAD IN THE FAMILY by CHARLAINE HARRIS.

It's all about family .....

If you think your relationships are complicated, think again: you haven't seen anything like the ones in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sookie Stackhouse is dealing with a whole host of family problems, ranging from her own kin (a non-human fairy and a telepathic second cousin) demanding a place in her life, to her lover Eric's vampire sire, an ancient being who arrives with Eric's 'brother' in tow at a most inopportune moment. And Sookie's tracking down a distant relation of her ailing neighbour (and ex), Vampire Bill Compton.

In addition to the multitude of family issues complicating her life, the werewolf pack of Shrevesport has asked Sookie for a special favour, and since Sookie is an obliging young woman, she agrees. But this favour for the wolves has dire results for Sookie, who is still recovering from the trauma of her abduction during the Fairy war.

....... From the inner front cover.

FIRST SENTENCE: "I feel bad I'm leaving you like this," Amelia said.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: .....  a child locked in a permanent grayness, a child who experienced only occasional flashes of pleasure and color in his new 'life'.

Normally a big fan of these books, I was so delighted to hear this, the latest novel in the series, was on it's way. What a disappointment.

With very little of the usual action we have come to expect of the 'Sookie books' and with several new strands of the storyline started only to fizzle out there was just something woefully lacking about Dead In The Family. I don't know if the author was under  pressure to write this the tenth novel or whether it was written as a 'bridge' to an eleventh book but I'm extremely sad to say that it just wasn't up to what we have come to expect from Charlaine Harris. And this from someone who has thoroughly enjoyed all her previous books -  I'm far from convinced I would have read any more of the series if this had been my first experience of her work.

That said, it wasn't all bad  - perhaps the one redeeming feature was the inclusion of Eric's 'brother' who, like 'Bubba', was another famous face who, though believed to be dead, had 'joined' the vampire community. A small glimpse of humour, this was just too little in what was an otherwise fairly humourless story that went nowhere.

Dead In The Family was a gift purchased from Amazon.