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Dead to the World

by Charlaine Harris

"Dead to the World" is the fourth novel in Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries, the urban-fantasy series narrated by telepathic Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse. The story opens on New Year's Eve, when… more

First published 2004 · 320 pages · English

29 quotes ★ 4.12 (268,562) Fiction

Quotes from the Book

If there were an international butt competition, Eric would win, hands down—or cheeks up.
It's probably a bad indicator of your lifestyle when you miss your ex-boyfriend because he's absolutely lethal.
My gran had always told me that a woman--any woman worth her salt--could do whatever she had to.
Vampires. They wrote the book on possessive.
We could go back," he said. In the dome light of the car, his face looked hard as stone. "We could go back to your house. I can stay with you always. We can know each other's bodies in every way, night after night. I could love you." His nostrils flared, and he looked suddenly proud. "I could work. You would not be poor. I would help you." "Sounds like a marriage," I said, trying to lighten the atmosphere. But my voice was too shaky. "Yes," he said.
...But also because I find I really do…" He paused, as if he were about to say something outrageous. "I find I have feelings for you." "Oh," I said into his chest, sounding as astonished as Eric had(...)"Eric," I said, after a long pause, "I almost hate to say this, but I have feelings for you, too.
I hate witches. Humans had the right idea, burning them at the stake.
It was beautiful Eric, who desired me, who was hungry for me, in a world that often let me know it could do very well without me.
As I climbed up into the high old bed, the large fly in my personal ointment did the same. Had I actually told him he could get in bed with me? Well, I decided, as I wriggled down under the soft old sheets and the blanket and the comforter, if Eric had designs on me, I was just too tired to care. "Woman?" "Hmmm?" "What's your name?" "Sookie. Sookie Stackhouse." "Thank you, Sookie." "Welcome, Eric.
Because he sounded so lost-the Eric I knew had never been one to do anything other than assume others should serve him-I patted around under the covers for his hand. When I found it, I slid my own over it. His palm was turned up to meet my palm, and his fingers clasped mine. And though I would not have thought it possible to go to sleep holding hands with a vampire, that's exactly what I did.
Come on," I said, taking his hand. Clutching the afghan with the other hand, he trailed down the hall after me, a snow white giant in tiny red underwear.
As the water pounded on my back, I reflected that I must be pretty simple. It didn't take much to make me happy. A long night with a dead guy had done the trick.
You know I love you more when you're cold and heartless.
Eric: ''What part do you like best?'' Sookie: ''oh your butt'' Eric: ''My...Bottom?'' Sookie: ''yep
Bubba made a sound of disapproval "You're not supposed to be kissing on anybody else, Miss Sookie" he said "Bill said it was okay, but I don't like it.
I knew, as sure as I knew my name, that tomorrow he would send me another coat, in a big fancy box, with a big bow on it. It would be the right size, it would be a top brand, and it would be warm. ............... It was cranberry red, with a removable liner, a detachable hood, and tortoiseshell buttons.
We could go back to your house. I can stay with you always. We can know each others bodies in every way, night after night. I could love you. I could work, you would not be poor. I would help you.
A piece of happiness should never be taken as due.
Though I was standing in front of a mirror, I wasn't really seeing my reflection. I was seeing, very clearly, that—at the moment—I was all in the world that Eric could think of as his own. I had better not fail him.
Oh, God, puppy dog eyes. From a six-foot-five ancient Viking vampire.
I felt like a car that had only been operated by one driver… a car its new prospective buyer was determined to take to the Daytona 500.
(Sookie's Thoughts on Debbie Pelt) she had been cruel to Alcide, insulted me grievously, burned a hole in my favorite wrap and—oh—tried to kill me by proxy. Also, she had stupid hair.
I had never realized a woman could have to struggle to keep her hands off a man, but here I was, digging my nails into my palms, staring at the inside of my eyelids as though I could maybe see through them if I peered hard enough.
Well, that's certainly... adequate," I told him, burying my face in his chest. I knew immediately I'd picked the wrong word. "Adequate?" He took my hand, placed it on the part in question. It immediately began to stir. He moved my hand on it, and I obligingly circled it with my fingers. "This is adequate?" "Maybe I should have said it's a gracious plenty?" "A gracious plenty. I like that," he said.
A dog – a collie – went up to Eric, looked up at his face, and growled. “Shoo,” Eric said, making an imperious gesture with his hand.
Jason's favorite person in the entire universe was Jason Stackhouse.
He pulled my coat off my shoulders, looked at it with distaste, hung it on the back of one of the chairs pushed in under the kitchen table. "You are beautiful". No one had ever looked me in the eyes and said that. Eric to Sookie, Page 208.
I wish," I said. "I could save orgasms in a jar for when I need them, because I think I have a few extra.
I abjure you,” Alcide said. Colonel Flood winced, and young Sid, Amanda, and Culpepper looked both astonished and impressed, as if this were a ceremony they'd never thought to witness. “I see you no longer. I hunt with you no longer. I share flesh with you no longer.

Did you know?

  • It is the fourth book in Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries (Sookie Stackhouse) series.
  • The story begins on New Year's Eve, roughly three weeks after the events of the previous novel, Club Dead.
  • Its central hook is the powerful vampire Eric Northman losing his memory after being cursed by a coven of witches.
  • The Southern Vampire Mysteries were the loose basis for HBO's television series True Blood.
  • The series' debut novel, Dead Until Dark, won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery.

About Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris is a #1 New York Times bestselling American author known for the Sookie Stackhouse (Southern Vampire) novels, as well as the Aurora Teagarden, Lily Bard, Harper Connelly, and Midnight, Texas series. Her Sookie Stackhouse books were adapted into the HBO series True Blood.

More about the author →

About the book

"Dead to the World" is the fourth novel in Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries, the urban-fantasy series narrated by telepathic Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse. The story opens on New Year's Eve, when Sookie spots the powerful vampire Eric Northman running down the road near her home with no memory of who he is. A coven of witches, some of them also werewolves, has arrived in Shreveport intent on extorting money from Eric and seizing his local power, and they are the ones who stripped away his mind.

Taking the amnesiac and unexpectedly gentle Eric into her home, Sookie is drawn into a dangerous conflict among witches, vampires, and werewolves while her brother Jason goes missing. To confront the threat, Pam proposes an alliance of Alcide's werewolf pack, the area vampires, and local Wiccans, culminating in an assault on the witches' stronghold. The book blends mystery and supernatural action with the slow-burn romance between Sookie and a softer version of Eric.

Written in Harris's brisk, wry first-person voice, the novel deepens the Sookie-and-Eric relationship that became a defining thread of the series. The Southern Vampire Mysteries ran to thirteen books and were the loose basis for HBO's television series True Blood, helping fuel the paranormal-romance boom of the 2000s.

Key characters

  • Sookie StackhouseTelepathic cocktail waitress and narrator
  • Eric NorthmanPowerful vampire who loses his memory
  • PamEric's vampire second-in-command
  • Jason StackhouseSookie's brother, who goes missing
  • Alcide HerveauxWerewolf and Sookie's ally
  • Marnie "Hallow" StonebrookLeader of the witch coven

Book details

First published
2004
Length
320 pages
Reading time
4 hours
Genre
Fiction
Goodreads rating
4.12 (269k 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
  7. 7 All Together Dead
  8. 8 From Dead to Worse
  9. 9 Dead and Gone
  10. 10 Dead in the Family
  11. 11 Dead Reckoning
  12. 12 Deadlocked
  13. 13 Dead Ever After

Movie & TV adaptations

  • IMDb
    True Blood 2008

    HBO television series loosely based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels.

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  3. 3
    Halfway to the GraveJeaniene Frost's Night Huntress offers a similar vampire-and-human paranormal romance.

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