My Review of "All Together Dead"

Written by Charlaine Harris
Released in 2007

Eric (re Quinn): “The were tiger is regaining consciousness. Do you love him?”
Sookie: “Don’t know yet.”
Eric: “Did you love me?”

Now isn’t that an interesting question to answer – does Sookie love Eric? Maybe she does and maybe she doesn’t but one thing is for certain is that between Bill, Eric and Quinn, Sookie needs to make a definitive choice and stick with it.

For the time being we can assume that Bill doesn’t stand a hope in hell of renewing his relationship with Sookie. Even though she’s not as hostile with him in this book, it’s pretty clear that she’s unable to get past his deception either, so that leaves both Eric and Quinn for her to mull over.

Personally I’d opt for Quinn because while his penchant of saying “babe” is a bit annoying, he actually treats her more as a person rather than a possession and we’ve had very little to detract from him either. Okay, so he’s got a mentally ill mother and a slightly wild sister but they’re hardly big no-no’s are they? Also he does seem to genuinely love Sookie.

But the only problem with this one is that Sookie doesn’t seem to love him back. Yes, she’s distraught when she thinks he’s in harm’s way and certainly apologetic when Quinn learns that she’s taken Eric’s blood again but none of these give any hope for their relationship to genuinely last I’m afraid.

So, the more likely option for a romantic partner right now is Eric and I’m divided about this. I like Eric plenty as a character but he still continues to view Sookie as a possession rather than a person and while it was preferable that she drank from him than Andre (who wanted his own little hold over Sookie), it just seems to further the fact that Sookie’s attraction to him isn’t entirely of her own volition.

As for the main part of this story – Sophie-Anne’s trial, this is where the novel is sort of let down. Pages upon pages go with some deaths, subterfuge, plotting and the like and Sophie-Anne getting off is seemingly wrapped up in very little time at all. In fact if it wasn’t for the Fellowship’s little bomb antics at the Pyramid Of Gizeh, this one would’ve ended on a more underwhelming note.

- Amelia is currently living with Sookie and there’s hostility between her and Claudine. Tara also married JB while Sookie was in Rhodes.
- Better use of Barry the Bellhop in this one. Hope that bodes well for his future development on the series too.
- We got some great back story into Pam’s life prior to being a vampire. More Pam I say.
- Russell Edgington married Bartlett of Indiana halfway through this book as well, which I didn’t expect.

Probably the weaker of the books that I’ve read but still a decent enough story and it’s almost reassuring to see the FOTS being as relentlessly nasty as ever.

Rating: 7 out of 10.