Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris

Jun 21, 2009 by shanyn

Title: Dead Until Dark
Author: Charlaine Harris
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Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She’s quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn’t get out much. Not because she’s not pretty. She is. It’s just that, well, Sookie has this sort of “disability.” She can read minds. And that doesn’t make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He’s tall, dark, handsome – and Sookie can’t hear a word he’s thinking. He’s exactly the type of guy she’s been waiting for all her life…. But Bill has a disability of his own: He’s a vampire with a bad reputation. He hands with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of – big surprise – murder. And when one of Sookie’s coworkers is killed, she fears she’s next….

I had heard of individuals raving about True Blood, a show on HBO, but was not much interested because I’m not big into fantasy/vampires (I did read the Twilight series and found it enjoyable, but had no desire to seek other vampire fiction). The television series eventually got book enthusiasts talking about the writing the television show was based on, which prompted me to give it a try.

In the beginning of the book I thought I had perhaps made a mistake – the vampire theme was still slightly sketchy to me, and lots of characters were being introduced, making it more of a complicated read. Eventually I got everything straight and found myself loving the plot – Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress in a bar, meets a vampire (Bill). In this novel, vampires are allowed to live among humans, and everyone is aware that they are vampires (something different from the Twilight series). Bill has been trying to “mainstream,” or drink artificial blood and actually be a part of a community. Shortly after Sookie and Bill meet, several murders happen around the town to women who have been known to associate with vampires, and have been found with bite marks, making it slightly more difficult for Bill to blend in.

There is a great mix of romance and mystery in this book, and I did not figure out the mystery bit until it was revealed to me in the manuscript (which I love, as some mystery novels have rather obvious outcomes). I am very much looking forward to reading the remaining books in this series – I find myself wondering how Bill and Sookie are doing as I am in between books, so I am glad there are several others for me to read!

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