Part of Sookie Stackhouse, book 12
First published 2012
Sookie Stackhouse's telepathic gift taught her that some knowledge brings only pain. Watching Eric Northman feed from a younger woman proves this truth once again. She wants to confront him, but vampire king Felipe de Castro has arrived in Louisiana, demanding silence and diplomacy. Then a dead body appears in Eric's front yard. The corpse belongs to the same woman Eric just fed from. The timing couldn't be worse, with the king watching every move. Sookie teams up with Bill Compton, the official Area Five investigator, to solve the murder before it destroys Eric and destabilizes the vampire hierarchy. She believes this death has nothing to do with her personal life. She's wrong. An enemy far more cunning than she imagines has orchestrated these events to destroy everything Sookie holds dear. The investigation forces her to confront not just a killer, but the realization that someone wants her world to collapse completely.
Genres: romance, mystery, fantasy, paranormal
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Louisiana
Period: 21st-century
327 pages · Hardcover · Gollancz
Content warnings: violence