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Dead as a Doornail

by Charlaine Harris

"Dead as a Doornail" is the fifth novel in Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries, the paranormal-mystery series narrated by Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic barmaid in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. The book… more

First published 2005 · 295 pages · English

25 quotes ★ 4.01 (226,158) Fiction

Quotes from the Book

Did we have sex?" he asked directly. For about two minutes, this might actually be fun. "Eric," I said, "we had sex in every position I could imagine, and some I couldn’t. We had sex in every room in my house, and we had sex outdoors. You told me it was the best you’d ever had." (At the time he couldn’t recall all the sex he’d ever had. But he’d paid me a compliment.) "Too bad you can’t remember it," I concluded with a modest smile. Eric looked like I’d hit him in the forehead with a mallet. For all of thirty seconds his reaction was completely gratifying.
My bullshit meter is reading that as 'false'.
Eric moved the broom experimentally and made an attempt to sweep the glass into the pan while it lay in the middle of the floor. Of course, the pan slid away. Eric scowled. I'd finally found something Eric did poorly.
Food that walked and talked, that was us. McPeople.
Should I just bite you, and end it all?", he whispered. "I would never have to think about you again. Thinking about you is an annoying habit and one I want to be rid of.
Fiction just makes it all more interesting. Truth is so boring.
You were so sweet when you didn't know who you were.
You just don't want a vampire pissed off at you.
i hate not knowing what i did." _Eric
i hate her skinny thighs and her elitist attitude. i hope she's a dreadful bitch who makes you so miserable that you howl when you remember me.
Lies will come back to bite you in the butt
They say when one door shuts, another one opens. But they haven’t been living at my house. Most of the doors I open seem to have something scary crouched behind them, anyway.
There's not much I dislike more than being addressed as "Hey you" and being poked with a finger.
In the world I lived in, the world of human people, there were ties and debts and consequences and good deeds. That was what bound people to society; maybe that was what constituted society. And I tried to live in my little niche in it the best way I could.
I held on to my better nature by my fingernails but I held on.
Only a group lack of imagination could account for people not wondering what went on in the dark around them.
Well in two months, it'd be sunbathing time. That made me smile. I enjoyed lying in the sun in a little bikini, timing myself carefully so I didn't burn. I loved the smell of coconut oil. And I don't want to hear any lectures about how bad tanning is for you. That's my vice. Everybody gets one.
we had sex in every position i could imagine, and some i couldn't. we had sex in every room in my house, and we had sex outdoors. you told me it was the best you'd ever had.
I gave myself a mental shake. Snapping out of a slump, that was what today was all about.
Why bother to change, if you can't change into a wolf?
The full moon symbol on my calendar no longer seemed to be a period marking the end of something, but just another way of counting time.
There are times to think and times to lie fallow
My bullshit metre is reading that as false'.
What pretty nail polish,' Eric said, smiling. [...] Trust Eric to pick out the one thing that was new and different about me.
To heck with him, I thought righteously. Him and the horse he rode in on.

Did you know?

  • It is the fifth book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries (Sookie Stackhouse) series.
  • The novel was first published in hardcover by Ace Books on May 3, 2005.
  • Its title comes from the common English idiom "dead as a doornail."
  • The events of the Sookie Stackhouse series were adapted into the HBO television show True Blood.

About Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris is an American author best known for the Sookie Stackhouse (Southern Vampire Mysteries) novels, a bestselling paranormal-mystery series that was adapted into the HBO series True Blood. She has written several other mystery and fantasy series and is a native of the American South.

More about the author →

About the book

"Dead as a Doornail" is the fifth novel in Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries, the paranormal-mystery series narrated by Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic barmaid in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. The book opens on the first full moon after Sookie's brother Jason has been bitten by a werepanther and must endure his own transformation. As a sniper begins targeting shapeshifters and were-animals across the parish, suspicion falls on Jason, and Sookie is drawn into the danger when her boss Sam Merlotte is among those shot.

With Sam recovering from his wound, a vampire bartender named Charles Twining is sent to fill in at Merlotte's, while Sookie also agrees to help her Were friend Alcide Herveaux as his father competes to become leader of the Shreveport werewolf pack. Across the novel Sookie navigates werewolf politics, a threat to her friend Tara, and mounting personal peril, including an attack on her own home, all while trying to identify who is behind the shootings.

Like the rest of the series, the book blends cozy small-town mystery, romance, and supernatural adventure, using its cast of vampires, werewolves, and shapeshifters as a lens on prejudice and belonging in the American South. The Sookie Stackhouse novels became a major commercial success and were adapted by Alan Ball into the HBO television series "True Blood."

Key characters

  • Sookie StackhouseTelepathic barmaid and narrator of the series
  • Jason StackhouseSookie's brother, newly turned werepanther
  • Sam MerlotteSookie's boss and a shapeshifter, wounded by the sniper
  • Eric NorthmanVampire sheriff of the area and owner of Fangtasia
  • Bill ComptonVampire and Sookie's former love interest
  • Alcide HerveauxWerewolf friend whose father seeks to lead the pack
  • Charles TwiningVampire bartender sent to fill in at Merlotte's

Book details

First published
2005
Length
295 pages
Reading time
5 hours
Genre
Fiction
Goodreads rating
4.01 (226k ratings)

Series & reading order

  1. 1 Dead Until Dark
  2. 2 Living Dead in Dallas
  3. 3 Club Dead
  4. 4 Dead to the World
  5. 5 Dead as a Doornail
  6. 6 Definitely Dead

Movie & TV adaptations

  • IMDb
    True Blood 2008

    HBO television series adapting the Sookie Stackhouse novels

If you liked this, read…

  1. 1
    Dead Until DarkThe first Sookie Stackhouse novel that begins the series
  2. 2
    Definitely DeadThe direct sequel, book six in the series

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