Dead and Gone compares to Dead Until Dark like heavy-load work days compare to Sundays in the Caribbean: it is a dark, sorrow-haunted novel. That would have been maybe all right if it wasn't for a major editing mistake that I can't ignore. The whole premise of the novel is that a rebel fraction of the fairies tries to murder Sookie, after Niall's visits made them aware of her existence. Niall himself says so in at least a couple of instances. But at the end of the book, while Sookie is tortured, her tormentors say that they knew very well of her existence, since they are the ones who killed her parents.

I simply cannot believe that such a huge mistake went through (how many versions of) editing unnoticed. Over the time, I closed my eyes to small discrepancies that other readers complained about. But I simply cannot accept when the grounds of the plot has such a colossal "hole" in it.

As far as the character development goes, Sookie's emotion feels genuine and Ms. Harris's ability to convince the reader that she suffers deserves thumbs up: each morning Sookie wakes up wishing only to be able to make it to the end of the day. I believe that if Ms. Harris were able to channel the misery into Sookie's character alone, it would have been the best novel in the series. But unfortunately the desperation ran into Eric's character too, and Sam's, and Jason's, and Calvin's, and pretty much everyone else.

The storyline is not bad at all but the plot fades completely in face of the bleakness. That Sookie is overwhelmed by the threat to her persona is understandable. But Eric is not Eric anymore: he used to be Mr. Sunshine, always enjoying life 100 percent and laughing in face of the danger. But in Dead and Gone the omnipotent Viking who made it through more than a thousand years of human wars, supes wars (which are mentioned now and then), regime changes, and so on, is mentally crushed because he has a new boss. I simply find this a very-very-hard-to-swallow pill! I do believe that characters should evolve; but when you deal with "players" like the vampires who by definition lived through so many events that became extra-tough, I believe that evolution and change should have a much more serious cause.

Same goes for Sam who lost all his vitality and charm and Claudine who lost her playfulness. This was not the follow up that I expected and hoped for.