Dead as a Doornail

I promised myself that at the end of book four, I'd take a breather before I picked up another Sookie Stackhouse book. That breather apparently consisted of the five hours between me finishing book four on my lunch break and my stopping by Barnes & Noble on my way home from work. And now I've finished five books in five days.
Book five of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels feels a little different from the first four. Things aren't focused on past boyfriends quite as much (though Sookie seems to be enjoying keeping information from Eric, who forgets everything that happened while he stayed at her home) and we're also not quite as focused on present loves to the same degree, either. A couple of kisses, sure, but we don't have nearly the same scenes that the last few books included. Instead, we're getting further into the politics of supernaturals. After Jason's ordeal in the last book, Sookie's waiting for his first time changing with the full moon. In addition, there appears to be someone shooting random people around town, including Sam -- though it's not so random when you know that all the victims are supes. Sookie gets Eric to loan her a vampire bartender to pick up the slack at Merlotte's, and the new vamp seems to be a very charming pirate. Alcide practically tricks Sookie into giving her allegiance to his father as a new packleader candidate by being his date for a packleader funeral. And oh yes, Sookie's house partially burns down. At least she seems to have picked up a fairy godmother. A lot is going on, but if you don't know that Sookie's up to the challenge by now, then where have you been for the past four books?