Once Upon a Twilight!: Audiobook Review: Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris

Deadlocked
Sookie Stackhouse #12
Author: Charlaine Harris
Reader: Johanna Parker
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Run-time: 9.50 Hours
Released: May 1st 2012
Review Source: Recorded Books
Available: Amazon / Recorded Books

Summary: (from goodreads) With Felipe de Castro, the Vampire King of Louisiana (and Arkansas and Nevada), in town, it’s the worst possible time for a body to show up in Eric Northman’s front yard—especially the body of a woman whose blood he just drank.

Now, it’s up to Sookie and Bill, the official Area Five investigator, to solve the murder. Sookie thinks that, at least this time, the dead girl’s fate has nothing to do with her. But she is wrong. She has an enemy, one far more devious than she would ever suspect, who’s out to make Sookie’s world come crashing down.

You can tell with Deadlocked that the Sookie Stackhouse series is drawing to a close. It's been a fun ride and I'm excited to see how things play out and what of my predictions will come true in the end. I think it's good that the series is coming to a logical conclusion and Deadlocked does a great job of starting to close off some of the story lines and bringing Sookie fans to the realization that it's almost over.

I have listened to the last few Sookie books on audio and I have enjoyed every minute of it. Johanna Parker does a great job narrating and giving Sookie a voice. Sometimes when i listen to audio books, the reader is not what i think the character sounds like and it totally brings me out of the story, but in this case, Johanna is Sookie. She has the perfect Southern Lilt that keeps the lite breezy feel of th series in tact, while respecting the more serious matters that occur. I'd highly suggest checking out the audio books if you're looking to start the series, do a "re-read" or finishing it off.

Deadlocked is a hard book to talk about without spoiling the story. There's so much going on and so many small story lines coming to a close within its pages. But if I had to say what the book was about, I think it's still about family, which I've come to see is the heart of the series. So many people in Sookie's extended family play a role in the story and they are all moving forward with something aspect of their lives, moving out of the "deadlocked" nature of their current situations. There are also several mysteries that also loose their deadlock status. For being the average size of a Sookie Novel, Deadlocked packs a lot in.

The main mystery in Deadlocked is discovering who killed a young girl, Kym Rowe. She was put in Eric's path at a party he was hosting and after he drinks from her and lets her go, very much alive, because Sookie shows up at just the right time, Kym is found dead on Eric's front lawn. This opens up all sorts of questions and sheds light on several odd things that have been happening lately and is the linch pin to explaining what's all going on in Sookie's world regarding Wares and Vampires. The Fairy story also gets a little more "screen time." The existence of the Cluviel Dor is now becoming harder to keep secret and Fairy actions from the last couple of books are explained in the story line's conclusion.

All in all, the Sookie books have been a fun story, and who doesn't love a little Eric in your life? But The series is starting to feel stretched a little too thin. I think fans of the series will have some of the same feelings I'm having, where they love the characters and enjoy the world, but the story isn't quite as captivating as it was in Dead Until Dark. I will finish the series out, I'm curious to see all the final conclusions to characters and plots, but I think this is one series I'm glad is ending.