Dead to the World

Sookie Stackhouse is single and has made a new year's resolution to avoid getting 'beat up,' but once she's forced into hiding a vampire with amnesia from a coven of witches and her brother goes missing, it looks as if she'll break it.

Although she's resisted his confident approaches before, Sookie finds herself smitten by the lost puppy dog/former Viking whose normal arrogance is replaced by sweet concern for his caretaker while her ex, Bill, is in Peru. The inconvenience of keeping Eric's whereabouts secret, while the witch who's to blame for his memory loss offers up a $50,000 reward for information on her lost 'friend,' overshadows the search for Jason as there appear to be no leads in his case.

In a satisfying turn for readers, racy bits that were toned down in the last installment are catapulted back up as Eric and Sookie finally achieve Eric's desires that he's expressed for the previous three books.

The world of supernatural creatures (or 'Supes') in which Sookie increasingly finds herself involved expands as she learns about more creatures, and they affect a human close to her that is sure to add to her complications later in the series.