Book Review: Dead Until Dark

Sookie Stackhouse is a cocktail waitress in the small LA town of Bon Temps. She lives in a time when vampires live out in the open and other supernatural beings keep coming out of the woodwork. Most of you who have seen True Blood already know this. I had actually missed the first season of the show and came in on the second so I wanted to read the first book, Dead Until Dark, which was the basis for the entire first season.

Sookie's voice in Dead Until Dark is strong and well-developed. It's in first person and I could hear her voice (or Anna Paquin's voice) flow in my head without any awkward sentences. In that sense the dialogue is quite realistic. Reading the book made me appreciate the casting job done on the show True Blood. My favorite was Sam Merlotte, who was very likable in the book and the show for me.

The main story follows Sookie beginning to date a local vampire, with murders piling up around town and all signs pointing to Sookie being next. There's an interesting dynamic in the storytelling where you almost have a 1st-person omniscient because Sookie can read minds. Therefore, the reader gets Sookie's point of view and she tells us what certain people are thinking. However, she can't read everyone's mind, which adds to the mystery.

I found Dead Until Dark quite charming with great characters and interesting storytelling. If you've only seen the TV show you're missing out. Pick up Dead Until Dark, it's just as good or even better than the show. Charlaine Harris did a really fine job.

Bookophile Rating: Excellent