• Dead as a Doornail

  • Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mystery # 5
  • By: Charlaine Harris
  • Narrated by: Johanna Parker
  • Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (5,917 ratings)

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Dead as a Doornail  By  cover art

Dead as a Doornail

By: Charlaine Harris
Narrated by: Johanna Parker
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Publisher's summary

New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Charlaine Harris has won an Anthony Award for her one-of-a-kind Sookie Stackhouse mystery series. Sookie, a Louisiana cocktail waitress, skilled telepath, and friend to vampires, has a dedicated fan base that grows larger every day.

Because her mind-reading ability tends to spook people, most of Sookie's friends are of the not-exactly-human variety. And now that her brother is about to transform into a were-panther for the first time, the supernatural world is suddenly a family affair. When Sookie realizes a deadly sniper is gunning down the local changelings, her feelings turn to full-blown terror. She needs to stop the assassain before the next full moon...if he doesn't get to her first.

With its delightfully quirky characters and delicious suspense, Dead as a Doornail is a vampire mystery readers will love sinking their fangs into.

Listen to more titles in the Sookie Stackhouse series.
©2005 Charlaine Harris Schulz (P)2005 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Harris does an admirable job of creating a heroine who's not only interesting but completely believable in a world of the strange and the different. Natural and humorous dialogue and a nicely paced plot...make this entry the best yet in the series." (Publishers Weekly)

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What listeners say about Dead as a Doornail

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    3,780
  • 4 Stars
    1,542
  • 3 Stars
    459
  • 2 Stars
    82
  • 1 Stars
    54
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,891
  • 4 Stars
    702
  • 3 Stars
    184
  • 2 Stars
    43
  • 1 Stars
    29
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2,531
  • 4 Stars
    980
  • 3 Stars
    274
  • 2 Stars
    45
  • 1 Stars
    17

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

reading not as good as first 4

This was I think the first book to be recorded, and the reading isn't as good as the first 4 books she narrated--- she didn't do a bad job, but the first 4 were better read...

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22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Good book, audio needs some editing

Another great installment from Charlaine Harris, unfortunately the narrators recording isn't as clean as previous books. You can hear her draw in breath or smack her lips between sentences, long pauses as she's reading between lines, the audio seriously could use some cleaning up, wouldn't take to much... Audible books -- please consider editing the audio! It would make listening to this book much better. Other than those technical issues, the books is fun and sets the stage nicely for the next book. Five stars for the book, 2 for the audio.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Telepathic barmaid, shapeshifters, vampires!

I love the Southern Vampire books! C. Harris has created a fascinating universe in which the vampires have come out of the coffin, but the shapeshifters, fairies and others definitely have not! This is the 4th in the series and can be read without reading the other books. however, it's much more enjoyable to read the others first, so that the interactions between the major and minor characters are clear.

Harris has created an intrecate polical structure for the different supernaturals ("supes")who either hate, ignore or tolerate the other supes with the vampires being the most organized. Sookie Stackhouse, the telepathic barmaid, has been dragged into vampire politics before (and hated it) and now is about to be heavily involved in werewolf politics - the succession of the packmaster of Shreveport.

After having no love life for most of her life (the local men would rather think she's nuts rather than telepathic), Sookie's current love life is a mess. She is definitely not seeing her first boyfriend, Vampire Bill. Eric, Head vampire in the area and Bill's boss, desperately wants to know what happened when he had amnesia and stayed with Sookie (book #3). Sam, Sookie's boss, is a shapeshifter and interested (but only after she starting dating Bill). Calvin, a werepather from an isolated and very strange small town, is courting her. And Alcide, a werewolf, wants to marry her but he also wants to help his father become the next packmaster of Shreveport.

Sookie's brother Jason now turns into a werepanther during the full moon and someone is shooting the shapeshifters of BonTon.

One of the most interesting things about this universe is that the people accept that vampires exist but refuse to admit that shapeshifters, witches and magic also exist!

The recording is excellent with the reader doing a good job with the different voices. I wish that the other books were also available at Audible!

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Worst book in the series!

I love the Stackhouse series, #4 being the best. The story is disjointed, with too many characters going in too many different directions. The narration is inconsistent from the other novels - this must have been done first. Accents don't match up and you can hear the narrator swallowing and taking breaths - also her pacing is off.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Long Down Hill Spiral - I Miss Sookie

The first 4 books of this series were amazing! But unfortunately, #5 is where it starts going downhill, and there's no looking up through out book 8. My opinion, stop at book 4 and cherrish the Sookie & Eric that we all grew to love, because Charlaine Harris has done nothing but ruin them. Our sweet virginal Sookie now lusts over every man in sight, acting on those ideas at times, and constantly complains and snaps at our hero Eric. She's like a disrespectful wild teenage girl. Harris adds so many new characters that it's very confusing, and of course, all of these new people have odd names that we can't keep up with.
From 3 roommates, to dozens of supernatural men lusting over Sookie.......And page filling small talk and weddings, I found myself skipping chunks at a time, just to get through the first 4 hours of every audio after #5.
An hour into book #5, I actually looked to make sure that Harris was the author, with no co-authors. The book is so different from the first 4! It's like a different person is writing the books now.
Looking back, I wish that I had stopped and kept my memories of how the characters use to be, instead of having them tanted in books 5-8. I kept buying the audios, holding out hope that Sookie would act more mature and revert back to the character that I love so much.
Now, I'll buy audiobook #9, still holding out hope that Harris will hold her standards a little higher, especially since HBO has picked up the series and has started changing the plots.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Good reader, not so good starting point

I realized quickly that thought this was the earliest book in the series available on Audible, other books had come before. For quite a long time, the book mostly looks back on previous events... some sort of witch war and its fallout, reintroducing characters, etc. Though I would have been lost without it, I think a long-time reader might have been frustrated by the exposition. Myself, I was thinking "that must have been what happened in the last book, when will we find out what's happening in this book?"

Not terribly, much, really. A sniper mystery with a rather unsatisfactory conclusion. Lots and lots of supernatural types lusting after our heroine (a bit overplayed, that). Lots of talking about what happened before this book. Some private detectives that show up and then vanish forever (maybe they come back in the next book, but it irritated me to have them played up heavily and then vanish).

A very good reader, a reasonably engaging story despite its flaws and somewhere, an interesting larger story. Not enough to bring me back, but I had a pleasant time listening.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Very Fun Series of books

Simply put - Think of the book this way - "Anne Rice Vampire Cronicles" meets "Harry Potter". THe only bad thing is that Audible doesn't have any of her other books in the series at the moment i'm typing this. Bummer. After listening to this book you'll want to hear more of her work. Quite the captivating little story "Dead as a DoorNail" turned out to be. Now i'm going to be having to make bi- montly checks to see if they've got any more of her books.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Another Great Installment of Sookie Stackhouse

If you love the Sookie Stackhouse series, this one certainly delivers. There someone shooting weres. If that's not bad enough, attempts are made on Sookies life. New supernatural characters are introduced, but we still hear much from our favorite vampires Eric, Bill, and Pam. Lots of suspense in this installment. Vampire and Were politics are explored and the facinating topic of the "blood tie" is further explored.

Definetly a book that should be read from the start of the series. It's a great series and Johanna Parker does an outstanding job telling this story.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Southern charmer

I truly enjoyed this book. I've never read any of the other books in the series but I was never confused or lost. Ms Harris does an wonderful job of giving a quick synopsis of characters and events from previous novels without bogging down the current storyline. I became quickly involved in the alternate Louisanna with vampires,shifters,and weres, and I was enchanted by the southern charm of Sookie Stackhouse.
The narrator was the perfect match for this book. It felt just like Sookie was personally telling me her story.
When I found out no other books were available as audio I went straight to the bookstore to get the first books in the series.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Johanna Parker Lost Her Edge

If you could sum up Dead as a Doornail in three words, what would they be?

Maybe Johanna Parker was in a rush when she recorded this one?

I am hooked on this series and have listened to all the books several times. Normally, Johanna Parker is AMAZING at voicing these stories. In this book, however, she seemed to just be getting through it. She spoke much faster, didn't have much emotion or inflection, and there were lots of awkward pauses and sounds of her swallowing etc. Usually, she's a great voice actress, but in this book it was just awkward.

Worse, she completely lost Sookie's southern accent and sassy edge! Having Sookie's voice totally change in the 5th book in the series was jarring. Most of the voices were less developed than in other books, but Eric's voice was especially bad as well.

I rated her much lower because it was so disappointing, given how phenomenal she usually is. It bothered me throughout the entire book. It made the whole listen just mediocre, even though I quite like this story.

What three words best describe Johanna Parker’s performance?

Flat. Toneless. Disappointing.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Johanna just didn't hold my attention with this one. I don't know what happened with this one.

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4 people found this helpful