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Sookie Stackhouse is still a waitress at Merlotte's Bar in Bon Temps, Louisiana, working for Sam, the owner, a shapeshifter who usually becomes a large Lassie-type collie at the full moon. This month, however, she has another problem. Her brother Jason was bitten by a werepanther, and this is the first full moon since the bite. She has to try to get him through his first transformation. Sookie is a telepath, whose first boyfriend was a vampire, and introduced her to other forms of life. Vampires are now accepted in society. Ever since the advent of artificial blood, they no longer have to prey on humans and have come out of the closet (at least at night). But the shapeshifters are not so accepted. Calvin Norris, a born werepanther, agrees to take Jason in hand and help him through this first change. Jason will not change fully, since he is a made shifter, not a born one, so he will become part human, part panther. Sam is shot by a sniper and Sookie goes to Eric, head of the vampires in New Orleans, and asks to borrow a bartender/bouncer for a few weeks. He lends her Charles Twining, who promptly charms all who come to the bar, while Sam recuperates. Several months earlier, while Sookie was nursing Eric through a traumatic period in which he lost his memory, she killed someone who was trying to kill Eric. She has never told Eric what went on during that time, and hopes she never has to. One night, PI Jack Leeds, and his wife, Lily Bard Leeds, come into Merlotte's and question Sookie. She stonewalls. (For those of you familiar with this author's Shakespeare, Arkansas series featuring Lily Bard, this is an interesting view of Lily and Jack by a disinterested outsider) It's hard to believe that this is the fifth book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. Although it draws on situations and characters from previous books, they don't take over. The previous books in the series, DEAD UNTIL DARK, LIVING DEAD IN DALLAS, CLUB DEAD, and DEAD TO THE WORLD, should also be read. Harris has a very light touch in dealing with some gory material.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, February 2005
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