Review: Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris

FRIENDS I am not sure how I feel about Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris. To start, lets recap the 12th installment of the Sookie Stackhouse crazy-fest:

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. (Good Reads)

•  Level of Originality: 2. It is hard to review a book that is so far along in a series for originality--so much ground has been covered! It is even harder with Deadlocked because there is not much to the plot. What mystery was at the center of the book? The dead person on Eric’s lawn, or the missing Fangtasia employees, or the fact that someone is after Sookie’s antiques? (ya, that is about as boring as it sounds). Book #12 does not stand out.
• Level of Absurdity: 2 or 10 (depending on how you feel about this series). I give this a 2 since no NEW paranormal species are introduced in Deadlocked. But if you have not accepted the witch-fairy-vamp-shifter mixing, this is a 10.
• Level of Paranormal Romance:  3. Eric was not as awesome as he usually is and SHOULD be. I mean, if I like Bill more than Eric, you know there is a problem. Because Bill is 90% made of boring.  CHARLAINE HARRIS DO NOT RUIN THE AWESOME THAT IS ERIC.  Please realize that you have been warned.  
• Level of Harry-Potterness: 2. I was not taken with Deadlocked. I was delighted by the first couple of these books. But in the end, I still love Sooks. She is strong-minded. She  unwinds with a clean house, sunbathing, and doing a bit of nothing alone--I wish I had a cool old farmhouse somewhere in the woods to do this, too. But this plot really dragged. AND can Sam get a normal, good girlfriend for once?!

The best part: for Sookie’s birthday the vamps stopped by and Eric said:

“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." 

MORE OF THIS, please.
Breaking News! Dead Ever After, the 13th book, due out in 2013, will be the last! (Vulture)