Dead Until Dark

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Synopsis

In most ways, Sookie Stackhouse is just a normal cocktail waitress in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, but one thing about her is anything but ordinary. She can read minds, which makes dating a drag, until the night that Bill Compton walks into Merlotte's Bar. He's tall, dark, and handsome, and best of all, Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. However, there's one thing about him that could be a potential problem: he's a vampire with very dangerous friends. Bill and Sookie have barely met, when Sookie finds one of her co-workers dead. As the bodies of more women turn up, all of them with ties to vampires, Sookie asks Bill to help her investigate, even though many of the townspeople seem to think that either Bill or one of his kind is responsible. However, Sookie's own brother, Jason, was also connected to all the women, which makes him a prime suspect, too. Bill worries about Sookie's safety, and when he must leave town to secure a possible future for them, she could end up as the killer's next victim.

Review

Dead Until Dark is the first book in Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series. Sookie is an ordinary waitress at a bar in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, but she has the ability (or as she thinks of it "disability") to read minds. Most of the time, it's more of a curse than a blessing. Although she's learned how to put up a guard against other's thoughts invading her mind, she still can't always control it very well, which has made dating extremely difficult. Recently vampires "came out of the coffin," so everyone now knows of their existence. When vampire Bill Compton comes into the bar one night, not only is Sookie physically attracted to him, but all she can hear from him is blessed silence, something that's very appealing. When she learns that Bill fought in the Civil War, Sookie's grandmother wants her to ask him to speak at one of her historical society meetings, which leads to the start of a romantic relationship between Bill and Sookie. But there's a serial killer on the loose who's been murdering women in the area, and after finding one of the bodies herself and discovering that the women had ties to vampires, Sookie asks Bill to help her do a little investigating. Some of the townsfolk think that Bill or others of his kind might be responsible for the murders, although Sookie is all but certain that isn't the case. Then her own brother, Jason, who also has ties to all of the women is implicated, but again Sookie is convinced of his innocence. When Bill needs to leave town for a while on business, though, Sookie herself could become the next victim.

Aside from her ability to read minds, Sookie is a pretty ordinary and down-to-earth young woman. Orphaned at a young age, she and Jason were raised by their grandmother, and Sookie still lives with her in the house she grew up in. She works as a waitress at Merlotte's Bar and Grill, where she's made friends with some of her co-workers. However, Sookie's love life is basically non-existent. She tried going out with guys a few times and found that hearing all her date's thoughts made it far too awkward, so she's decided not to date at all. As someone who has a strange ability herself, she's been somewhat curious about vampires ever since their existence became known. When Bill comes into the bar and she can't hear any of his thoughts, it's a real gift. As she gets to know Bill a little more and discovers that he's having difficulty getting workmen to fix up his house, which happens to be almost nextdoor to Sookie's, she offers to help. Between that and his speaking engagement at her grandmother's group, they grow closer and eventually start a romantic relationship, something not everyone in town is thrilled about. When the killer starts picking off women not unlike Sookie, one by one, and Sookie herself appears to be a possible target, Bill makes every effort to keep her safe, but when he has to leave town to secure their future, she could be the next victim. I really liked Sookie. She shows kindness and compassion toward others and is very relatable as the girl next-door type. She's accepting of Bill and vampires in general, but she's not foolhardy when it comes to the danger they can present. When it comes to the killer, I like that she uses her head and doesn't take unnecessary risks.

Since the book is written in Sookie's first-person POV, we only see the supporting characters through her eyes. Bill is the consummate Southern gentleman, but as someone who's been alive for 150 years, he struggles a bit with finding a balance between being protective and respecting Sookie's autonomy. It's clear that he can be a dangerous creature when provoked, but at the same time, he has a gentle side with Sookie and is far more self-controlled than some of his so-called friends, who don't seem to have any compunction about killing humans. Overall, Bill is a good guy for a vampire and a character that I very much liked. In addition to Bill, there are several other secondary characters that we get to meet who play important roles. Sookie's boss, Sam, is a little sweet on her and also protective of her, but he's keeping a very big secret. Sookie's brother, Jason, cares about her but isn't always in tune with her needs. He isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer and he's a total a man-whore, which gets him pegged as a prime suspect in the murders. Sookie gets to meet Erik, a very old vampire who can pull rank on Bill if he chooses, and his business partner, Pam, who run the vampire bar, Fangtasia. Then there's Sookie's friend and fellow waitress, Arlene; Arlene's ex-husband and current boyfriend, Rene; Andy, the detective investigating the murders; and many other quirky small-town cast members to round things out.

I've known about the Sookie Stackhouse series for a long time, as many of my romance reading friends on GoodReads had recommended it. For some reason, though, I wasn't certain whether I would like it, so I put off reading it. Instead, I ended up watching the television show, True Blood, that's based on the series first, which is a rarity for me. After enjoying it, I finally decided to put the books on my TBR list. Dead Until Dark ended up being a very good read and a good start to the series. I'd heard that the show was quite a bit different from the books, so I was bracing myself for disparate story lines. However, I was pleasantly surprised, based on what I recalled of the first season of True Blood, that it seemed to follow this first book fairly closely. There were some differences, but most of them weren't jarring to me. I realize this may not continue as the series goes on, but I'm still eager to keep reading. I admit that because of watching the show first, there was little suspense for me to the mystery portion, because I remembered who the killer was. But I still think it was done well and probably would have kept me guessing if I didn't already know. Another thing that I enjoyed was the romance between Bill and Sookie. I think one reason I'd been reluctant to read the books is that I didn't know if they'd have enough romance to suit me, but this first book definitely did. Some readers classify the books as romance and I'm also comfortable calling Dead Until Dark a romance. I don't know if that will be the case as I continue, but in this one, Bill and Sookie's love story probably constituted roughly half of the book and it does have an HFN ending, with Bill taking steps to make the future of their relationship more secure. Everything taken together, I very much enjoyed this first foray into the Sookieverse and look forward to reading more soon.

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Charlaine Harris