Product Description
Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life-and one of her coworkers checks out….
Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn’t such a bright idea.
A fun, fast, funny, and wonderfully intriguing blend of vampire and mystery that’s hard to put down, and should not be missed. (Susan Sizemore)
Praise for Charlaine Harris:
Harris writes neatly and with assurance. (New York Times Book Review)
An author of rare talents. (Publishers Weekly)
Susan Shedd @ 4:10 pm
sorry, that was bad! I am a big Charlaine Harris fan and only mildly interested in vampires. But the combination of a an uncontrollably mind-reading heroine, newly legal vampires, a serial killer, a shape-shifter — how could I resist? I find I don’t want to say much at all about the plot, as it’s too easy to give away some really exciting twists. It’s fair to say that the story postulates vampires as a newly-emerged legal minority (word is they’ve been victimized by superstition, when really the poor people have been subjected to a terrible virus) with attendant vampire-philics and phobics roiling the waters of cultural change. Vampires can now subsist on artificial blood, so they don’t have to be a danger to anyone. Harris has thought through vampire culture and the interaction of that culture with “normal” society to great effect — the book would be fun to read just for that .
I have to admit, though, that nothing about the vampires interested me as much as the main character, Sookie. If you think you want to be able to know what other people are thinking, the limitations of Sookie’s life will make you think again. She’s brave, brilliant and decent and watching her (and her sex life) develop is a true joy.
Meanwhile, the book is tightly and extravagantly plotted and the psychological effects are fascinating and disturbing, absolutely gripping. Read it over a weekend or on vacation so you won’t have to put it down — you’ll just have to know what happens next!
Harris has set this up to continue as a series, and if she can continue this level of quality, people will be lining up for each new book.
K. Maxwell @ 5:13 pm
Sookie Stackhouse lives in a world like ours – except for one difference, 4 years ago Vampires “came out of the coffin” and are now a legal part of USA society. In this way it’s somewhat like the situation in the Anita Blake (author Laurel Hamilton) novels, but in someways I think better written in this book.
Sookie herself is unusual with a disability that makes dating a virtual impossiblity until a vampire comes to town and she discovers he’s her (almost) perfect man. Unfortunatley, at the same time people start getting killed, which most of the locals see as an unlikely co-incidence, and in a small town that can almost be deadly itself.
The author has written a very readable book here. I’m not sure if it’s the start of a series or not – if it’s not – then it’s still an enjoyable stand alone novel. Her characters are believable and likeable, and I don’t remember any slow patches that make your attention wander. In fact, I read this in a day – the sign of a very good book for me.
For those people who like fiction that covers, vampires, PSI, alternative realities or mystery fiction, this book pretty well covers all those areas. Enjoy:)
Fred Wiehe @ 6:24 pm
Sookie Stackhouse has what she calls a “disability.” She’s a telepath. Now reading minds sounds like it might be a good thing, but as she points out it sort of gets in the way of relationships, sexual relationships in particularly. It’s hard for her to have sex and enjoy it when she knows the man she’s with thinks her breasts are too small or maybe he’s thinking of someone else. Besides, other people’s thoughts bombarding her all day drive her crazy. She works as a waitress in a bar and comes in contact with many people on a daily basis. So for her own sanity, and because she thinks it rude to listen in, she’s learn to block out the noise from the minds of others. Then Bill comes into her life. He’s the perfect boyfriend because she can’t read his thoughts at all. That’s because he has a disability of his own. He’s dead. He’s a vampire. Vampires have recently come out of the closet so to speak and exposed their existence to the world. All of this came about because of the creation of synthetic blood, making it possible for them to exist without preying on unwilling humans. They are the new minority and now wish to coexist with humans. Of course, the vampires-like any minority-have those who hate them. But they also have those who admire and adore them as well. These people are called fang-bangers. Three female fang-bangers suddenly turn up dead, murdered, and the vampires are quickly blamed. Fear fuels the fires of hatred and violence erupts between the humans and the undead. This puts Bill at risk. Also, Sookie fears that she’s next on the murderer’s list since she has a vampire boyfriend. So, with Bill’s help, she uses her “disability” to solve the mystery, and in the process she puts her own life on the line.
This is an extraordinary and original book; full of charm and wit, capturing small-town America to a T. Harris blends together several genres-horror, mystery, and a bit of Gothic romance-with ease and aplomb. She has a straight forward, just between you and me kind of style that’s fun and easy to read. One minute she’s making you laugh, the next she’s sending chills along your spine, and the next she’s got you wondering who done it. This book will entertain and keep you guessing until the very end. I highly recommend it.
Louise @ 8:39 pm
Dead Until Dark is the first book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries, and the main character is Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress. She is a pretty young girl, but she is not happy. She has a disability, and people often think she is both naive and a little dumb. But Sookie is neither. She can read people’s minds, and in order to keep people’s thoughts out of her head, she has to put up a mental guard every day. This takes so much of her concentration that she often seems slow.
One night, Sookie serves the vampire Bill a glass of red wine, and she is immediately attracted to him, as she cannot read his thoughts at all.
Shortly after Sookie and Bill first meet, a murder happen in their quiet little Louisiana-town Bon Temps, where Bill is trying to mainstream, which is vampire-slang for trying to live among humans again. For reasons not to be revealed here, our heroine and our vampire gets involved in solving this murder, and the story starts to get going. Other vampires start to show up, Bill and Sookie tries to date, and Sookie also, for the first time in her life, has men running around her, finding her pretty and desirable.
Halfway through the story, the characters start to do weird things, and the story get confusing. It is like the author wants to tell too much on too few pages, and it becomes a little hard to follow the storyline, there are a lot of why’s and why not’s. We learn about Sookie’s past, and certain things in her past is unsettling, but absolutely un-neccesary for the story.
But then the story seems to get onto the right track again, and the rest of the book is a funny and exciting read. It is not the best vampire-mystery ever, but it is definitely a series worth reading, and you will want to see the characters again.
T. Persson @ 10:48 pm
This is the second Charlaine Harris book I have read and will be the last. I tried the first Aurora Teagarden book and now the first Sookie Stackhouse and found that Aurora and Sookie are basically the same unpleasant person. From this I have to conclude I won’t like any other female lead created by this author.
I sincerely hope that these characters are not representative of southern women. They are both extremely vain, selfish, gratingly coquettish, simpering and shallow. Both describe themselves “sexually inexperienced” yet sex is all they think about, albeit in a 1940’s junior high-school sort of way. Both women also hold the attitude that “pretty women” get dates, describe themselves as pretty, but don’t date very much. But, since neither is given to any introspection they never question their views or conceit.
There are so many problems with this book that I truly can’t believe its popularity.
Sookie describes people who sleep with vampires as Fang-Bangers (a term I find in very poor taste) yet when she sleeps with a vampire its Love.
In one section Sookie says she doesn’t know much about vampires even something so basic as where they sleep. Then in a later scene she is cautioning Bill not to feed from a man with Sino Aids, giving a very specific exposition of what can and can’t make a vampire ill and then saying Sino AIDS can make a vampire sick – for a whole month (oh my!).
Sookie thinks it only makes sense that Bill doesn’t know how to rewire his house because he is so old. But, wouldn’t being older and living through the switch from candles and wood fires to electricity give him more knowledge rather than less?
Sookie doesn’t feel she has the right to warn off people flirting with Bill when he takes her to a vampire bar (at her insistence) because she asked him rather than he asking her. Its not a date until the man asks the woman. Then in other sections Sookie makes comments about how old-fashioned Bill is.
Sookie describes the contents of Bill’s refrigerator as “yuck” since it is all blood. This is after she has willingly let him feed from her many times had his blood on more than one occasion.
Then there is the whole Vampire Virus thing. She still believes in this after Bill tells her that if it vampirism is due to a virus it is a very discriminating one. And another time Bill describes in detail how a vampire is made, and nothing about a virus is mentioned. It doesn’t even seem to sink in after Sam tells her straight out that Bill is dead.
In another scene Sookie makes a mental note that she has been using the Lord’s name in vain alot with the nuance that she should stop doing so. But repeated instances of necrophiliac fornication don’t cause her any worry.
At one point she even refers to vampirism as a religion.
I like cozy mysteries and the writing doesn’t have to be genius level, but I can’t tolerate stupid. Trust me, contrary to Sookie Stackhouse’s denials she is stupid, the writing style childish and the story on the whole insipid.