Plot summary
This novel opens on New Year's Eve, three weeks after the events of Club Dead . Sookie Stackhouse finds Eric running down the road close to her home, but he seems to have lost his memory. Sookie, initially reluctant to get involved in vampire matters once again, takes Eric in. Eric's second in command, Pam, is relieved at Sookie finding Eric, and explains a coven of villainous witches, some of them also werewolves, has arrived in Shreveport, set on extorting money from Eric and taking over the local power he has. Hence, Pam believes the witches to be responsible for Eric's erased memory. After Sookie's brother Jason bargains on a financial settlement, Sookie agrees to keep Eric in her house and care for him, as the witches are on the lookout for Eric and might harm him.
The next day, Jason is missing. Sookie oversees the slowly progressing police investigation of her brother's disappearance, but personally fears the witch coven might've gotten hold of him.
Later on, Sookie informs werewolf Alcide Herveaux of the witch coven being in town. Alcide and his pack master fear that one of their pack members might have defected to the witches' side, but Sookie and Alcide then discover this particular woman's murdered body. Back in Bon Temps, Sookie's workplace is paid a visit to by the leaders of the witch coven, Marnie "Hallow" and Mark Stonebrook. Meanwhile, Sookie and Eric give in to their intense desire for each other.
Pam suggests Alcide's werewolf pack, her area vampires and some local Wiccans unite to fight off the witch coven. They do so and with Sookie's assistance, brutally attack the witches' main gathering place, wiping out everyone present but Hallow, whom Pam captures and forces to lift Eric's amnesia. Sookie returns home dismayed at the loss of her relationship with the memory-free Eric, and finally retrieves Jason with Sam's help in Hotshot, a local were-panther community. In Hotshot, Felton Norris, romantically interested in Jason's one-time fling Crystal, also a werepanther, had contained Jason and purposefully bit him to change him into a werepanther, so that Crystal would lose her interest in Jason.
Deaths
This novel marked the death of three previously introduced characters; Fangtasia's human waitress Ginger was killed by a witch curse, Fangtasia's replacement bartender Chow was staked in the climactic battle, and Alcide Herveaux's jealous, shapeshifter ex-girlfriend Debbie Pelt was shot to death by Sookie after invading Sookie's house intending to kill her.
Television adaptation
The television adaptation, as the fourth season of True Blood , began its broadcast on June 26, 2011, and the season's finale was aired on September 11, 2011. Courtney Ford joined the cast as Portia Bellefleur, sister to Andy Bellefleur. Portia appeared in the previous three novels, but not in Dead to the World. She did not appear in the previous three seasons of True Blood. Alexandra Breckenridge was cast as Katarina, a member of Marnie's Wiccan group. Daniel Buran was cast as Marcus Bozeman, Alcide's pack master. In the novel, Alcide's packmaster was named Colonel Flood. Fiona Shaw was cast as Marnie "Hallow" Stonebrook. Characters from Dead to the World that appeared in True Blood's earlier seasons include Crystal Norris played by Lindsay Pulsipher, Felton Norris played by James Harvey Ward and Holly Cleary played by Lauren Bowles.
- In the series, Sookie returned from the fairy world at the beginning. In the novel, she didn't. She hasn't got a clue about being half-fairy yet.
- In the series, Eric buys Sookie's house from Jason because he never gave up hope Sookie would return. In the novel, the house is still Sookie's.
- In the series, the werewolves do not become involved in the vampire-witch feud, in fact the pack leader Marcus orders the weres to stay out of the argument. In the novel, the Shreveport werewolves, headed by Colonel Flood, took part in the fight, along with some Wiccans and the Fangtasia vampires.
- In the series, Debbie Pelt is shot and killed by Sookie, after shooting and presumably killing Tara who was protecting Sookie. In the novel, Debbie broke into Sookie's and shoot her, but Eric took the bullet instead. Then, Sookie shot Debbie and Eric hid the corpse.
- In the series, Bill became the King of Louisiana after killing the former queen. He fights back the witches along the season. In the book, Bill is the area investigator, though he's gone to Peru in a mission. He only shows up during the attack to the witches.
- In the series, Jason is captured by the were-panthers and finally escapes by his own. In the novel, Sookie found out where her brother is and rescues him.
- In the series, Eric got his memory back thanks to Sookie fairy powers. In the novel, Pam tortures Hallow (named Marnie in the series) so she revert the curse. Also, in the books, Eric didn't remember the time he'd been blacked out.
Sookie Stackhouse is a fictional character and protagonist of The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series, written by Charlaine Harris. In HBO's television adaptation, True Blood, Sookie is portrayed by Anna Paquin.
Eric Northman is a fictional character in The Southern Vampire Mysteries, written by Charlaine Harris. The character is introduced in the first novel, Dead Until Dark, as vampire living to be about a thousand years and is included in all subsequent novels.
True Blood is an American fantasy horror drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries, a series of novels by Charlaine Harris.
Tara Mae Thornton is a fictional character in Charlaine Harris' The Southern Vampire Mysteries and its television adaptation, HBO's True Blood.
Living Dead in Dallas is the second book in Charlaine Harris's series The Southern Vampire Mysteries. This second novel follows the adventures of telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse of Bon Temps, Louisiana, as she is employed by Dallas vampires to use her telepathy to help find their lost companion. Sookie agrees to help investigate the whereabouts of the missing vampire on one condition: any humans found to be involved must be turned over to human law enforcement rather than subjected to vampire justice. In Dallas Sookie Stackhouse has her first encounter with the anti-vampire organization "The Fellowship of the Sun," as well as meeting and learning of the existence of werewolves.
Club Dead is the third book in Charlaine Harris's series The Southern Vampire Mysteries, released in 2003. In Club Dead, Sookie's boyfriend Bill disappears while working on a secret project, and Sookie heads out to Jackson, Mississippi in hopes of retrieving him alive. In this quest, she enlists the aid of a werewolf, Alcide Herveaux, and a vampire Eric.
Pamela "Pam" Ravenscroft, also known as Pamela Swynford De Beaufort, is a fictional character from the television series True Blood. Pam is portrayed by actress Kristin Bauer van Straten. The series was created by Alan Ball and is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries by author Charlaine Harris.
Jason Stackhouse is a fictional character from The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series by author Charlaine Harris. Introduced in the first novel, Dead Until Dark, Jason is Sookie Stackhouse's older brother and a road crew supervisor for Bon Temps, Louisiana.
Dead as a Doornail is the fifth book in Charlaine Harris's series The Southern Vampire Mysteries.
From Dead to Worse is the eighth book in Charlaine Harris's series The Southern Vampire Mysteries.
Dead and Gone is the ninth book in Charlaine Harris's series The Southern Vampire Mysteries. This title was released on May 5, 2009, and reached #1 in the New York Times hardcover best-seller list.
Alcide Herveaux is a fictional character in The Southern Vampire Mysteries, a series of novels by author Charlaine Harris. He is introduced in the third novel, Club Dead. In the television series, he was portrayed by the actor Joe Manganiello.
Jessica Hamby is a fictional character in the True Blood series, portrayed by Deborah Ann Woll. In the series, which chronicles the life of human waitress Sookie Stackhouse and her friends after vampires make themselves known to humans, Jessica is a newly turned vampire who must learn to deal with her vampiric abilities, weaknesses, and altered lifestyle.
Dead in the Family is a 2010 New York Times Bestselling Gothic mystery novel by Charlaine Harris and the tenth book in her The Southern Vampire Mysteries series. The novel was released on May 4, 2010 by Ace Books and follows Sookie as she deals with her increasingly more complicated romantic and personal relationships with the supernatural creatures around her.
The third season of the television series True Blood premiered on June 13, 2010 simultaneously on HBO and HBO Canada. It concluded its run on September 12, 2010 and contained 12 episodes, bringing the series total to 36. It loosely follows the plot of the third novel of The Southern Vampire Mysteries series, Club Dead.
The fourth season of the television series True Blood contains 12 episodes, bringing the series total to 48. The season premiered on June 26, 2011. Though the storyline picks up twelve and a half months after the events of season three; the season still begins immediately after final scene of "Evil Is Going On". It is loosely based on the fourth novel in The Southern Vampire Mysteries series, Dead to the World.
"Authority Always Wins" is the second episode of the fifth season of HBO's television series True Blood and 50th episode overall. First aired on June 17, 2012, it was written by Mark Hudis and directed by Michael Lehmann.
"Whatever I Am, You Made Me" is the third episode of the fifth season of HBO's television series True Blood and 51st episode overall. First aired on June 24, 2012, it was written by Raelle Tucker and directed by David Petrarca.
"Hopeless" is the sixth episode of the fifth season of HBO's original series True Blood and the 54th episode overall. It was first shown on TV on July 15, 2012 and was directed by Dan Attias and written by Alan Ball, creator of the series. The episodes of the series are based on the Charlaine Harris books, The Sookie Stackhouse novels whereas the episodes of the season are based on the fifth book in the series Dead As a Doornail (book) which follows the Shifters being murdered whereas in the season fang bangers and shifters are being hunted. Even so, the plot of the book is only one of the minor subplots. The episode primarily follows Bill and Eric who must now face Russell again after Roman is killed by him; Sookie and Jason go to a faery club where their family's dark history and greatest secrets are revealed to them. Meanwhile, Sam volunteers to assist Andy with a case. The episode was preceded by Let's Boot and Rally and was followed by In the Beginning, which picks up the events of Hopeless. The episode received fair reviews from critics. The episode ended several minutes earlier than the timeslot filled, as it was about 50 minutes or so, which notably also happened in Let's Boot and Rally. Stephen Moyer will pick up the events of In the Beginning. As of 2012 the episode has received the most ratings only behind by the season premiere episode Turn, Turn, Turn!
