Review: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

From the Back Cover:

Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of "disability". She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He's tall, dark, handsome - and Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting for all her life...

But Bill has a disability of his own: He's a vampire with a bad reputation. He hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of - big surprise - murder. And when one of Sookie's coworkers is killed, she fears she's next...

I'm probably one of the last women on the planet to pick up this series, so I'll keep my review brief and limit it to a few thoughts, and I'll also mention that I did not actually read this, I listened to the audiobook version.

Number One:  I thoroughly enjoyed the character of Sookie Stackhouse. I thought she was very original and yet very identifiable. My thought beforehand was that Sookie would be a tough, bad-ass vampire slayer, but refreshingly, that is not the case. I'm all for strong heroines, but there are different types of strength and I can really appreciate Sookie's.

Number Two:  I enjoyed the setting and the supporting characters. They were described and voiced so well that I had no problem picturing each one in my mind.

Number Three:  I liked her love interest, Bill, but I wasn't over the moon about him. I liked that he was so old and had witnessed a lot of southern history and talked about it when asked and I liked that he was not afraid to talk about his feelings with Sookie, and that he was so protective of her. I can't exactly put my finger on what it was about him that irked me. But then the other day in Target I randomly picked up one of the later books in the series and the back cover said something about Bill that upset me. Guess he got to me after all! So now I've got to keep reading (or listening) if only to find out what happens to Bill!

Number Four:  I did not figure out who the murderer was before it was revealed. Always a good thing! And the author pulled no punches, and in fact, shocked me a few times. Also a good thing!

Overall I enjoyed it, but I'm not in love with it. However, I've been told that the books get better as the series progresses, so I'm going to give Book #2 a try.


Rating:  3.5 Stars out of 5