About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Dead Until Dark is the first book in Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire series, which inspired the HBO TV series True Blood. Dead Until Dark is fast and sexy, but well written and full of interesting characters. If you like vampires or supernatural elements in stories, this is perfect beach reading.

Pros

• 'Dead Until Dark' is a fast paced mystery with a fun twist.
• Sookie Stackhouse is a lovable protangonist.

• The novels are sexy without being overly erotic.

Cons

• If you think vampires are silly, you won't like 'Dead Until Dark.'
• The novel doesn't entirely wrap up -- it leaves you needing the next book.

Description

• 'Dead Until Dark' was first published in 2001.
• Publisher: Ace Books
• 304 Pages

Guide Review - 'Dead Until Dark' by Charlaine Harris - Book Review

Sookie Stackhouse is a telepathic cocktail waitress in a small Lousiana town. She is very pretty, but can't maintain a relationship with anyone of the opposite sex because of her "disability" -- hearing every thought the other person is having.

Bill Compton is a vampire. Since the development of synthetic blood, vampires have "come out of the coffin," making their reality known to the normal world. When Compton walks into Sookie's bar, she is mesmerized and excited to discover that she cannot hear a single thing he's thinking.

Meanwhile, people who are known to hang around with vampires have started being murdered. Bill becomes a suspect, and Sookie's relationship with him is scrutinized.

Sookie decides to use her "disability" to her advantage, and begins investigating the crimes.

Dead Until Dark is your typical page turning murder mystery with all these atypical elements thrown in for flavor. Charlaine Harris is a skillful writer, creating an interesting world with a gripping mystery. I recommend Dead Until Dark as light but entertaining reading.