Sookie is still reeling from her use of the cluviel dor, her resurrection of Sam, and the fact that her and Eric seem to be in the middle of a fight. But she's Sookie Stackhouse, and something else is bound to pop up. Pop up it does--in the form of the death of Arlene Fowler. Sookie ends up as the main suspect in the murder. A bunch of the gang show up to help acquit her and solve the murder. Although, Eric, Bill, and Sam are all tend to be a little more hands off than expected. 
 While these series are penned as mysteries, romance is a big part of them. So, naturally, a large part of the anticipation of this book stemmed from figuring out who Sookie will end up with, if anyone at all. For many readers, I'm sure the romantic results are one of the biggest matters of contention, and that's fair. While I certainly had my preferences about who Sookie would end up with, even if I seemed to care less as the series' progressed as a sad side effect of caring less about Sookie. I was not unpleased with the finale romantic wrap-up. The writing has been on the wall for a long time with this one. In fact, the romantic results may have been the only thing Harris thought long term about. Although, she didn't seem to really thing about how to get it there, because all the sudden there it was. Still, the signs have been there. 
 However as mysteries are at least publicized as a large part of the series, that part of the novel shouldn't be ignored. If you've been reading along with the whole series, the thirteenth installment will not shock you. You've gotten used to plot turns that really make no sense and constantly lowering stakes. Here's the deal: I've seen Sookie in mortal peril before. What is different about this time? How does she react differently? What does she get out of it? What does it teach her? After all, one of my biggest problems with the series is generally that Sookie can tend to "reset" after an adventure. She'll just go right back to telling us about her tanning and her romance novels and her word of the day calendar and over describing her outfits. With the exception of the word of the day calendar, Dead Ever After does not disappoint on this front. 
 But if you can't give me that growth, at least give me a better mystery. First of all, why Arlene? If there was supposed to be some sort of closure inherent in this, some coming full circle, I missed it. There was a good deal of dramatic irony employed in this book, in that the reader knew more of the possible suspects than Sookie. However, the "twist" at the end didn't make me go "wow, what a shocker." Instead I opted for, "wow, that does not seem to fit with the world we've established. In addition, the climax of the novel itself felt very anticlimactic. 
 I think that's my biggest critique of the series itself. It felt anticlimactic. This does not feel like a series that had a planned and plotted ending. Instead, it felt like it ended because the quality of the books were going downhill. And this one certainly fits that trend.