Dead Ever After

A Sookie Stackhouse Novel, Book 13

By: Charlaine Harris

Narrated by: Johanna Parker

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Number-one New York Times best-selling author Charlaine Harris has won numerous awards for her Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series, which has been adapted into the hit HBO show True Blood. In this 13th and final book, a murder rocks the town of Bon Temps and Sookie is arrested for the crime. After making bail, she sets out to clear her name - but her investigation only leads to more deaths.

©2013 Charlaine Harris, Inc. (P)2013 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"The Sookie Stackhouse series seamlessly mixes sensuality, violence, and humor." ( Boulder Weekly)

"Harris’s creation offers a magical and mysterious twist on traditional vampire stories." ( Houston Chronicle)

"What sucked me in? Definitely the books’ oddly charming, often funny mix of the mundane and the absurd. And the chills and thrills in boudoirs and various locales around the South aren’t too bad either." ( The Seattle Times)

Still want more Sookie!

What did you love best about Dead Ever After?

Most of the story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Dead Ever After?

Spoiler...cant say

Which scene was your favorite?

Still can't say... Spoiler.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Sookie in jail...

Any additional comments?

Good plot but end felt rushed. Wanted even more closure.

Love the Narrater! SO ANGRY WITH THE WRITER

Would you try another book from Charlaine Harris and/or Johanna Parker?

I don't know, if I will ever read another book by Charalaine Harris.
I have been a deidicated and avid fan of the Sookie Stackhouse series, but it honestly broke my heart to see how Mrs. Harris went SO far from were she had taken some of the characters, I understand that the story is hers and she can write as she will, but I was so angry at the end I felt like I had been slapped in the face.
I think she made some REALLY wrong choices for some of the characters and I wish that just wasn't so.
Be careful, when you read.
I want to return mine.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

ANGER. I actually feel/felt like the ending made it one of the wrost books I have ever had anything to do with.

Have you listened to any of Johanna Parker’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I think that Mrs. Parker was great she has always given such depth and feeling to the characters.

Could you see Dead Ever After being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

NO, NO and NO

Sookie's place in the sun

What did you love best about Dead Ever After?

The story itself wraps up the remaining loose ends in our heroine's life. This book is a retrospective of a young woman who has grown through events and opened up to friends she didn't know she had. When we first met Sookie in Dead Until Dark the community and Sookie herself referred to her as crazy or disabled. The young woman who speaks to us from these pages has looked at her life over the past several years and recognized how much she has grown and changed. Her reputation as 'Crazy Sookie' has faded away and been replaced by 'Reliable Sookie' and 'Strong Sookie' and 'Caring Sookie'. The friendless girl is friendless no more. She understands and values the support of her community and deep friendships throughout her parish.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The pace of this book was completely different from the previous 12. In that way it felt disjointed. For the first time in the series the book is not told entirely in the first person. While I do understand why the author chose to use this device to move the tale along, this back and forth between first and third was odd and interrupted the rhythm of the story rather than enhancing the movement between events.The final mystery was not very much of a mystery. It lacked the keen bite of the earlier novels. Ms. Harris focused on a relationship driven book creating those final moments for her favorite characters. Previous novels had the mystery/events driving the relationships. In this way the book was a departure from what fans had known from her pen in the previous 12. This book was not as well crafted/told as any of the previous books. That, more than anything, confirms that it was time to close the book on Sookie Stackhouse and the folk of Bon Temps.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I think this question is relevant for a completely different reason. Many readers have taken a liking to both the books and the TV show. The twain should never mix. The negative reviews were expecting some grand romance or final showdown wherein Eric and Sookie or Bill and Sookie find their joy, vampire and human, in undeath eternal. That was never going to be Sookie's fate. Sookie has always been a sun loving, yard tanning girl who knew what she wanted from a man.From the very beginning of the series Sookie has emphasized over and over that she wants a normal life with the traditional family, wife & husband, building a homey future together. Something her grandmother would be proud of. Whether she was romancing with Bill or stormy lovers with Eric, Sookie questioned if she could spend her lifetime with a man who never aged, who could never give her children, who would never park his feet under her kitchen table and enjoy a cup of coffee with her and just visit about his day. I am pleased with the way Ms. Harris chose to wrap up the series.

Any additional comments?

The last book to visit with Sookie Stackhouse. This isn't a book that turns on "Oooh what happens next fans?" but rather on "Look at how far she's come, and how much she's built and learned and oh what does the future hold 'cause you know it's going to be just amazing". I have enjoyed Sookie's friendship myself over the last 15 years. I will continue to enjoy it when I want to listen to well told story with great characters, a fun narrator with a sweet southern voice and a story that is daring and bold, quirky and funny. Sookie Stackhouse's 'Ever After' was gentle, all things considered, and she deserves her place in the sun.

This isn't how Sookie's story should end...

WARNING: SPOILERS

I'm a huge fan of Sookie Stackhouse. Like everybody else, I waited anxiously for this book's release...and we got THIS?!

This one is a real letdown. Let's face it; it was time for Sookie's adventures to be over. How many times can one person have their life in danger from otherworldly creatures and it still be fresh reading? So a promising end to a good series went out with a whimper.

Eric is barely in this book--BARELY, as is Pam. Bill has more lines than they do, but is still pretty much left out.

I think the ending really got to me most. I'm Team Eric when it comes to who Sookie spends happily ever after with, and instead of a plot twisting, last minute white knight riding in, we get a (what seemed to be) rushed coupling, last minute hook-up with Sam. And nothing definitive there, either; just a maybe Sookie will end up with Sam and maybe she won't.

Again, a real letdown. I want my credit back. :(

I will miss you, Sookie Stackhouse.

This is not the best Sookie Stackhouse book, but still a fun book. I love Johanna Parker's interpretation of Sookie. I am sad for it all to end.

As enjoyable as ever

I read a lot of bad reviews about this book before I listened to it. Maybe these fans were more die hard then myself but I found this last book to be enjoyable. It was well read as always Johanna Parker is a great reader and the story I felt was maybe not as amazing as some in the series but well rounded and thought out. I enjoyed it and am only sad that Sookie's adventures are at a close.

Sookie Comes Full Circle- Good Book!

Most of the Long Time Fans of Sookie have read or listened to the series more than once. So if you were paying attention to more than the Sex Scenes...... all of the clues were there. We all knew where this would end, and Charlain Harris has done a Great Job of pulling up all the loose ends.

Forget all the crap in the internet and sour grapes, this is a Good Book. We watched an Innocent Sookie take a walk on the wild side with the "Supes", have all of her firsts, and come out whole at the other end, scared but whole. The one thing Sookie was always very clear about was that she would stay Human. It was her Humanity (along with her Fey Blood) that attracted all the "Supes" to her, and the one thing they all wanted to take away from her.

We learned in the last book that Eric actually Was what Sookie always feared. Eric had used Sookie to his best advantage even though he hid it well, and push come to shove he would let go of her. It was Pam who forced him to be honest with her. In this book Sookie faces facts,and realizes Eric planed to "turn" her and have her as his girl on the side expecting her to give up Everything including her life for him.

Sookie is forced to dig herself out with the help of her friends. She realizes that her goals for life have not changed from the innocent girl who started this journey. She still wants marriage, children and a normal human life with someone she loves and respects. Sam has always been there, and even though he is a shifter, he is not a "Ware". Same has gone through some big changes since his Near Death Experience and realized he wants to walk away from the wild side. What he wants is a life with Sookie. He even loves her enough to let her go... to keep her safe. So its one final ride with Sookie trying to survive the Supernatural world and Stay Human.

It woud be nice to have another book with Same and Sookie together......It could happen!

Enjoyable but anti climatic for a last book

Is there anything you would change about this book?

We all have ways we envision a book series ending or directions that they go in. This felt like the easy way out for all the different stories to come together in one last session of get sookie.

Any additional comments?

I Don't love or hate it. It just makes me feel like the author just wanted to finish the story neatly and concentrate on the TV shows which have wandered so far from the series that they barely resemble each other any more.

Fantastic!

What made the experience of listening to Dead Ever After the most enjoyable?

The absolutely fantastic narration. I hate it when a good book is ruined by terrible or flat narration. This narrator reads all of the Sookie Stackhouse stories and she does it beautifully. Truly enjoyable to listen to.

What did you like best about this story?

Finally Sookie Stackhouse finds love with a man that is truly worthy of her and who has honestly loved her since the beginning.

Any additional comments?

Fantastic end to a wonderful, imaginative and sexy series. Can't wait to read what Charlaine Harris comes up with next.

So Sad it's over!!!

Would you listen to Dead Ever After again? Why?

Probably, I love the world of Sookie Stackhouse!

What does Johanna Parker bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She is a perfect as the voice of Sookie!