Simply Moyer offers our sincere thanks to tabby1249 for this most exceptional and unbiased review of “Deadlocked”, Book #12 of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels.

First off, a little about tabby1249, in her own words:

I learned in my thirty five year professional life that we learn to appreciate things in three stages: first as consumer, next as critic and finally as producer. I am an avid reader with a wide range of tastes in literature, so I am well versed in the consumer/critic stages. However, it was the Sookie Stackhouse novels brought to life by the actors chosen by Alan Ball and company that encouraged me to move to the producer stage.

At this slightly advanced stage of life I never thought I would find myself in fan-girl mode, but that is exactly where I am. The SimplyMoyer site has allowed me to follow Stephen Moyer for whom I have developed an almost
irrational attraction while the True Blood and SVM fandoms on fanfiction.net have allowed me to check off one of my ‘bucket list’ items of writing fiction for an audience. I am having more fun writing for and interacting with fellow SVM/True Blood fans than I have in a long time.

Thanks to SM for offering me a chance to write for their most excellent
site.

Before I start this review, I want you to know something about me as a reader of Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire Mysteries series: I like ALL of the major characters and most of the minor ones. Though greatly flawed, all are capable of great good and great harm, of selflessness and selfishness, of generosity and venality. It is that duality and the conflict arising from it that makes the characters interesting and the SVM books a pleasure to read.
The wonderful SM site keeps me in contact with Stephen Moyer who with the debut of True Blood, made me fall in love with Bill Compton all over again. He is a fabulous actor and when I read Bill, I hear Steve’s slow Southern drawl and visualize his beautiful face (and hands and body). AEMAC and SENSEOFDOUBT, the administrators of the SM site have my deep gratitude for helping me keep up with the man and actor who has given me so much reading and viewing pleasure. I am proud to be his fan.
Now, on with the review…

Deadlocked: Twists, Turns, and Jaw-dropping Surprises

Eric fans are going to be pretty unhappy by the end of Deadlocked, the twelfth book in the SVM series by Charlaine Harris. Sookie’s great-grandfather Prince Niall makes a strong appearance playing a substantial role in several of the major events of this book, especially those related to his grandson Claude, his son Dermott and his great, great granddaughter Sookie. Niall really loves her you know, and because of that the time was right for him to put Eric to the test. Eric fails, but that is just the last of many jaw-dropping surprises that occur throughout the course of this book, one of the longest that Ms. Harris has written in the SVM series to date. There is a ton of action, a return or brief appearance of some long silent characters and the resolution to a couple of long-standing mysteries. In my humble opinion, it is one of the best of the series and well worth the wait of a year to read it.

You know it is going to be a wild ride when Sookie is presented very early on with three bits of ‘information’ functioning more as warnings as delivered by the dour, sunglasses wearing Mustapha Khan, Eric’s new day man. First, it’s party time at Eric’s house. King Felipe de Castro is in town to discuss Victor Madden’s recent disappearance. Eric requires Sookie is to present herself for a command performance to help explain how all that happened and hope that she, Bill and Eric survive the ‘discussion.’ Second, Pam instructs Mustapha to “tell Sookie that this is the hard time that will show what she is made of.” By the end of the story readers will see the truth of that statement. And finally, the third warning comes from Mustapha himself: Sookie has risen to the very tip-top of Jannalyn’s (Sam’s girlfriend, Alcide’s enforcer) s*ht list. No real news there, but Mustapha, a Blade wannabe is sufficiently concerned and thinks Sookie should know. He admits that a fight between him and Jannalyn might prove to be a challenge with an uncertain outcome. Let’s just say it’s shades of Debbie and Sandra Pelt all over again. As if that isn’t enough, there’s a growing contingent of Fae hanging out at Hooligan’s, Claude’s strip club, Eric is being investigated for the death of a girl he drank from and the ongoing specter of Eric’s contracted marriage to Freyda, the Vampire Queen of Oklahoma still threatens Sookie’s continued relationship to her Vampire ‘husband.’ Our girl can’t seem to catch a break as she approaches her twenty-eighth birthday. Confronted with this myriad of mysteries and threats, she is busier than a one-eyed cat watching nine mouse holes. The only good news in all of this is that she is not stalking the mouse holes alone.

Thank God for Bill. His resurgence as a strong, viable character is one of the biggest surprises of Deadlocked. From Club Dead until nearly the end of Dead Reckoning, Bill had been largely relegated to the position of underling to Eric and penitent to Sookie, his acts of heroism barely acknowledged as the heat of Eric’s and Sookie’s romance bloomed and took center stage. Throughout the span of those books, he was quietly in the background, saving Sookie during the coup attempt against Sophie Ann, fighting the Were-Witch War, rescuing Sookie from the fairies Naeve and Lochlan along with countless other ways that he tried to keep our heroine safe. Throughout that same span, Sookie’s attitude toward Bill moved from near-hatred to cautious, arms-length forgiveness to willing, treasured friendship. By the end of this book, Bill has become in fact the man Sookie thought he was when she first fell in love with him: strong, smart, steady, loyal and surprisingly funny. Perhaps it is Stephen Moyer’s portrayal of Bill with occasional flashes of wry and subtle humor that influenced Charlaine Harris to allow book Bill’s funny bone to get a small workout.

That said I am not going to gloss over the fact that Bill messed up his relationship with Sookie in a couple of really heinous ways entitling her to deep, righteous and abiding anger. Not many women would be able to get past the depth of betrayal that was perpetrated so knowingly upon their faith and trust. However, it was in Dead Reckoning, that the heat of Sookie’s anger seemed to finally begin dissipating to allow her and Bill to enter a new phase of their relationship. This new phase blossoms in Deadlocked as Sookie and Bill team up to unravel the mystery of the dead girl found on Eric’s lawn. As with most of the SVM books, things get complicated, dangerous and deadly rather quickly.

Throughout the investigation, one thing is at the forefront of Bill’s efforts: Sookie’s safety and happiness. Throughout he is torn between wanting to win her back, trying to clear Eric’s name and prepare Sookie for what he sees as the inevitability of Eric’s marriage to Freyda. As much as she doesn’t want to, Sookie recognizes Bill’s ‘tough love’ in dealing with her protests that “Eric is my team. He loves me. He wants to stay here.” Patiently, kindly and emphatically, Bill explains the intricacies of Vampire politics and the reality of Eric’s precarious situation. Having been accused of keeping information from Sookie in the past, he is open and forthcoming about the range of possibilities regarding her future with Eric. Clearly, Bill is a man who has learned from his mistakes and uses every skill, strength and resource he has to ensure Sookie’s happiness even if that happiness should end up putting her back in Eric’s arms.

Finally, a little about Sookie. The wry humor that is so much of her character was muted in this novel. Her internal dialogues of self-awareness also take on a different, more somber tone. She is one tired girl on every level: emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Once again she jeopardizes her own safety and experiences physical danger even though Bill tries to talk her out of it. She is heavily scrutinized by a Vampire King who considers her a potential threat and stands up to a Vampire Queen who is trying to steal her man. She works all day at Merlottes and comes home to find elves killing off the deer population in her woods. A werewolf enforcer is gunning for her head and the fairies are running amok. All of this is exacerbated by the questions arising from the uncertainty of her continuing a relationship with Eric. Is he working to get out of the arranged marriage to Freyda or is he negotiating to drive up his price? Does he love her or has the temptation of relative independence and power won out? The fact that Sookie chooses the day of her 28th birthday to meet with an attorney to draw up her will shows a fatalism and weariness of spirit that hasn’t heretofore been present.

Bottom line for me: I think Charlaine Harris has done a masterful job of wrapping up some important if secondary storylines in preparation for the big finish in Book 13. She has said that Sookie will have a happily ever after, but it might not be everyone’s idea of what a happily ever after should be. I suffer under no illusion that Sookie will go back to Bill, but I think the Eric lovers out there might find themselves similarly disappointed. I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see.
Happy Reading!

tabby1249 is the author of three stories on fanfiction.net for True Blood, and Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mysteries.