Deadlocked

In this most recent of the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, the focus is definitely shifting towards the fairies. There are still of course plenty of vampires, various were-creatures and assorted other supernatural beings, but the really complex plot has to do with someone making concerted efforts to get at Sookie. The Cluvial Dor, given to her grandmother by her fairy lover, Fintan, plays a key role. Eric is being visited by the King of Louisiana & Nevada, who is pressuring him to honor the marriage arranged for Eric by his creator. Sookie finds Eric feeding on another woman who has been dosed with fairy blood; she later turns up dead on Eric's front lawn. Needless to say, all of this is stressing the "marriage" between Sookie and Eric. Meanwhile, fairy great-grandfather Niall has surfaced again and taken cousin Claude back to Faery with him; Dermot is left in charge of the strip club where all the left-behind fairy types have taken refuge, and they are starting to get restless. Sookie has learned that Sam's girlfriend and Alcide's enforcer, Janalynn, definitely has it in for her, so she is wondering if she might be behind all the things that are going wrong. But the real culprit will surprise you as will Sookie's decision about how to use the magic gift bequeathed to her by her grandmother.  These new twists will fuel the series for a while longer. I personally do NOT like what HBO has done with this series, but I know some friends really like "True Blood." I just felt after watching a couple of episodes that the focus on blood and sex and the changes to some significant characters and relationships diminished the story line. I continue to find the books great fun, though.