It just occurred to me that the book cover of Definitely Dead now makes infinitely more sense since there's a were-tiger character in it (yes, you read that right. Were-tiger). I've been reading stripped copies of these books from work, so the strange cover art has been lost on me. I'm smart like truck, I am.Beyond my idiocy I actually finished this, the fifth book in Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mysteries... etc etc... Which, if truth be told, I am rather surprised I finished (with very little skim reading). This is not the best book in the series, thus far. In fact this is the worst one I have read for one simple reason - It has no plot in it until you're almost to page 200... and then suddenly the (very weak) plot shows up. Le Sigh. And what is said plot? Well, it involves Sookie's cousin Hadley, who is the lover of the vampire Queen of Louisiana, Sophie-Anne Leclerq. Since the marriage of the Queen to the King of Arkansas, Peter Threadgill, Hadley has been killed. Sookie travels to New Orleans to clean out her apartment and discover what happened to her estranged family member.Yeah, it's brief... because it only spans about 140 pages of a 324 page book. So what, praytell, happens the first 180 pages then? Well, we meander... and we wander... and we hang out with this person and expand their story... and we hang out with this person and we further theirs... and we introduce a bland, unappealing love story for Sookie (that doesn't involve who I want it to)...You get the point; this book's pacing was excruciating. It was a really hard book to get through (which is why I read 3 short stories during the time I was reading this). I'm frankly surprised I finished it, and that I still want more. And that I barely skimmed it. It was just underwhelming and unnecessary. So, what to rank it... 2.5 out of 5 stars. Not enough to stop the series, just enough to remind me that it was mediocre? And that I want more.- review courtesy of www.bibliopunkk.net