FREE: Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood: Dead and Gone 9 by Charlaine Harris (2009

The listing, Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood: Dead and Gone 9 by Charlaine Harris (2009 has ended.

Now an HBO original series, True Blood - the New York Times bestselling Sookie Stackhouse series continues. Except for Sookie Stackhouse, folks in Bon Temps, Louisiana, know little about vamps - and nothing about weres. Until now. The weres and shifters have finally decided to reveal their existence to the ordinary world. At first all goes well. Then the mutilated body of a were-panther is found near the bar where Sookie works - and she feels compelled to discover who, human or otherwise, did it. But there's a far greater danger threatening Bon Temps. A race of unhuman beings - older, more powerful, and more secretive than vampires or werewolves - is preparing for war. And Sookie finds herself an all-too human pawn in their battle.

Starred Review. Vampires started the craze of coming out to the ordinary human world. Now weres and shapeshifters have done the same. In a highly publicized TV interview, a gorgeous young woman explains that there are those who appear completely human but have a second nature within, which she then demonstrates by turning into a wolf. Some mortals are shocked and become belligerent. The issues of minority rights and hate crimes become a real problem when Crystal, a pregnant werepanther and estranged wife of Sookie Stackhouse's brother Jason, is found nailed to a cross. In the midst of this horror, Sookie finds her own life endangered by a rebellion in the land of the Fairies. It seems her fae great-grandfather's princely power is being challenged, making Sookie a target of the rebels. Then there is Sookie's love life. The handsome, formidable vampire Eric has tricked Sookie into a much closer relationship with him, not that she minds too much. Three strong story lines lead to an intensely gripping finale