With Bill off to Peru, one night Sookie finds cocky, authoritative, smug Eric running almost naked down her road, his memory gone and his personality changed along with it. She takes him in despite many misgivings, and learns from Pam that he's been cursed by a witch. Then her brother Jason disappears and Sookie's worried the witches have taken him - though how could they know about him? Weres from Alcide's pack are being murdered and although she had promised herself not to get involved, she's also promised to look after Eric, whom the witches are trying to find, and try to find her brother. It's one hellish start to the year for Sookie, and this new, caring, considerate Eric is just too hard to resist...

Great fun, solid mystery and no glaring holes, that I noticed anyway. I was disappointed Eric doesn't remember anything that happened while he was cursed, because I'm really starting to feel sorry for Sookie and I'm glad she hasn't forgiven Bill yet - he's very distant and hasn't even made an effort to mend things.

One thing that still bugs me: Chow can't have been in the yakuza, because the yakuza is Japanese and Chow is not a Japanese name. It seems more like a handy Asian cliche and that's pretty disappointing.