Club Dead * Charlaine Harris * Sookie Stackhouse #3

When her powerful vampire boyfriend goes missing in Jackson, Mississippi, a telepathic Louisiana cocktail waitress heads deep into supernatural territory to rescue him, navigating a high-stakes underworld of shapeshifters, royal vampire politics, and a dangerous undead nightclub.

The Story: Written by prominent New York Times bestselling mystery icon Charlaine Harris, this fast-paced third volume in the celebrated Sookie Stackhouse chronicle (the original literary blueprint behind HBO’s global smash-hit True Blood) transforms the supernatural American South into an exceptionally sharp, strategy-first investigative workspace. The narrative centers on Sookie Stackhouse, a mind-reading waitress from Bon Temps, Louisiana, who operates within a dangerous hidden reality where vampires, werewolves, and fairies live right alongside humans. Her life takes a volatile turn when her vampire boyfriend, Bill Compton, systematically vanishes from the local coordinate grid. Sookie uncovers records indicating that Bill has been kidnapped by a former flame and taken across state boundaries to Mississippi. To execute a frantic counter-campaign and find him before a deadly deadline hits, Sookie must drop her standard cocktail-serving habits and integrate her tracking lines with Eric Northman, the ruthless local vampire sheriff. Eric pairs her with a new ally, Alcide Herveaux, a handsome werewolf contractor who helps her slip unnoticed into Jackson's elite supernatural hierarchy. Sookie's mission requires her to infiltrate "Club Dead," an exclusive, highly volatile underground nightclub reserved for the undead elite and their human playthings. A fast-paced, multi-layered puzzle packed with witty banter, sudden violence, and complex supernatural politics. Sookie utilizes her sharp intuitive diagnostic toolkit to sift through a suspicious suspect pool of royal vampire handlers, territorial wolves, and deceptive allies. As she closes in on Bill's location, she realizes she must rely entirely on her own wit and telepathic senses to act as a protective shield for her friends.

Perfect For: Devotees of traditional, fast-reading urban fantasy, vampire noir, and Southern Gothic mysteries; viewers of HBO's True Blood looking to experience the deeper character arcs of the original novels; and dedicated book collectors maintaining a complete shelf of the globally bestselling Southern Vampire Mysteries library.

First Published 2003. This Edition June 2010, Ace mass-market TV tie-in edition