by Bailey Shoemaker Richards

Created on: July 04, 2009   Last Updated: July 05, 2009

Dead Until Dark is the first of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels; it is the book that the first season of True Blood is based off. If read, this will also be the book to get one hooked on the series. In it, readers are introduced to Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress at a bar in Bon Temps, Louisiana. She's blonde, pretty -and telepathic.

This telepathy sets Sookie apart. She doesn't date, and working with people can be a huge stress -knowing exactly what the people around you are thinking about takes awkwardness to a whole new level. It can even be dangerous, as Sookie learns on the night a vampire comes into Merlotte's, the bar in which she works; she can't hear his thoughts, but she can hear the thoughts of a couple who are going to drain his blood in the parking lot and sell it (vampire blood is a powerful drug, and worth quite a lot).

After saving Bill from the drainers, Sookie's life only gets more interesting. Quiet Bon Temps is rocked by a series of horrifying murders, and everyone is suspect. Dealing with her special skill is hard enough on Sookie; watching as her hometown goes storming down a dark path of intolerance and fear pushes her to the limit of what she can bear. Readers will be intrigued by the murder mystery that flowers alongside the everyday living made by each of the characters, right up until the conclusion of the book.

Charlaine Harris, the author of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels, takes readers right into Sookie's world, and it's a world that is hard to leave. The writing is simple, at times annoyingly so, but refreshing. The story is interestingly complex without being too convoluted to follow. The Southern accents that litter the page are so rich that they can practically be heard. All of those things aside, it's the characters themselves that make this series worth reading.

Most of the characters are, on the surface, just like anyone else you might meet at the supermarket or at a local bar. But, like Sookie, they all have hidden secrets, buried pasts and more twists to their characters than you could imagine at first glance. Dead Until Dark is a short glimpse into a world where vampires have "come out of the coffin," as it were, and one glimpse will definitely not be enough.

Harris is by no means a great writer. She is prolific (she's written numerous other series of books), and she's good, but her books are written solely for escapism and easy entertainment. And are they ever entertaining. From Sookie's reluctant but interesting relationship with Bill Compton the vampire and the other, far more dangerous vampires he brings into her life, to Sam Merlotte her boss and her tomcat brother Jason, the characters that populate Sookie's world are brilliant and unforgettable.

The series continues with the book Living Dead In Dallas, upon which the second season of True Blood is based.

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