This is the 12th, and penultimate, book in the Sookie Stackhouse series so this review may contain spoilers for previous books.

“And I suppose, as usual, Bill will want to express his undying love that surpasses my love, as he’ll tell you – and Pam will want to say something sarcastic and nearly painful, while reminding you that she loves you, too.”

For those of you worried that the Sookie series had fizzled out before its finale, fear not, it has got back on track with Deadlocked. They started out as mysteries with a supernatural element and poor Sookie would always end up at the centre of a very big mess. So it’s good to see it returning to that formula. This time, a woman is murdered on Eric’s lawn during an unwanted house party. Her blood had traces of fairy in it and it would seem someone was trying to frame Eric or at least make Sookie mad.

For me, reading the Sookie books is like revisiting old friends. The series is coming to a close and it’s nice to see the minor characters getting their lives sorted, even if Sookie is still as confused as ever. There are lots of lovely little every day things going on on Bon Temps amongst the supernatural chaos.

The cluviel dor gets mentioned a bit too much, whether or not she could keep it with her, whether she should use it and what for. In Dead Reckoning, it was revealed that it will grant one wish in the name of love and that point is hammered home repeatedly. Yes, it’s first person narrative, and it was playing on Sookie’s mind but her thoughts were a little repetitive and made it a little bit obvious that something was going to happen with it.

Eric’s gone back to being his uncommunicative self and Sookie is frustrated. Knowing why the victim was at the party might help her understand what’s going on in her boyfriend’s head. We don’t get to see a whole lot of Eric in this story, which may disappoint some fans, but it sets the scene for the final instalment which will be much anticipated.

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