Dead Until Dark, The Review

Dead Until Dark

by Charlaine Harris

Sorry I've been so slow in posting lately folks, I have been reading a few different books at the same time but lots of personal stuff has kept me from posting. I have strayed from my list and been a bit spontaneous with my reading. I've also been rereading some favorites...The Twilight Series being one of my many rereads lately which I would like to post about at some point. Due to my fascination with a good vampire love story and a liking for the HBO series True Blood, I decided I would try this book by Charlaine Harris. Dead Until Dark is the first in the Southern Vampire mystery stories from which the series True Blood took their stories and characters for the show.

I had heard the books were better and I had been a little disappointed in this past season of True Blood so decided to try the books. This first one was fabulous. Ms. Harris creates likable characters such as the main character Sookie Stackhouse and my favorite surprise character in the book, "Bubba." You'll have to read it to find out who the undead vampire, Bubba was in life...or at least who they hint at who he is. It took me a few chapters, although it shouldn't have after reading Odd Thomas.

This book was humorous, light (despite the subject matter of murder mysteries and a huge sense of loss for the main character) and an extremely easy read. Definitely a page turner in some instances though I did find a few slow spots where I put the book down and didn't pick it up for a day or two but I think that was just because of the point where I stopped reading. There aren't many of those spots.

I give this book four stars. I love the book...I would give it five but I have to save those extra stars for depth and this was definitely a really light read. I will definitely be looking for book number two to continue to find out what Sookie Stackhouse and Vampire Bill get themeselves into next as there is a definitely cliff hanger feeling to the book. You know Vampire Eric is going to make life interesting for the couple so you feel the need to continue the series. Also, because Sookie is such a likeable character, you want to continue to spend some time in her world. It's easy and light despite the descriptions of how heavy her load is with her gift and dating a vampire in the world of the prejudiced south.

One piece of irony I found to be humorous was the fact the the Gay cook, Lafayette, who wears eye shadow is not judged against in the south. No, people accept him...but go after the vampires. Great piece of irony. Of course, in the show True Blood, Lafayette is black...which creates an even greater sense of irony (being in the south) but I don't recall that Ms. Harris specified that Lafayette was black in the book...though he could have been. It makes me wonder what kind of creatures will have to infiltrate our world to shift the prejudiced to focus on someone else. So a little bit of a thought provoking moment in the book there.

A great, enjoyable read if you are looking for something that isn't too deep. This is a recommended read!

NOTE after the fact - After being well into the second book, I have found that Lafayette is indeed a black man...which makes it even more interesting because in the south that would be something that would be spelled out from the get go...but because vampires are the "new" minority, Lafayette is just another guy. Also, these books are NOTHING like the show...the storyline is completely different as of the second book...so if you don't care for the show...don't judge the books by THAT cover...unless you have a thing against vampires...then, of course, you probably won't like these books.