Dead as a Doornail, Book 5 in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, really pulls us into the shape-shifter and werewolf communities. Not to say that there aren't lots of vampire scenes, what with Eric still confused about his time spent at Sookie's house, and Bill being back in town. Sookie just has a lot on her plate. Like Jason's eyes getting yellow at the full moon. Like every guy she knows trying to get her to date him. Like learning a lot about werewolves that she really didn't want to know. Like private detectives looking for Debbie Pelt, and Alcide guessing Sookie's deep dark secret about Debbie's whereabouts. Lots of things happen in this book. It's a thrill ride! I read it in about 3 days. And that's with me working at my real job too. So here is Dead as a Doornail.
When Sookie sees Jason's eyes change color to a golden yellow, she knows that his torture at the hands of Felton Norris has changed him into a were-panther forever. She gets help from Calvin Norris, leader of the Hot Shot community and fellow were-panther, to take Jason under his wing during his first change. Jason gets to run with the Hot Shot pack at the full moon, even though the pure bred Hot Shotters turn into panthers while Jason turns into a panther-man hybrid (like a Lon Chaney Wolf Man, but panther-man). Surprisingly, Jason embraces his new self and doesn't feel bitterness for having been made this way through the kidnap and torture of a psychotic were-panther.
At work the first night of the full moon, Sam, being a shifter himself, steps out early to go change and run. Sookie, Terry Bellefleur (who doesn't have as big a role as in the tv series, and who is in fact a Vietnam veteran, not an Iraqi vet), and the new cook, Sweetie are in charge of the bar during the three nights Sam has to go answer the call of the wild. When Sookie's friend Tara (not African-American, by the way) comes in with a strange and just plain evil-looking vampire, Sookie tries to get Tara alone to talk to her about this new guy, but the vamp, Mickey, tells Sookie to get lost. He's also a bad tipper. Not nice. Sookie gets bad vibes from Mickey and can't understand why Tara isn't with her older sugar-daddy vamp boyfriend anymore. However, since Mickey won't let Sookie get Tara alone, there's really nothing she can do. The next night, Sam is back at the counter, and Claudine comes into the bar with startling news. Calvin Norris was shot in the chest. He's at the hospital, but in bad shape. Then Claudine tells Sookie that another shooting, this one ending in the young girl's death, was related to Calvin's. They were both shifters. Then as Sookie and Sam are locking up and leaving, Sam gets shot. Luckily it's only in his leg, but he bleeds a lot and his leg is broken. He'll heal fine, but he can't tend bar. Sam sends Sookie to Eric to ask for a replacement bartender in the meantime. Eric still wants to know what happened between he and Sookie during his stay at her house while he was cursed, but Sookie, in fear for the power her revelations would give him, doesn't tell him anything. She does, however, get the replacement bartender: a vampire pirate by the name of Charles Twinning. Sam wants Sookie to let Charles stay at her place for protection, but she is tired of being the half-way house for the undead and refuses.
Private detectives Jack Leeds and Lily Bard Leeds (characters in another series of Harris's which I haven't read, yet) come into the bar looking to talk to Sookie about Debbie Pelt's disappearance. They also go to Sookie's home and meet with her there. Reading their minds, Sookie learns they don't really think she killed Debbie, so she is a bit more at ease.
Sookie visits Calvin at the hospital. He's kept in a a single room with a werewolf bodyguard named Dawson. He admits Sookie, and she learns that the shifters in Hot Shot think that the shooter is someone who hates other shifters. The reason they think the shooter hates shifters is because perhaps he was bitten and turned instead of born two-natured. The Hot Shotters suspect Jason. Calvin has an uneasy handle on the Hot Shot shifters so they won't just go after Jason, but there's no guarantee on how long he can hold them off. It puts a fire under Sookie to find out whodunit.
Alcide comes to visit Sookie to tell her Colonel Flood has died in a car accident and she should come to the funeral with him. The thing is, Were funerals are quite ceremonial, so Sookie has to dress up. She calls Tara to borrow a suit. Tara tells Sookie to let herself into her house, but go straight to the closet and back out again. Mickey is there, and Sookie shouldn't disturb him. It's pretty tense.
At the funeral, Sookie learns that the packmaster's funeral is the opening of the campaign for the next packmaster. Alcide's dad is running, and now Alcide has drug Sookie into and put her on his father's side. She might have come of her own accord, but is pretty pissed that Alcide sprung it on her. The other candidate for packmaster is Patrick Furnan, Harvey Davidson dealership owner. Alcide tells Sookie he brought her to read Furnan's mind to see if he has plans to sabotage Alcide's father's campaign, and because she may influence fence-sitters who know how much she helped in the Witch War. When she shows some attitude, Alcide lays on her that he knows she killed Debbie. If that weren't enough, he then twists it around to say that because of that, Sookie kind of owes him, so she should help him out with the packmaster campaign. Alcide, you big dummy. That really makes Sookie mad (duh). When Alcide drops Sookie back at home, he tells her that he doesn't care about Debbie's death (yeah right). Of course Sookie doesn't buy it, and she's still mad.
At work, Sam convinces Sookie to let Charles Twinning stay at her place for protection. She also has another run in with Mickey and Tara. Tara seems to be in a daze and Mickey is just as vile as ever. That night, Charles wakes Sookie to tell her that someone is sneaking around her house. It turns out to be Bill who is more than a little jealous of Charles being there. After a brief, and not too pleasant exchange with Bill, Sookie goes back to bed. She is awakened later, this time by Claudine, who tells her that her house is one fire. Sookie gets out, and Charles is already outside. He tells Sookie that it was the human he has killed and is lying in the yard. Bill runs over from his house across the cemetery, and the fire trucks show up. They manage to save most of Sookie's house, but it was a matter of inches and air flow. Close call. When the police arrive, they discover a Fellowship of the Sun card in the dead man's wallet. Since Sookie made a few enemies there in Dallas, it's plausible one radical decided to torch her house while she was sleeping in it.
The next morning, Sookie meets the insurance guy (who helps his insured by using magic spells!) and gets everything lined up for a clean up and remodel. Then it's back to work for Sookie. She gets a lot of love from her co-workers. Including Sam. They start kissing in his office, but Bill walks in acting really possessive (as per usual). Sam and Bill have a little fight, but break it up. Everybody wants Sookie! Strong independent woman that she is, Sookie decides to stay at her brother's house instead of Bill's or Sam's.
The next day as Sookie is cleaning out her damaged kitchen, Alcide pulls up. He's a little miffed Sookie didn't tell him her house caught on fire, and his feelings get hurt when she tells him she doesn't need his help fixing it or paying for it. She still has that baby sitting money from watching Eric. Alcide and Sookie kind of make up, and he asks her to move in with him and start a relationship. WOW. As much as she wants to take the easy road, Sookie can't let her problems be solved for her and she says no. Another point for feminism! Plus she can't believe that Alcide would be over Debbie so quickly, especially after knowing it was Sookie who killed her. he also doesn't want to get involved with the werewolf politics going on right now with the election of the new packmaster. The timing is just never right for those two (sigh). So Alcide drives away lonely, and Sookie stays. She goes to return Tara's suit, and Mickey wakes up in time to intimidate her. What a nice guy.
When Sookie goes to the library the next day to take back some books, she is shot and wounded. Just like the other victims. Sookie however, felt the push of the criminals mind just in time to duck so the bullet grazed her shoulder. She's good at near-death experiences. Bill visits her in the hospital and acts like the sweet Bill Sookie fell in love with, so she lets him comfort her by cuddling her in the hospital bed. The next morning, Claudine's brother Claude picks Sookie up and drives her home to the duplex she is now renting from Sam. Claude is also a fairy, therefore very attractive. Unfortunately, he plays for the other team. He used to be a stripper, and tells Sookie that Merlotte's new cook, Sweetie used to be a stripper too until she had a bad car accident. Tara comes over later and tells Sookie that the rich vampire she was dating passed her off to Mickey and now she can't get rid of him. Her self-worth is shot from being treated like a pet and now she doesn't really have the nerve to pick herself up. Sookie wants to help her friend, so when she leaves, Sookie calls Eric. In exchange for telling him what happened during his stay at her place, he will get rid of Mickey. Eric pulls some strings, there is a pretty nice fight scene, and Mickey is no more. Tara is a little beaten up, but she'll live. Now Eric knows everything. The nights with Sookie, and about Sookie killing Debbie Pelt. He can't remember where he buried her or where he hid her car of course, but he knows everything else. He knows he told Sookie he would give it all up for her.
The next day at work, Sookie and Sam decide to go try to find clues at Sookie's crime scene. Sam changes into a blood hound and he starts sniffing. Sheriff Andy Bellefleur, who was on a stakeout nearby, comes up to Sookie and what he thinks is just a dog, and tells them to leave. But before they can, spoiler alert Sweetie steps out with a rifle. She was bitten by a Were while she lay bleeding from her car accident and despises all shifters now. She thought Sookie was a shifter because she smelled a lot like them when she came into the bar. When Sweetie hears a noise in an alley and fires, Andy shoots her down. Sweetie did hit Dawson though. Calvin sent him to look after Sookie. Despite the gunshot, Dawson lives. Weres and shifters are great healers.
Alcide comes by Sookie's to tell her she is now doubly a Friend of the Pack and that she should come to the packmaster contest. She reluctantly agrees.
Calvin is released from the hospital and Sookie goes the visit him. Patrick Furnan is there, and he tells Sookie to watch her back. Calvin is going to ask for something in return of the help he's given her, and she probably won't like it. Dum dum dum... Sookie decides she needs to help Alcide's dad win the packmaster contest. The contest is set into 3 trials: agility, pain tolerance/endurance, and fighting prowess. The contest is run by an outsider. A tall, bald shifter that Sookie learns is named Quinn. The two competitors are in wolf form and come out even in the agility round. When Sookie reads the mind of Furnan in the endurance round and finds he is cheating, the Were pack convenes in secret to decide what to do. She meets Quinn officially and they are both very intrigued by the other. It's raining men for Sookie Stackhouse! When the contest begins again, the Were's have decided Furnan lost that round by forfeit. But the last round, the fighting round, will now be determined by who is left standing at the end. It's not a good fight, and spoiler alert when Alcide's dad gives up, Furnan rips his throat out anyway. The look in Alcide's eyes, tells Sookie not to try to comfort him, so she leaves with a heavy heart. If she hadn't announced Furnan was cheating, maybe he wouldn't have killed Herveaux. It's tough. But one of my favorite quotes from this scene is, " The next time someone told me I had to watch a supernatural rite, I was going to tell him I had to wash my hair."
At work that night, Bill comes in with a date. It's not a good night for dear Sookie. But then she gets a visit from Bubba, everyone's favorite undead superstar. Bubba has a message from Eric: "He's not what he seems. He's a hitman." Since Bubba's change over to becoming a vampire wasn't too smooth, when he gets confused, things could get ugly. So Sookie doesn't push much when Bubba can't remember who was the hitman. But then Charles is behind her, and the door to the back hall is closed. Sookie tries to fight back, and gets the attention of the bar patrons who come to her rescue. They hold down the vampire and think to call the police until Charles asks to be staked. They happily oblige. Team work. As it turns out spoiler alert Charles was sent by the maker of the bartender at Fangtasia she got killed in book 1 Dead Until Dark doing her first favor for Eric. He was trying to wound Eric by killing Sookie. Charles was the one who set fire to Sookie's house, and he had planted the Fellowship card on a random guy he killed and brought to her house to frame for it. And he was so nice!
This was a fun book. Though I really didn't understand why Harris throws all these men into Sookie's life IN ONE BOOK. Definitely worth the read though. Harris does it again. Several plot lines, great endings to all, and you are never, ever bored.
Up next, book 6 Definitely Dead, where we learn more about Sookie's family and we get closer to Quinn. Quinn, the were-tiger, that is ;)
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