Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Someone should have taken a sharpie to this cover and written "For a good time, call..." Oh this was goooooood. Hiss with me now "Sookie is mine." Having seen the show before starting the books I was delighted to find that I was reading them with a southern accent. Plus I had the added bonus of having a face to put with a name. While I'd rather not sit here and compare and contrast between the book and the tv series, I can't help it. Both are very different but equally as fun.

The small town of Bon Temps Louisiana isn't frequented by vampires the way the big flashy city of New Orleans is, a fact that most of their residence are proud of. Even though vampires have "come out of the coffin" and joined regular society, their existence is still a lot for most humans to swallow and the little town has managed to stay vampire free and relatively normal. Sookie Stackhouse, is an average waitress with a not so average ability. She can read minds, a trait that has likewise kept her apart from the normal town folk who have chosen to think of her as disabled rather than contend with anything outside of the ordinary. But when a vampire walks into the bar (have you heard this joke?) where she works, Sookie is immediately drawn to him, the one person who's mind is closed to her.

Now women are being murdered in Bon Temps. Women who have been bitten by vampires, and more and more vamps are passing through town. With his mind closed to her, Sookie can't really know for sure that it isn't her vampire who's causing the deaths.

While the show caters to what a HBO viewing audience would expect (raunch, murder, scandal) the book tended to be much more subdued. I can't say that the liberties taken by the show cheapened the story in anyway, simply just changed it. I was happy to find that the book focused more on the love story. Bill was more thoughtful lover than man of mystery and Sookie seemed much less simple minded. Anna Paquin as Sookie has made me want to smack her on several occasions but the real Sookie wears the sweet-innocent persona as a mask. In the book however there were a few instances where I was rather proud of our gal.

Mind you, this was only book one but so far Jason Stackhouse isn't half the idiot that he is on the show.

I can also laughingly type that the book is far kinder to my fellow southerners, not that I can deny anything that is portrayed on the show. Still, even with the negative stereotype I can't help but feel that both of them have a homey quality to them that makes me feel much more a part of the story. The whole True Blood experience is just so much fun and I'm ready for the next book, and the next episode. If you aren't already a fan, it's time. I don't know who's side to chose though. Team Bill? Team Sam? Team......Eric?

By the way, I am completely over anything Twilight related. It started with the J.R. Ward series but then, in this book, published in 2001 mind you, Sookie described Bill's skin as "glowing" I just wanted to poke my finger in Stephanie (T.) Meyer's eye. I'm finding very little originality in Twilight these days. More importantly, REAL VAMPIRES BITE PEOPLE...and well do other things that I can't mention in mixed company. :)