Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood, Book 1)

by Charlaine Harris

2001

Status

Checked out

Publication

Ace Books (2001), 292 pages

Description

Sink your teeth into the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Sookie Stackhouse series--the books that gave life to the Dead and inspired the HBO® original series True Blood. Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Bon Temps, Louisiana. She's quiet, doesn't get out much, and tends to mind her own business--except when it comes to her "disability." Sookie can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. Then along comes Bill Compton. 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. And when a string of murders hits Bon Temps--along with a gang of truly nasty bloodsuckers looking for Bill--Sookie starts to wonder if having a vampire for a boyfriend is such a bright idea.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Lman
Wow! Now I know what all the fuss is about, now I know why they made a TV show based on these books and now I know why both are so successful. And I have to agree with the general consensus. Charlaine Harris, at least with this first book, has created a sharply astute, seriously satisfying series
Show More
by pandering to current cravings (bad pun intended), where paranormal premise meets southern sensibilities with some novel extras added in; these rather odd ingredients all deftly blended into a highly entertaining mix.

Sookie Stackhouse, blonde, blue-eyed and sassy, has a self-proclaimed ‘disability’ which she promptly explains, from the very first page, in her introduction to vampires, her life, and her home locale; with a Southern receptivity that is smart, interesting and immediately charming. Having to live with her telepathy, considered 'crazy', and hence not easily accepted by most - as vampires are now - Sookie has hidden depths and talents that come to the fore when she becomes a target for a serial killer brutally attacking women around Bon Temps. Possibly related, in part, to her dating the local vampire, Bill, the entire scenario thus presents a truly exotic, unusual and fascinating world – all the more appealing due to Sookie’s remarkable attitude, peculiar aptitude and unique viewpoint of her special province.

This book is a superb assortment of many things. Containing a convincing smattering of mystery, a firm balance of romantic entanglement, a large dash of endearing humour and an exclusive take on dark, urban themes, plus a narrator placed such that she can avail the reader with all the necessary information, background and pertinent point-of-view, this becomes a matchless paranormal tale. Charlaine Harris has used all these components to craft a vastly amusing, cleverly original, well-written piece which flows smoothly, intrigues immediately, and stimulates thoroughly due to this innovative, refreshing variation on the genre.

Consequently this story holds a fast-paced plot and is an absorbing read, engaging one's senses by intelligently mixing a very likeable human character with the no-nonsense horror of her supernatural world; and by bluntly spelling out the best and the worst of this co-habitation, this candour supplies an authenticity, an integrity and thus immeasurable attraction to the tale. And I was so ensnared that this review is now very late in being written; I was too intent on reading the next book! A more glowing endorsement I can’t give…
(Jan 8th, 2009)
Show Less
LibraryThing member xicanti
Sookie Stackhouse, a cute blonde with the ability to read minds, is thrilled when a vampire walks into the bar where she works. He's awful sweet to her, and she can't hear a psychic peep from him. But not everyone shares her fondness for vampires... or her tolerance for those who "go" with them.
Show More
Someone is killing young women - young women tagged as fangbangers. And Sookie knows she's a target.

I've heard a lot about these books over the years. It seems like they're everywhere lately, what with the HBO show and all, so I figured I'd give 'em a go. See what they're like.

I feel strange saying this, given that the book is chock full of murder and bloodlust and other great stuff like that, but I found it... well, fluffy. It's a cute, fun little thing that reads up right quick.

I think Sookie herself sets the tone here. She's such a sweetie. She's friendly and bright and rather naive. She's not your typical angsty, I'll-kick-your-ass-into-next-Thursday-if-you-look-at-me-the-wrong-way urban fantasy heroine. She hasn't let all the dark thoughts she picks up on corrupt her or make her cynical. She's just a big ol' sweetie pie. I couldn't really consider this a dark, gory murder mystery. Not with a heroine like Sookie. She was my favourite part of the book.

I also liked the atmosphere. This is very much a southern vampire story. It's got a real Louisiana feel to it; the way everyone speaks, the names, the attitudes... I thought Harris evoked the setting very well. I appreciated how she incorporated the supernatural into her alternate world, too. It wasn't quite on a par with any of my favourite alternate worlds, but it still felt fairly realistic.

But the rest of the book... well. It's fluffy. It's good, I don't want you to think it isn't, but it's not really very deep. Sookie and Bill's relationship is sketchy at best. I never felt the chemistry between them. Ditto for her friendships with the rest of the town. They're sweet and all, but I couldn't find the spark. I couldn't find the oomph.

The mystery is much the same. It didn't leap out at me. For the most part, I felt like it was just a vehicle whereby Harris could introduce her characters and their world. Given that the series seems to be a vampire detective kind of a deal, I do think she might have done more to build up the mystery angle and show her characters actually solving the crime. Sookie does do a little bit, but for the most part she seems to just fall into the answers she needs.

I also had some trouble with the tenses. The book is told from Sookie's first person POV. At the very beginning, Harris slips back and forth between the past tense and the present tense in order to show that the book's events are in Sookie's fairly recent past, but it doesn't quite jive with the story. Stuff like that bugs me no end.

My final verdict: a fun book and a decent way to pass the time, but nothing special. It reads like the series opener it is. I'll probably read a couple more of the books, but I'm not really sold yet.

(A slightly different version of this review originally appeared on my blog, Stella Matutina).
Show Less
LibraryThing member fuzzydeadthing
The first (and still my favorite) Sookie Stackhouse novel. Charlaine Harris introduces an immensely likable heroine, with insight into people's characters and motives like no other waitress on earth. Sookie is compassionate but not naive, brave, but not often foolhardy. This first book could serve
Show More
as a stand alone, and with some of the developments later, I often like to pretend it is. Harris does a good job making the vamps intimidating and yet attractive, without over romancing their undead status. This is one series where yu wont be rooting for our heroine to turn vamp. At least, I haven't yet.
Show Less
LibraryThing member les121
As I read this book, one question kept resurfacing in my mind: why is this series so popular? I found the main character Sookie Stackhouse completely unlikable and I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the other characters either. Sookie's behavior is inconsistent and simply doesn't make
Show More
sense half the time. Anytime the plot starts to get interesting, the author inserts a scene that is embarrassingly melodramatic, unconvincing, and contrived. So many aspects of this story just weren't believable and the romance was flat and cliche. I suppose the appeal for many readers is hot vampires, but what's the point if they're not compelling characters? The novel had a nice flow and a potentially entertaining premise, but I honestly can't see what is so special about this book. I just hope that the television series True Blood was able to turn this story into something more than just a two dimensional, vampire soap opera.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Whisper1
If anyone would have told me I would enjoy a book about a small town Louisiana waitress who falls in love with a vampire, I would have doubted their judgment. And, I would have been wrong!

This is a delightful book. It is a quick, easy, breezy read that is fun. Sookie Stackhouse is bored with her
Show More
life until she meets Bill. Her infatuation with vampire Bill leads to a very interesting set of circumstances. Possessed of what she terms "a disability", Stookie can read the thoughts of others. When she cannot read Bill, she knows he is the one and only for her.

When murders occur, Sookie finds herself smack in the middle of some rather creepy unworldly characters.

This is the first book of the series and, much to my surprise, I can't wait to read more!
Show Less
LibraryThing member kJ.
Having read this book after already seeing the first season of trueblood, I knew most of the plot before it occured. Nevertheless, I found the novel hard to put down and engrossing, but for reasons which remain unclear to myself. There seems to be nothing spectacular about the writing, and I should
Show More
have found the story to be predictable, but I was amazed by the speed at which I ploughed through the pages. I think Harris' trick lies in the humour of her writing as well as her wealth of colourful characters. I can't wait to start Living Dead in Dallas, the second in the series.
Show Less
LibraryThing member shanyn
I had heard of individuals raving about True Blood, a show on HBO, but was not much interested because I'm not big into fantasy/vampires (I did read the Twilight series and found it enjoyable, but had no desire to seek other vampire fiction). The television series eventually got book enthusiasts
Show More
talking about the writing the television show was based on, which prompted me to give it a try.

In the beginning of the book I thought I had perhaps made a mistake - the vampire theme was still slightly sketchy to me, and lots of characters were being introduced, making it more of a complicated read. Eventually I got everything straight and found myself loving the plot - Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress in a bar, meets a vampire (Bill). In this novel, vampires are allowed to live among humans, and everyone is aware that they are vampires (something different from the Twilight series). Bill has been trying to "mainstream," or drink artificial blood and actually be a part of a community. Shortly after Sookie and Bill meet, several murders happen around the town to women who have been known to associate with vampires, and have been found with bite marks, making it slightly more difficult for Bill to blend in.

There is a great mix of romance and mystery in this book, and I did not figure out the mystery bit until it was revealed to me in the manuscript (which I love, as some mystery novels have rather obvious outcomes). I am very much looking forward to reading the remaining books in this series - I find myself wondering how Bill and Sookie are doing as I am in between books, so I am glad there are several others for me to read!
Show Less
LibraryThing member lookingforpenguins
Welcome to Bon Temps, a small town in northern Louisiana. Here you'll meet the adorable Sookie Stackhouse, a local barmaid with a "disability," and her boyfriend Bill. Bill the Vampire, that is. Yes, vampires are a part of society in Dead Until Dark, the first book in the Southern Vampire Series
Show More
written by Charlaine Harris. In fact, vampires have come out of the coffin, so to speak, and live openly - if not fully accepted - in society.

But a series of young women have been found dead in Bon Temps recently and suspicion naturally falls on Bill the Vampire. Worse, it looks as if Sookie might be next on the killer's agenda. Sookie and Bill must find the killer themselves if they want to live happily ever after, if indeed one can live happily ever after with a vampire.

When an author creates a paranormal world like the one in Dead Until Dark, they must also create so-called rules for their paranormal creatures. Fiction about human beings, by and large, need not state their rules because as humans, you and I know those rules quite well. What the paranormal rules are specifically doesn't really matter. What is important is that the author stick to their rules to give the story legitimacy. Harris, I'm happy to report, excels at this (unlike another well-known vampire author who has been all the rage recently), which brings a cohesiveness to the story and keeps you comfortably ensconced in her world.

Harris also creates an amusing vocabulary all her own when it comes to vampires.

Vampire groupies?
They're called 'fang-bangers.'

A vampire's ability to hypnotize?
They're simply 'glamoring' you.

And assimilation, or 'mainstreaming,' into society eerily parallels the difficulties experienced by other minority groups in the American south. As light-hearted as this mystery is, there is a dark undercurrent of small-town American prejudice there for any who care to look for it.

The Recommendation
For a reader who professes not to care for westerns or the paranormal, I sure seem to be picking up an awful lot of them recently. But in the case of Dead Until Dark, I'm glad I did. The book is much more light-hearted than HBO's adaptation and the characters are far more sympathetic when you meet them on the pages instead of the screen.

Dead Until Dark could be considered what is often referred to as a light read, but I just consider it plain fun. Enjoyable for a plane ride or a fun interlude between more serious novels, I highly recommend it.

There are currently eight available books in the series. If you suffer from series OCD like I do, you might want to collect them all.
Show Less
LibraryThing member sushixcore
I recently started reading this series to supplement my True Blood needs in between Fridays. I enjoy the books and this one is no exception. CH takes great care to develop the characters.
A fun and easy read.
LibraryThing member NJBookGirl
I became a fan of the HBO series, True Blood. At first I didn't want to read the books because I didn't want anything given away. When I found out the first season was based on the first book of this series, I read it just as season 2 was starting. The book is a very light easy read. Perfect for
Show More
summer or travel reading. The relationship between Sookie & Bill is an exciting one... dating a vampire has to be the ultimate "bad boy". I think the story line is refreshing. So different from the many other vampire books out there. It's also filled with a little suspense & mystery. Looking forward to reading the 2nd book in the series!
Show Less
LibraryThing member Katie_H
How HBO came up with a show as compelling as True Blood from this crap of a book is a mystery to me. The writing was awful from the get-go, but for whatever reason, I can never quit a book, so I finished it. It ended up being a chick-lit beach read times ten. The characters were underdeveloped,
Show More
even superficial, and the plot was poorly executed. The love scenes made me cringe and felt as if they were straight out of a trashy romance with Fabio on the cover. Most of the time a book is better than the film version, but the opposite is true with this monstrosity. For those who watch True Blood, this short installment encompasses the entire first season of the show. This will definitely be my first and last Sookie Stackhouse novel. My recommendation: skip this series and stick with Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Heck, even Twilight is better than this tripe. I have an aversion to single stars, so this gets a whopping two stars from me.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mrs.starbucks
This novel is a trashy version of Anne Rice, a poorly executed ripoff of Laurell K. Hamilton's St. Louis, and fizzles out in character development and realistic interactions in much the same way as the Twilight Saga. Charlaine Harris will tell you (rather than show), quite at length, the most inane
Show More
details and then utterly fail at making her world and anyone/thing in it believable. Goodbye, Sookie Stackhouse. We won't be seeing each other again.
Show Less
LibraryThing member bellalibrarian
Sookie Stackhouse has never had a successful relationship due to her "disability." She is telepathic. But when Sookie meets Bill, a vampire, she learns that she is unable to hear his thoughts, resulting in anything but a normal relationship.

This is the first book in the Southern Vampire series,
Show More
starting with a string of unexplained murders in Sookie's hometown. Eventually Sookie learns that someone is trying to kill her and she eventually finds herself fighting to save her own life.

This is a great beginning to the series. There were a couple of descriptive parts that I prefer to skip over regarding the relationship between Sookie and Bill; however, the book held my interest quite well.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mcelhra
This book is not great literature by any means but it was fun and entertaining. I think the idea of vampires "coming out of the coffin" and trying to mainstream is a really original idea.

I agree with my friend Jessica that Sookie's outfits are distractingly horrible. She wears a BANANA CLIP in her
Show More
hair?? And she thinks Vampire Bill likes her hair down because it's sexy. No honey - even he knows the banana clip has got to go. At first I thought maybe this book takes place in the 80s and that's why the outfits are so bad but in the second book of the series it mentions cell phones and Britney Spears so no such luck.

The fashion notwithstanding, this book was a lot of fun to read and I am now hooked on the series.
Show Less
LibraryThing member debavp
As I have not yet seen the HBO series, I'm not sure if the hype around this series is warranted. I do prefer the Harper Connelly series to this one. It's not bad, per se, but I feel it along the lines of a Harlequin romance. I think if Harris had taken a more serious tone and developed the 'how it
Show More
came to be', instead of the damsel in distress that's been overdone this would have been a more interesting read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member 2wonderY
Several people had recommended this series, so I had to give it a try. I abandonned the book quickly, because it was pedestrian and boring. But I decided to give it a second chance on audio. And although it was very predictable and ho-hum, the reader brought Sookie to life. It seems to be all about
Show More
the lovely Louisiana accent. I enjoyed it enough that I might try another - when my to be listened to pile gets slack.
Show Less
LibraryThing member SarahZee
I do not understand the big vibe this book has, I had a hard time finishing this book, I only finished it because it was the only book I had in the hospital that day, (thank God I got a new fresh stack of books the next morning).I found Sookie a real pain in the a$$! She is shallow and annoying. I
Show More
hated her brother, didn't care for the vamp as well. In simple words, I hated this book!The mumble jumble in Sookie's head made me wanna cry in pain! It was hard to understand what that woman wants! Harris made it hard for me to follow with the novel because the main character hardly had a consistent line of thoughts. Based on this novel, I can't make myself continue reading this series! Maybe I'll just stick with the TV show.
Show Less
LibraryThing member SesameG
I love Sookie Stackhouse's unapologetic approach to life. She gets mad, she suntans, she works in a bar with no ambition for advancement. Her approach is almost the opposite of mine, and perhaps that's why she strikes a chord with me. Charlaine Harris's novels are fun, observant, and campy - great
Show More
bedtime reading if, like me, you need a novel that is pure escapism to fall asleep to.
Show Less
LibraryThing member IrishHolger
For all those people that believe that books are always better than adaptations: TRUE BLOOD in all aspects is far far superior at least to this initial installment of the series. Whereas the TV show pushes the envelope quite a bit, the novel is more of a soap opera. Not sure if I'll continue with
Show More
the book series.
Show Less
LibraryThing member susanbevans
Almost everyone I know has read Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Series - or are at least familiar with True Blood, the HBO Series based on the books. For that reason I will not give a synopsis of Dead Until Dark in my review. For the select few that are not aware, Dead Until Dark is the first
Show More
book in a series centering on Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress in a bar in a small town in northern Louisiana.

Dead Until Dark is a quick and fun read - I devoured it literally in one sitting over the course of a single night. The story is interesting, and I loved the setting of Bon Temps, Louisiana, a charming small town trying desperately to hold on to its conventionality despite world events. The characters in Dead Until Dark are quirky and off-the-wall, in the best possible sense, and are decidedly different from their television counterparts.

Dead Until Dark is a delightful mixture of horror, psychological thriller, humor, and romance, that will engage and entertain the reader from page one. The twists and turns of the plot leave you wondering "who done it," while the characters will have you laughing out loud out at the hilarious dialogue. Read Dead Until Dark and you will fall in love with Sookie Stackhouse and Bon Temps, Louisiana. I think I'll read the rest of the series over Spring Break!
Show Less
LibraryThing member jphillips3334
I love the Harris's concept of vampires "coming-out-of the coffin" so to speak and are now known to the world. Not yet widely accepted, but now people are aware and can get to know actual vampires. A wonderful approach by Harris, which gives the story a fresh perspective from most typical vampire
Show More
stories. It has the right pace with setting up the relationship of Bill and Sookie and the rest of the characters (humans and vampires): making them all very interesting and not one character seems out-of-place. Of course with Sookie being mortal and Bill a vampire, it is not your typical relationship: especially when our heroine has a unique ability herself. This book entertains on several levels. I am looking forward to reading the other books in this series.
Show Less
LibraryThing member seph
I'm a big fan of monster fluff stories, but I did not enjoy this book at all. The writing was bad, the characters cartoonish, the plot weak. I understand it's her first book and friends have told me that the author's skills improved with future books, but this just didn't do enough for me to make
Show More
me want to keep reading and hope for better.
Show Less
LibraryThing member -Eva-
Good grief. If I hadn't set out to read the whole series, I would never have made it through this one. I was thinking I was going to read a vampire-book, but that part is completely overshadowed by Sookie's constant attention to the butts and abs on pretty much every male around. And her own boobs
Show More
get quite a lot of airtime too. And then the sex... Pure smut with no emotional connection and maximum performance - pretty much as if it was penned by a repressed, uber-randy teenager. If only.
Show Less
LibraryThing member BeckyJG
Dead Until Dark is a delightful romp, vampire romance and murder mystery rolled into one, with a little--just a little!--social commentary to hold it together. Sookie Stackhouse is a sassy small-town Southern girl with a disability; she's a telepath, and it takes all her powers of concentration not
Show More
to be constantly overwhelmed by the thoughts of those around her. At the story's beginning she's working in a bar, living with her Grandmother, and resolutely remaining a virgin--too much mental noise involved with the prospect of sex.

Then she meets Bill, the vampire. Oh, Bill's not the only vampire; for two years, now, vampires have been out of the coffin ("as they laughingly put it") and living among humans. Bill Compton has returned to his hometown of Bon Temps, Louisiana and is living in his old family home and attempting to mainstream into human society. As things will, one leads to another, and Sookie and Bill become involved.

Charlaine Harris has created a charming, strong, self-aware heroine in Sookie Stackhouse. She also creates a strong sense of place in her depiction of Bon Temps and its environs
Show Less
LibraryThing member gbill
Not great writing, highly questionable character motivations at times, and I almost laughed out loud when a vampire Elvis made his appearance in this book (so that’s where he went!). And yet…. it’s good, campy fun, a good summer read, and easy to see why it caught on with loyal readership and
Show More
the HBO series True Blood, which I have also enjoyed.
Show Less

Awards

Anthony Award (Nominee — 2002)
Agatha Award (Nominee — Novel — 2001)
Dilys Award (Nominee — 2002)

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2001-05-01

Physical description

292 p.; 4.25 inches

ISBN

0441008534 / 9780441008537

Barcode

1601656
Page: 0.661 seconds