Dead as a Doornail / Charlaine Harris

Small-town cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse has had more than her share of experience with the supernatural—but now it’s really hitting close to home. When Sookie sees her brother Jason’s eyes start to change, she knows he’s about to turn into a were-panther for the first time—a transformation he embraces more readily than most shapeshifters she knows. But her concern becomes cold fear when a sniper sets his deadly sights on the local changeling population, and Jason’s new panther brethren suspect he may be the shooter. Now, Sookie has until the next full moon to find out who’s behind the attacks—unless the killer decides to find her first…

I read this book quickly this morning, while waiting for visits from my condo board & a plumber. It was a good distraction from the water leaking from my bathroom ceiling AGAIN. I swear these Sookie novels are addictive, I immediately wanted to read the next one (I’d go shopping, except I’m still waiting to hear from the plumber).

I’ve never been one to watch soap operas, but that is the only thing that I can think to compare this series to. I read to find out who did what to whom, figure out why they did it, and to see who Sookie ends up with eventually. There’s a lot of men in the running—Eric, Bill, Sam, Alcide, Calvin, maybe even Quinn. That’s a lot of guys to juggle, especially when they all seem to be using some kind of tit-for-tat scoring system that seems to make Sookie beholden to each of them. But you know, all women in our society have to deal with entitled men all the time—the neighbour who wants to carry your groceries so he can see the inside of your house, the guy who “helps” you with your suitcase so you feel obligated to go for coffee with him, the guy who is paid to paint your bathroom (and you suspect that he wants to be alone to go through your underwear drawer), the friend’s husband who thinks it’s okay to make a suggestive comment. Hey, I’m an old, fat lady and I still have to deal with all these guys. This is life as a woman—worse for single women, but a fact of life for all of us. It’s tiresome and omnipresent.

So I feel for Sookie. She attracts the supernatural sorts, I attract the creepy guys. We’re both just a little too friendly, a little too nice. I’m working on my force field and Miss Sookie needs to as well. My parents raised me to be polite and pleasant to other people. I just can’t believe how many of those people seem to think that makes me an easy mark. And how many men think that lifting something for you somehow entitles them to much more of your attention.

I guess there are plenty of people in the world who are dying for attention of any kind, and if you treat them like a human being, they read far too much into that. What a sad comment on the state of our world.

But back to Sookie, I can hardly wait to get my hands on the next volume and see which of this bunch of guys manages to win her attention.