Club Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 3)

Alcide Herveaux was to be Sookie's contact/guide. He was a werewolf. With his help, Sookie could enter places that mere mortals seldom dared tread, such as Club Dead. The vampire king of Mississippi (yes, readers, you read that correctly) was Russell Edgington. Russell took interest in Sookie very quickly. Eric arrived on the scene, in disguise as usual. Several attempts were made on Sookie's life and Bill was caught in an act of serious betrayal against Sookie's love. Sookie was not sure whether to save Bill or sharpen a few stakes of her own!

***** Much better than book two. Again, this mystery could be read as a "stand alone" book. But the main and secondary characters remain the same. The love triangle between Sookie, Bill, and Eric gets much rougher. That triangle is enjoyed more by those who have read the first two previous books though.

This entire series, thus far, is humorous, fun, very sexy, and highly recommended! *****


Whimsical and biting!   May 1, 2003
 13 out of 14 found this review helpful

Another wonderful book in the Southern Vampire Mystery series. Sookie Stackhouse is back once again, caught up in the search and rescue of her Vampire lover/boyfriend Bill, a Civil War Vet turned vampire, who has gone missing in Mississippi. More than one mystery unfolds in this short but excellent addition to the series. Ms. Harris brings together all the wonderful characters created in the first 2 books, including Elv.. I mean Bubba, and has expanded into other territory, with new "Supes" (supernatural creatures - mostly Weres) while bringing the reader more definition to their abilities. Big-hearted Sookie is no push over, even when faced with the dilemma of her enigmatic and purportedly cheating boyfriend. Back to make Sookie's life difficult is the amorous and sexy vamp Eric (Bill's boss). A new big and brawny werewolf, Alcide, steps into the action to help Sookie find Bill and keep a werewolf posse out to avenge a missing member of the gang at bay. At the end of this book I let out a BIG cheer for Sookie! I can't wait for the action to pick up in the next book. Please Ms. Harris, don't make us wait too long!


Darker, more violent but still FINE   June 4, 2003
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

I'd give CLUB DEAD a 4.5 if that were possible. First off, I really love this series. It's unique in its supernatural chills mixed with insightful social speculation, lusty romance and hoot-out-loud hilarity. (Hamilton's Anita Blake series, you say? Puh-leeze.) So I approach it as a solid 5 just for great world building and characterization, then work down from there.
I won't bother with a plot summary since it's already been done but this book is less balanced than the first two in the series. The characters are still vivid and grow in suprising but logical ways. Sookie is just as tough, wry and clear-sighted about her own situation and vulnerabilities. Her lover Bill The Vampire's unexpected treachery suprised me but Harris is nothing if not tough minded. She's consistently sprinkled reminders throughout all the diverting humor and action that vampires are fundamentally different; they do not share conventional human morality or emotions. Vampire area boss Eric is still a gorgeous hunk who cheerfully lusts for Sookie but shows signs of being a more simpatico, genuine friend, albeit somewhat reluctantly. (He's still a vampire and "doesn't *like* having feelings, remember.) The introduction of hunky (and breathing) Alcide the Werewolf, hung up on the Ex-Girl Friend From Hell, makes a poignant counterpoint to Sookie's situation. And Bubba, oh my GOD, the ineffable Bubba...(This raving won't make a lick of sense to anyone who hasn't read the series but betcha anyone who HAS can't keep from chortling.)
As always w/ this this series, there are some purely wonderful scenes. Sookie and Alcide nervously trying to dispose of a corpse wrapped in a shower curtain, "like a big green burrito." And as usual Harris seamlessly, suavely injects unexpected humor into horror and vice versa. An appalling bloodbath at Club Dead jolts weres and shapeshifters, already jittery from the full moon, into drifting through the carnage as falcons, German Sheperds and a stray bison. It's pretty danged disconcerting to snicker during a scene where the thoroughly likeable main character gets a stake driven into her side.
But that leads to my one caveat about this book. It's exhausting in its relentless violence against Sookie. Over the span of a few days she's subjected to one horrific assault after another, bam, bam, bam. She isn't granted any respite or downtime and neither is the reader. Even after her harrowing rescue of Bill from the torture chamber--a logical watershed moment--she's ambushed and/or brutally assaulted two more times (once by Bill) and then once again when she finally, grimly flees home. Maybe the constant violence and terror (no matter how deftly leavened with wry humor) set up Sookie's decision to slam the door against her dear undead but the book still ends with a thump. The relentless tension never really gets released; it just...ends.
I'm sure (uh, I *hope*) Charlaine Harris will back-fill the aftermath in the next book. (Soon, please!) It just would have been satisfying to have that coasting-down and wrapping-up at the end of this book for balance. I feel a little thwarted of conversations and resolutions that could have served as coda to this installment. Bill helplessly marching backward, her brush still in hand, doesn't quite cut it. It's not like Harris hasn't built huge suspense already...how will Sookie cope now, with her increasing familiarity and fame with the undead and supernatural ? If she can't "go back", where can she go...and where and how far does she *want* to go? Great stuff.
Please place these few, very minor quibbles in perspective. This series is a genuine, rare *find* for readers jaded with the same old same old. Charlaine Harris is a writer, not a by-the-numbers word factory, who won't insult your intelligence, waste your time or money. If you haven't read the series, you're in for a treat.


Disposing of the Physical Remains   June 4, 2007
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Club Dead (2003) is the third Rural Fantasy in the Southern Vampire series, following Living Dead in Dallas. In the previous volume, the maenad didn't leave any survivors on the deck except Tara. Eric and Bill set fire to the beach house to cover the deaths. Portia took her brother Andy home, Sam took Tara and Eggs back with him, and Eric returned to Shreveport. Then Bill and Sookie also left and Callisto wandered off to who knows where.

In this novel, Bill Compton leaves town after hiding his database files and computer system in Sookie Stackhouse's closet. He tells Sookie that he is going to Seattle, but she knows that he is lying. Then Bubba shows up sitting on her front porch swing.

Bubba says that Eric has sent him to guard her, but doesn't know why. Sookie is on her way to work, but decides that Bubba can't go into the bar area; after all, he is too well known to just sit at a table. Bubba refuses to stay in the car in the back parking lot since he couldn't know when she is threatened. They finally agree that Bubba can sit in the office while Sookie is working.

As Sookie goes into the building to get Sam's permission, a Were gang member grabs her and then Bubba crushes his throat. After a bit of confusion involving Kevin -- a local cop -- Sookie, Sam and Bubba clean up the area and stash the body out of sight. Then Pam shows up later asking about Bubba.

In this story, Sookie learns that Bill has gone to Jackson after being summoned by Lorena, his master. He had called Fangtasia the previous night stating that he was coming back to Bon Temps to take care of some business, but he had never arrived. Eric has learned something about Bill's whereabouts from paid informants, but he can't just go searching for Bill since Mississippi is outside his jurisdiction. Indeed, it is a separate Vampire Kingdom.

Sookie can't read vampire minds, but she can go listen to the human minds in the Mississippi Kingdom. Eric has arranged for a Were named Alcide Herveaux to take her to Jackson and to provide an apartment. Alcide will also escort her in Josephine's, a vampire bar that caters to other supernaturals as well. The Weres, however, call the bar Club Dead.

Sookie is really hurting in this story. Bill has lied to her and then went to another woman. Even if this woman had brought him over, most vampires go their separate ways after the first few decades. Why did Bill go to Mississippi?

This story introduces Debbie Pelt, a shapeshifter who had been dating Alcide, but had recently left him for another shifter. But Debbie doesn't like other women in Alcide's life. She is a vixen in more than one respect.

Sookie also meets Janice Herveaux Phillips -- Alcide's sister -- whom she likes very much. Janice owns a hair salon and insists that Sookie have her hair and nails done properly for Josephine's ambiance. Sookie has never even been in a hair salon before this and really enjoys the experience. She even gets to repeat the experience the next day.

Sookie has problems with the Jackson Weres. The Were who had attacked her in Merlotte's Bar had been from Jackson. Then Jerry Falcon, another member of the same Were gang, accosted her in Josephine's and was forcibly removed. Jerry's body later showed up in Sookie's apartment in Jackson.

Highly recommended for Harris fans and for anyone else who enjoys murder mysteries with vampires, werewolves and other preternatural creatures.

-Arthur W. Jordin


Great installment in the Sookie Stackhouse series   May 2, 2003
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

In Club Dead, Sookie Stackhouse's vampire boyfriend Bill is kidnapped during a top-secret mission for the queen of Louisiana (yes, Sookie laughed too). After finding out that Bill hasn't exactly been the most faithful puppy of the bunch, Sookie nevertheless decides to rescue him with the help of Eric, Bill's sexy vampire boss, and Alcide, a werewolf who has an eye for her. Action and romantic thrills abound, although I would hesitate at describing this as a mystery, since it's a haphazard one at best (the story is mostly just about Sookie hunting Bill down, so to speak). The ending is unresolved (in that the mystery of the book is solved but the reader is left to wonder about Sookie's relationships with her men). Sookie is as charming as ever, and I definitely plan to read the next book in the series.