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A Touch of Dead... Oct 11, 2009 (41 of 51 found this helpful)
First, let me say that I adore True Blood. It's one of my all-time favorite shows. However, I'd never read any Charlene Harris before that. Too bad for me! Wow--I really, really got into this book. I think it was the perfect introduction to this talented author. Firstly, her main character, Sookie, is just so great. She's complex and interesting and really touches the reader with her vunerabilities--which, of course, is the recipe for a great character. Bill is good too, though sometimes, he can be a little overbearing. But the show is about Sookie and so is the books. All I can say is that if you are looking for a good book to read that will introduce you into this great, new, vampire world, I don't think you can go wrong with this one. Just my opinion. I also would recommend Dead Sexy Vampire Erotica: Two Dark and Thirsty Stories.
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Perfect for every Sookie fan! Oct 6, 2009 (128 of 166 found this helpful)
This book is an excellent addition to the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series. The author Charlaine Harris had published these short stories, but in different anthology books, and this book was the best (and cheapest) way to read them all in one item.
The book starts with an introduction by Harris, who tells us about the stories. "A Touch of Dead" includes five of them: Fairy Dust, Dracula Night, One Word Answer, Lucky, and Gift Wrap. The connection of time frame of these short stories range from post-book 4 (Dead to the World) to post-book 9 (From Dead to Worst). Most of the stories are not directly tied to the Sookie series, except "One Word Answer," which is essential to new readers of the books. This is a key story that occurs right before book 6, "Definitely Dead." Just to be clear, "A Touch of Dead" does not include any other of Harris' short stories.
Each short story has an illustration, which I love. All of them were made by Lisa Desimini, who had been doing this since the first Sookie book, "Dead until Dark." They are all brand new, since the short stories did not have any drawings when previously published.
This is not a new Sookie Stackhouse serial book (the tenth one will be out in May 2010), but if you want a new item for your Sookie collection, this is a must!
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Lucky! Oct 7, 2009 (51 of 70 found this helpful)
Like most urban fantasy authors, Charlaine Harris puts out a lot of short stories when she isn't writing full-length novels. And thankfully, Harris has produced "A Touch of Dead" -- a short story collection that brings together (almost) all of her Sookie Stackhouse short stories, with their mellow Southern charm and slightly chilling urban fantasy flavor.
But be warned: this is not a new book, it's a short story collection. It's got five stories and rather enlarged print.
In "Fairy Dust," Sookie is already in a bad mood when fairy Claudine arrives at Merlotte's, seeking her psychic brand of help -- she and her brother Claude want to find the murderer of their sister from a local strip club. They have three suspects tied up at their house, and they want Sookie to do her mind-reading thing to discern who murdered Claudia.
"One Word Answer" has Sookie receiving an unexpected legacy when her wild cousin Hadley meets with an "Unfortunate Incident" ("My cousin Hadley, the cheerleader, had become a vampire lesbian
voodooienne. Who knew?"). But she suspects that she isn't getting the whole story from a slick lawyer and weird vampire. And "Dracula Night" comes up when Sookie is invited to celebrate the birthday of Dracula -- and like Linus, Eric is sure that Dracula himself will appear. Of course, nothing goes that smoothly.
Then Sookie gets "Lucky" when Greg Aubert reveals that he thinks his insurance agency is being sabotaged, and Sookie soon discovers a supernatural "in" using one of his family members. But the answer might be something a bit more bizarre... and it might have to do with his flourishing business. And Christmas in Bon Temps inevitably leads to "Gift Wrap" -- a lonely Sookie goes for a walk, and stumbles across a strange, naked young man, who gives her a Christmas to remember... and not just in the way you think.
The stories in "A Touch of Dead" have all been published elsewhere, just never before in one big Charlaine-Harris-exclusive volume. These stories are relatively lightweight compared to the full-length Sookie Stackhouse novels, but they are really entertaining and well-written -- and though each story has Harris' pleasant, down-to-earth Southern charm, they also have a good range of emotion -- from bittersweet to creepy, hilarious to mysterious.
And Harris infuses the prose of each story with gentle humor, from vampiric holidays to Sookie having to read the minds of an average suburban family. Her prose has plenty of lovably tongue-in-cheek moments ("I wouldn't have thought northern Louisiana was very hospitable toward beings of the fairy persuasion, anyway"), and Sookie has plenty of fun little moments with witty humor ("I hate it when fairies come into the bar. They don't tip you worth a toot").
Sookie herself is the same as always -- a sensible, matter-of-fact woman with a wee ruthless streak, and a tendency to find herself in the middle of the supernatural action. Sometimes it comes to her, and sometimes she goes to it. And assorted other favorites appear in the story: the cool and calm Vampire Bill, an unusually fanboyish Eric, the fairy Claudine (plus her hot stripper brother), the adorable Bubba, and the ever-awesome Pam.
"A Touch of Death" is a little buffet of previously published Sookie Stackhouse stories, but it's nice to have all these little nuggets of light urban fantasy fun in one volume. At the very least, it might tide you over until the next novel.
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A quick read to tide you over Oct 6, 2009 (14 of 19 found this helpful)
As stated in all the other reviews, this is a collection of previously published short stories. I understood that from the description, but love the Sookie Stackhouse world, and wanted to read them anyway. I found this purchase to be great for me, because I am sometimes disappointed by other authors in a short story collection. If all you want to read is Sookie, this is the collection for you. Besides, May 2010 is an awfully long time to wait for the next Sookie Stackhouse book!
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A little thin... Oct 7, 2009 (41 of 58 found this helpful)
I knew that this was a compilation of Sookie short stories and I was really excited about that. Shame on reviewers for giving the book a low review because they did not do their research and thought they were getting a full book in the series. I loved the idea of all the short stories put together- as a reader new to the series I love everything Bill and Sookie and definitely did not want to have to hunt through several different collections.
However....I think Charlaine Harris needed a few more stories before putting together a hardback book to sell- 5 is pretty slim. Now I guess I could have done MY homework and known that is how many she had written! :)
The stories are fun and fill in the blanks between the books very nicely, particularly the one that deals with cousin Hadley's death. Fans of the series will certainly enjoy just a taste while we wait for Book 10, "Dead in teh Family." But definitely check with your library or a friend; this is not worth buying.