Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse #9) by Charlaine Harris

Except for Sookie Stackhouse, folks in Bon Temps, Louisiana, know little about vamps-and nothing about weres.

Until now. The weres and shifters have finally decided to reveal their existence to the ordinary world. At first all goes well. Then the mutilated body of a were-panther is found near the bar where Sookie works-and she feels compelled to discover who, human or otherwise, did it.

But there's a far greater danger threatening Bon Temps. A race of unhuman beings-older, more powerful, and more secretive than vampires or werewolves-is preparing for war. And Sookie finds herself an all-too human pawn in their battle.

 Sookie having already faced so much in the past books has even more dangerous events happen in Dead and Gone. The weres and shifters come out to the world and then there's a murder of someone Sookie knows. There's also the revelation of a powerful relative and the discover that Sookies family is far different then she could have guessed. The murder and other events bring Jason and Sookie a bit closer where she is actually talking to her bother. Not such a surprise Sookie is in the middle of another war. Sookie has grown from the first book to this one and calls in a couple of favors when she realizes she's in way over her head. There's also the ever developing relationship of Eric and Sookie which takes a steamy turn. A friend on the outs takes action to commit a deadly betrayal. This book has Sookie more emotionally drained then ever before. We see the deaths of a couple of truly great characters that had me misty eyed. Bill takes steps that had me remembering why I liked him several books back. I think this was definitely one of the more sad books of the series. There's a surprise marriage of sorts. Dead and Gone was packed with action, supense, emotion, a marriage, and deaths of great characters. This is a life changing book for our girl cause at the end of this book Sookie won't ever be who she was before agian.