Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris *****

*Book with adult themes or subject matter*

Fair warning: These books may not be the most literary of books but they are positively ADDICTIVE.

So, I was at the bookstore around my birthday and thought that I would treat myself to a book by an author I don’t know much about except that people seem to think she has a sense of humour. I was not expecting the Southern Vampire Novel series (A.K.A. The Sookie Stackhouse books) to really be much of anything. I tend to like my books to be really epic and this book just looks like a little bit of a thing. Boy was I surprised!

This book is interesting in that it makes vampires as real as you and me (though not so normal as the reader). Vampires are “out of the coffin” and I find it delightful. Sookie is your typical waitress in a typical small-town Louisiana bar. Except some of the people there are not so typical and neither is Sookie. I can tell you this much about the people, everyone has a secret and many of the secrets are mythical. Poor Sookie has to hear all the secrets whether she wants to or not (dangers of being a telepath who can’t protect herself very well). Things like her being unable to concentrate in school are things I didn’t think of and found really intriguing. Go Charlaine Harris!

The only things I will tell you about the plot are the things you can get off the back cover because I think it would kill the fun if I do otherwise. Sookie is a telepath who is attracted to Bill Compton (A.K.A. Vampire Bill) because she cannot hear a word of what he is thinking. The problem with their relationship isn’t in the bedroom or on an emotional level (some things you would think an antebellum aged dead man would have problems with). Their problem is Bill’s friends are creepy, Sookie’s co-worker shows up dead, a friend of her brother’s also shows up dead, her brother becomes a suspect, and the town gets restless. None of this makes for a happy Sookie. However, there’s a real streak of humour in these books and Sookie’s Southern Rural Charm, speech pattern, and frankness makes this book awesome. I read it in a day and went back to get the next one.