A Touch of Dead

Fans of HBO's "True Blood" will swoon over Charlene Harris's collection of five stories featuring telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse and her supernatural encounters. Not only are there juicy tidbits about choice "True Blood" characters, there are also new characters and plots to roundly fill out the outrages occurring in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Johanna Parker captures Sookie's drawl, sometimes tinged with hilarity, sometimes with facetious irony or sweet sarcasm. Parker also imparts a range of expression for the other characters, human and occult. The stories are particularly textured in the way they continually contrast humor and horror, keeping listeners on their toes. A.W. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine