** spoiler alert ** 
 This was disappointing, I knew from the reviews of others that it would be, but it was just really bad. It was quite clear that in the last few books, Harris wrote herself into a corner and had to find a way out of it. Too bad her way out basically ruined the hard work of the beginning of this series. 
 First of all, nothing about this book was all that interesting. The beginning starts with what is supposed to be a mysterious meeting between a 'devil' and a businessman. It takes approximately half a page to realize the man is Amelia's father. Literally, there was no legitimate attempt to hide that, it was just blatant and as a reader, does the author really think I am that dumb? Also, the book just put a bad taste in my mouth from the start because this little segment continuously referred to the guy as 'the businessman', never mind that we all knew who he was, never mind that she named his sidekick (who we met in previous books), but the author also apparently could not be bothered to come up with a synonym for "businessman" so just continuously reused the term. It was annoying and too bad things just didn't get much better from there. 
 Secondly, a lot of characters were pushed to extremes to make this plot/book work. You don't get to just change people because it suits your needs. I'm willing to accept the changes in Sookie (mostly) because I can see that there are reasons for her growth and change, she has been through a lot. You can't just bring back a character from five books ago and make them evil - at least not without making me lose respect for your writing. Also, in order to force us to dislike particular characters, she made others due straight up stupid things. For example, when Sookie needed bail money, there was really no logical reason for Sam to go straight to Eric. Why not try to get Bill instead - for all Sam knew, Bill had just as much hidden away (even before we learn about his success in After Dark, he was clearly making some money). Or even combine what he had with Bill and Alcide? The whole Sam making a promise to Eric thing was straight up stupid, it made no sense, and it took away from whatever little story there actually was in the book. 
 Speaking of Sam, it has been clear since book 1 that Harris has preferred Sam to the other men in the book. I get that, the problem is that she wrote herself into a pickle. Fans seem to like either Bill/Sookie or Eric/Sookie or Alcide/Sookie . . . whose name is missing from that? Sam and Sookie never managed to have chemistry - despite the author's best efforts. The sex seen between them was cringe worthy (seriously, she decides to drive 20 minute to get her ipod, instead of just using her radio like she always did, and then walks up to Sam, who happens to be in only cut-offs, while wearing only a bikini and a cover up herself and then decides to just do it? It sounds more like porn than the Sookie we know). Anyway, the point is, I know what the author was trying to do, but for whatever reason, she has never been able to get this couple to click for the readers. 
 Also, if I am remembering correctly, I think that Sookie's ability to read were's actually decreased as the series went on to make this easier for a relationship with Sam. In the beginning she actively had to work to not hear his thoughts, even though he was a shifter. Not that that is the only fact that was conveniently changed throughout the series, but worth noting because it bugged me and this is my review and I can write whatever I want. 
 And on the Eric front - well that was just a cop-out. Conveniently he is gone . . . and that is kind of it. No real heart-break apparently (after all we only have one book to get Sookie hooked up with Sam). 
 I'm mad, at the end of the day, I am just mad because I am disappointed. This is book 13, I have gotten close to these characters. I wanted things to work out for them, I wanted happy endings. I wanted fantasy. Let's face it, the last couple of books have been Harris trying to clean up a mess that got out of control.