Dead Until Dark is the first book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries (also known as the Sookie Stackhouse books) and is written by Charlaine Harris. This book series is notable in that it was the basis for the hit TV show True Blood starring Anna Paquin and created by Alan Ball.
Plot
Sookie Stackhouse is a bar waitress living with her Grandmother in a place Bon Temps, Louisiana. The world around Sookie is changing with the recent revelation that Vampires are real and have officially “Come out of the Coffin” since the discovery of a synthetic blood product that can sustain them without the need to feast on humans anymore. That was two years ago and the world is still very much coming to terms with vampires though the effect in the small town of Bon Temps is more of a notional one as currently there are no vampires in Bon Temps.
Sookie is not your average waitress, she is in fact a telepath privy to the darkest thoughts of everyone around her and it has had a definite effect on her keeping her somewhat alone and at a distance from everyone around her with most of the townsfolk scared of her abilities. Into Sookie’s life comes Bill Compton, Bon Temps’ first vampire who has the very intriguing ability of being immune to Sookie’s telepathy.
While Sookie is slowly falling for the gallant and exotic Bill the death of a colleague ignites the hostility of the local populace to all things vampire and Sookie finds herself drawn into trying to solve the murder.
What I thought
It is difficult to separate True Blood and the Southern Vampire Mysteries and I was one of those readers who came to the books after checking out the series. I have to say it was one of my better decisions the books are amazing and the first book is just a great ride. Imagine ‘Murder She Wrote’ with a hot blonde as the lead. Don’t let that put you off though one of the things that makes you love the book is learning about the people of Bon Temps they are real and actually have depth something a lot of books struggle to manage in the first book of the series.
The book is told from Sookie’s perspective which is the way I prefer books and it allows us a very close examination of exactly what sort of person she is and what is important to her. I won’t spoil it for you but I find her one of the more believable female leads that I have come across and I read dozens of books with female leads. She has her flaws and her strengths and in the end you see a character that comes across as real.
I like Sookie as a character as I have stated before she has her flaws but she is a strong woman which is more than likely a result of her disability and a lot of the town thinking of her as crazy. She is a woman living in amazing times that could perhaps be paralleled with the civil rights era in America. She is real and vulnerable, Sookie is not a vampire hunter blessed with the strength and speed to be her equal nor is she a genetically engineered super soldier she is just a waitress with a high school education and a firm sense of wrong and right and that is what makes me want to read all about her including how she spends her time off from work.
Those of you coming from True Blood to the books may think that there is nothing more than Sookie, Bill and Eric and the games that these characters play, you would be wrong as you read through this and the rest of the series you will see that these like the series’ name suggest are mystery books. Sookie spends most of this novel being an amateur sleuth in the style of Jessica Fletcher, Dr Mark Sloane et al.
I feel like I couldn't have a review of Dead Until Dark without a mention of the vampire related lore. Harris stays true to the idea of vampires with their traditional sets of strengths and weaknesses, incredible strength, immortality, weakness to sunlight and the constant desire for blood. There is a lot more to vampires in the world that Harris has created but you should read on to find out about those details.
In closing I would recommend Dead Until Dark and The Southern Vampire Mysteries as an excellent read for fans of vampire stories, murder mystery or supernatural stuff in general. I would also highly recommend the audio book versions as nothing brings Bon Temps alive like the sound of a Southern accent. Read it as a book that you can get lost in to visit a place you wish you could go to.
About me
Hey everyone I'm Shaft and I run Shaft's Word Blog. I like reading, US TV shows and gaming. I sometimes review books on my blog and for other blogs. My favorite book series are the Millennium Trilogy, Morganville Vampire and House of Night. I read dozens of YA titles in my ongoing quest to to find more titles with male leads like Ranger's Apprentice because I really believe in the importance of getting boys interested in reading at a young age and that in the current market those same boys might feel alienated. I also write short stories. You can find my on twitter @shaftsword.
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