![Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse, #12)](https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1357995380m/10407279.jpg)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Book 12 of Sookie's adventures starts with a vampire party (for King Felipe), Sookie catching Eric snacking on another woman, and a dead body. And as the dead body is the woman Eric was drinking from, and the body is found in his front yard, suspicion quickly falls on Eric and his household.
It soon becomes clear that the victim, Kym Rowe, had been sent to deliberately entice Eric. Not only was she part Were, but she'd also taken a dose of fairy blood to make herself irresistible. Who'd put her up to it, and who killed her?
As well as this, Eric knows that Felipe suspects he had a hand in Victor's disappearance, and so things are pretty tense in that department.
Niall, Sookie's fairy great grandfather, turns up again, and he and Claude go back to Faery to discover the truth about who cursed Dermot (and sent him crazy for a while etc), which leaves Dermot in charge of Hooligans and all the fae folk there. And the fae folk get a bit restless without their leader. As the fae folk in Sookie's world are about as similar to Tinkerbell as I am to Elle Macpherson (in other words, NOT VERY) and they have pointy teeth and stuff, you don't really want them running wild in Bon Temps. So there's that.
Another complication is that Eric was promised to the beautiful and powerful vampire Queen of Oklahoma, Freyda, by Appius (his now definitely dead maker). This was the big secret Eric and Pam had kept from Sookie. Sookie is, understandably, not very happy about this, but there are signs in this book and in the previous one that, even though she still thinks Eric is hot, she is getting a bit sick of all the supernatural dramas. In an interesting little scene, Freyda confronts Sookie at her house, but Sookie holds her own against the Queen. (Go Sookie!) I love it when Sookie sends a vampire packing by rescinding an invitation to her home. If only that worked on unwanted visitors in real life!
Meanwhile, the police are still trying to solve the murder, and the supes are getting in on the act too. Bill, in his position as Area Five Investigator, and Alcide and the Long Tooth Pack, are all on the case, trying to find out who was behind it. Sookie suspects Jannalynn, the Long Tooth Pack enforcer and Sam's girlfriend, had a hand in it somewhere, but there's no evidence to link her to the crime.
Also, two humans are missing - who just happened to be with Eric and his vampires the night Victor met his end. Do their disappearances relate to Victor's demise, or does it have something to do with the murder of Kym Rowe? Sookie also discovers a link between Jannalynn and her fairy cousin, Claude, which is bad news. And just to make things even more interesting, Sookie is kidnapped!
Gradually the truth about Kym Rowe is revealed, the humans are rescued, and things seem to be settling down a bit, but not before Sookie is once again threatened over her possession of the cluviel dor.
There's quite a few bodies by the end of the book. Jannalynn gets what's coming to her, but not before mortally wounding someone Sookie loves - and it's not Eric. I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say that the cluviel dor comes in very handy...
As this series nears its end, you get a real sense that Sookie is longing for some normality in her life - not the constant dramas and dangers that have surrounded her since she first became aware of the supernatural world. The novelty is wearing off, so to speak. And who could blame her? She's been betrayed, tortured, kidnapped numerous times, and had her heart broken. With only one book to go in the series, I hope she finds some peace and happiness.
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