NOTE: I didn't mark this review as containing spoilers, but it does discuss general plot direction. It reveals the general tone of the last half of the book. Spoiler purists may want to hold off. Most people will be fine.


A fine addition to the Sookie Stackhouse books, Dead to Worse sees Sookie dealing with the continuing aftermath of the debacle in New Orleans. Her boyfriend is still missing, the witch she picked up as a roommate is still complicating her life, her real grandfather wants to talk to her and all of Louisiana's supernatural communities are reeling from the devastation brought by hurricane Katrina.

In Poppy Z. Brite's parlance, this is a "post-K" book, the sort every Louisina author (or author setting material in Louisiana) has to deal with. The overall mood is devastation and the themes are change and uncertainty. The physical, social, and economic restructuring from Katrina is mirrored in the supernatural community as well as in the personal lives of the major characters.

The book is roughly split in two sections: the first deals with the Shreveport werewolves and the second with the vampire hierarchy. Both power structures are up for grabs with the current power holders weakened by the results of the previous two books. Both call on Sookie as a stabilizing influence, whether she wants it or not.

The contrast, or lack of contrast, is interesting. The werewolf conflict is bloody and short. It begins with random-seeming murders and Sookie steps in (in a quintessentially Sookie moment: calling the pack leader and asking, "why are you trying to have me killed?") and plays mediator. Well, she plays lie-detector. As a result, the occasional murders turn into a full-fledged war with fur and death all around. And both sides of the pack hierarchy thank her for it.

The vampire conflict seems more civil at the start, with an established order to maintain and a structure for negotiations and agreements, but in the end it is at least as brutal. Sookie provides the framework for the solution, but the vampires themselves have to solve it.

In each case, there is an outside agitator element and the locals have to decide, regardless of their local relationships, whether they are loyal to their friends, their community, or themselves. In particular, Eric has to choose between his queen, his position, his club (and staff), and his pride.

Another recurring element of the book is Sookie standing up and doing something hard. She hasn't been good at that in previous books and it's nice to see that the events and growth of the last year or so are taking hold. Not really something developed in Worse but we're shown how it affects her.

Not a huge amount of character growth or any expansion of the world--although the ongoing "will the shapeshifters come out of the closet" question gets some discussion--but a nice breather to let the changes in the world and characters settle in.

A fun one-sitting read and a fine addition to the series.