Dead Until Dark

FINALLY!!! I have been reading numerous books for school (Roman poets, Greek poets, books on WWI, WWII, Russian books, books on the Haitian Revolution - can you tell I'm going to major in history?) Well I finally got to read a book that wasn't mandatory! And I'm pretty proud of myself. I read the book in about 3 days! So without further ado here is the report!

Sookie Stackhouse lives in Bon Temps, La. She works as a waitress at the local bar. Everyone knows that she has a 'disability' and for the most part they treat her well. Obviously they think she's crazy. Vampires have just now become more main stream, and people are beginning to believe that the reason vampires are the way they are is because of a virus.

One night, while Sookie is working a man catches her attention. Pale with dark hair and eyes she is drawn to him like a moth to a flame. Soon they found out that the new stranger in town is Bill Compton a vampire returning to his old family estate. The town is enthralled to have a vampire amongst them. However, Bills arrival also marks the arrival of strange happenings.

Soon the town of Bon Temps has other worries on their minds. At least two of the women have been killed. They were known 'fang bangers' so Bill might have done a way with them. But they also were known 'associates' of Sookie's brother Jason. By 'associates' I mean 'bed associates'. What's worse is that Sookie might be next. Her grandmother was killed, along with her cat Tina. The police are looking real hard into Jason's files, but he couldn't of killed his grandmother? Sookie has to solve the mystery fast before her time is up and her number is picked.

This is probably a bad thing, but when I first read Sookie, I instantly thought of SNookie from Jersey Shore. I know, I know Jersey Shore is a corrosive show - but also a very funny one. Watching egotistical people act as if they weren't!

I really enjoyed the characters in the book. It's always fun (for me) to read about vampires when their description is the same but different. Like Bill, he was described as pale (duh) but there were no mentions of his powers (like descriptions of Jean-Paul in one of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake novels.) Furthermore Sookie wasn't a skinny little twig. She had some meat on her bones which was nice.

In closing - I didn't know that the True Blood series was based off this book series. I don't watch the show (I don't have a TV in my house). Although I'm not all together surprised seeing how now-a-days more and more TV shows and movies are based off of books. I'm not too happy with that.

Books in this series:

1. Dead Until Dark

2. Living Dead in Dallas

3. Club Dead

4. Dead to the World

5. Dead As a Doornail

6. Definitely Dead

7. Altogether Dead

8. From Dead to Worse

9. Dead And Gone

10. Dead In The Family

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. Ace Books NY (c) 2001