Dead Until Dark

The Southern Vampire Mysteries: Dead Until Dark (2001), Living Dead in Dallas (2002), Club Dead (2003), Dead to the World (2004) Charlaine Harris

If I told you I’d been reading erotic, vampire mysteries, would you still respect me?

If the answer is “No,” too bad. Since the Victorian part of my soul has to deal with it, you can too.

I read the first book because awhile ago I picked up, a vampire anthology. I love anthologies, because I love short stories. And I love finding new authors, so even though a story might not be something I’d normally read, if it’s in an anthology, I’ll most likely read it (Unless it’s obviously something I really don’t want to read). I didn’t read the first story, because from reviews I’ve read, the author doesn’t write to my tastes, and I wanted to read something I’d enjoy. So I skipped to the second story, Charlaine Harris’ “One Word Answer,” which I quite enjoyed.

However, I do not recommend this route, because the short story occurs well into the series, and gives away some plot points of the earlier stories.

So, liking the story as much as I did, I picked up books two and three of her ‘Southern Vampire’ series used, and picked up the first book new.

It wasn’t until I was about a quarter of the way into the first book that I realized that there were romantic bits to the book.

Rather graphic romantic bits.

However at this point I was really into the story, and the naughty bits were well done, so I told my inner prude to shut-up and continued reading.

And I’m glad I did because I really liked these books. They were lots of fun, AND well-written. Possible plot inconsistencies from book to book were mentioned and explained (which I really liked) and each book was complete in and of itself. Although a main thread continues from book to book, each book is a self-contained story.

Which was enough to make me do the good fantasy happy dance even without the good writing and story.

The series starts with Dead Until Dark where we meet Sookie Stackhouse, Southern barmaid and telepath who lives with her Grandmother, and where Sookie meets her first vampire, Bill Compton. (I the idea of vampires finally coming out of the closet, so to speak.) Sookie also has to deal with several murders, which is why the later books are classified as both fantasy and mystery.

I was going to write a bit about the other three books, but it’s nearly impossible to do so without giving away parts of the other books. So, I’ll pass, and if you really want plot points, you can read the back of the book or any number of Amazon reviews.

So why do I like these books so well? First, they’re set in the South in a small town, and Charlaine Harris, in my opinion, gets both those parts right, from knowing everyone else’s business to how everyone dresses. Second, especially in the later books, I absolutely love the fact that money matters to Sookie. She counts her pennies and worries about property taxes. That little bit of realism that strikes me as absolutely prefect, and really makes her real to me. In so many ways she’s noone special, and what is special about her doesn’t save her from the everyday problems we all have to deal with.

And she isn’t perfect. She’s bitchy at times, and has a brother who is far from perfect–and she knows he’s far from perfect–but she loves him anyway. It makes her quite real, despite her unreal companions and situations.

So although I definitely won’t be loaning the books to my grandmother, I heartily recommend them. Especially to people who aren’t quite as embarrassed by reading about sex as I am.
Rating: 9/10

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